The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-12-03
(By Jno. K. Aull.)


nations. When Henry W. Grady, in
his beautiful tribute to the royal
plant" said that "the trespass Of
little worm upon it's green leaf means
more to England and to English homes
than the advance of Russian army
would upon her Asian frontier" little
did ne dream that only few years
after his death England and Russia
would be allies in a World-war which
has embraced nearly all the states
across the waters; but this great
struggle of the nations has emphasized
the kingly importance Of the staple
whose praises ne sang, for 1t has dem
onstrated that cotton, as State Ware
house Commissioner McLaurin has
pointed out, is an international politl-
cal as we'll as an eeuomic issue.
1t was the foundation of ante-bellum
civilization in the South; upon it the
institution of slavery rested; in the
issues which developed out Of its growth
and marketing grew the issues which
Joined the North and the South in
death struggle from 81 to '65; upon it,
in the half century which mas passed
since Appomattox, the structure OF the
New South has been reared.
And yet, even with monopoly in
the production of crop of such vital
importance to almost the entire world.
the growers of cotton, unorganlzed and
scattered over a fouth of the United
States, have never yet been in position
to demand a fair and just price for
their commodity, even though the
world must have it. Some years they
have received good prices; some
gears, with a bountiful crop passing
through their hands, they have faced
actual want. The law OF supply and
demand has been suspended, so far as
they were concerned, and large fuctu-
ations in the price of cotton have been
caused and governed by powers entire
ly foreign to their interests.
That such a condition should have
existed during the years up to the
present would seem incredible, If the
evidence were not before our eyes. We
are living in the midst Of this condi-
ton, and it has been with us so long
that it had almost come. to be taken as
a matter o. curse.
Men of ability have studied the sit
uation, and various remedies have been
suggested, and many of them nave been
tried. Farmers organizations, local,
state and national, has been attempted,
but without relief, and most of these
organizations have been short lived.
Various measures regulating the ex-
changes have been proposed in con-
gress, and some of them have become
laws, but they have not reached the
growers of cotton-the men whose toll
furnishes the staple clothing Of the
world
The Author of the Warehouse Law.
When the assassination of a prince
of Austria and his consort plunged the
nations of Europe into war, the South
stood face to face with commercial
disaster. With $4,000, 0,000-bale crop
on hand, cotton went down far below
the cost of production. Financial
crashes came; a period of despond-
ency and Generalization ensued; and
a panic engulfng the cotton states
seemed imminent. Several of the
Southern governors called special ses-
sions of their legislatures to deal with
the situation, and among these was
Governor Blease of South Carolina. In
the state senate Marlboro county, in
many respects the leading cotton coun-
ty of the South, was represented by
Senator John Lowndes McLaurin-a
man long prominently identified with
the affairs of the state and of the ma
ton He was attorney general Of the
state back in the early nineties, when
Tillman was governor; he went out Of
national house of representatives,
the attorney generals office into the
where his ability was soon recognized
and he was made a member Of the
ways and means committee of the
house; upon the death Of the lamented
Senator Josepr H. Earle he was ap-
pointed United States senator from
South Carolina, and was elected to sue
ceed himself by an overwhelming .-la-
jority; in the United States senate ~
USIGft u1luu 1SCO 444AA 4SA " al ~
into the advocacy of measures which,
with what now appears to be prophetic
vision, he foresaW the nation must
espouse to conserve her power for
good in the affairs of the world. His
party, however, had not yet seen the
light, and his larger vision had led to
an estrang cement between him and
some of it's leaders, and particularly
his colleague from South Carolina.
who was at that time the dominant
figure in state politics. His retire
ment from national political life fol-
lowed, and he had gone back to his
Marlboro home to see the very meas
ures for the advocacy Of which his
colleagues had attempted to read him
out Of the Democratic party become
the principal administration planks in
the congressional propaganda Of the
only Southern president the Demo-
cratic party has elected since the War
Patwaan the States Re-entpring pub