Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1915-02-19
WAR SKATERS
COTTON'S THRONE
BY Peter Radford

lecturer National Farmers Union.
King Cotton has suffered more from
the European war than any other ag-
ricultural product on the American
continent. The shells of the belliger-
ents have bursted over his throne,
frightening his subjects and shatter-
ing his markets, and, panic-stricken,
the nation cries out God save the
king!"
People from every walk of life have
contributed their mite toward rescue
work. Society has danced before the
king; milady has decreed that the
family wardrobe shall contain only
cotton goods; the press has plead
with the public to buy a bale;
bankers have been formulating hold
ing plans; congress and legislative
bodies have deliberated over relief
measures; statesmen and writer's
have grown eloquent expounding the
inalienable rights of His Majesty
and presenting schemes for preserv-
ing the financial integrity of the
stricken staple, but the sword Of Eu-
rope has proved mightier than the pen
of America in fixing value upon this
product of the sunny south. Prices
have been bayoneted, values riddled
and markets decimated by the battling
hosts of the eastern hemisphere until
the American farmer has suffered a
war loss of 100000, 900, and a bale
of cotton brave enough to enter a
European port must pay ransom of
half its value or go to prison until the
war is over
Hope of the Future Lies In co-opera-
tlon.
The Farmers Union, through the
columns Of the press, wants to thank
the American people for the friend
ship, sympathy and assistance given
tho cotton farmers in the hour of dis
tress and to direct attention to co
operative methods necessary to per.
manentiy assist the marketing of all
farm products.
The present emergency presents as
grave a situation as ever confronted
tho American farmer and from the
viewpoint of the producer, would seem
TO JUSTIFY extraordinary Keller meas.
ures, even to the point OF bending the
constitution and straining business
rules in order to lift a portion of the
burden on the backs of the farmer,
for unless something Is done to check
the invasion of the war forces upon
the cotton fields, the pathway of the
European pestilence on this continent
will be strewn with mortgaged homes
and famine and poverty will stalk over
the southland, filling the highways OF
industry with refugees and the bank
ruptcy court with prisoners.
All calamities teach us lessons and
the present crisis serves to illuminate
the frailties of our marketing meth.
ods and the weakness of our credit
system, and out of the financial an.
guish and travail of the cotton farmer
W III come volume of discussion and
mass of suggestions and finally a
solution of this, the biggest problem
IN the economic life of America, If,
indeed. we have not already laid the
foundation for at least temporary re-
lief.
Farm products have no credit and
perhaps can never have on a perma.
nent and satisfactory basis unless W.
build warehouses, cold storage plants.
elevators, etc. for without storage and
credit facilities, the south is com.
PEELED to dump its crop on the market
az harvest time. The Farmers Unions
III the cotton producing states have
for the past ten years persistently ad.
vpcated the construction of storage
Facilities. We have built during this
period 1000 warehouses with a ca.
pacity of approximately 1000, 900 bales
| ana looking backward the results
would seem encouraging, but looking
| forward, we are able to house less
than one-third of the crop and ware
houses without a credit system lose
80 per cent of their usefulness. The
problem is gigantic one-too great
for the farmer to solve unaided. He
must have the assistance of the bank.
er, the merchant and the government
In production we have reached the
nigh water mark of perfection in the
worlds history, but our marketing
methods are most primitive. In the
dawn of history We find agriculture
blowing with a forked stick but with
a system of warehouses under govern.
mental supervision that made the
Egyptians the marvel of civilization
for who has not admired the vision OF
Joseph and applauded the wisdom OF
Pharaoh for storing the surplus until
demanded by the consumer, but in
this age we have too many Josspks
Who dream md net eaouSh Pharseha
yEho hRsla,