The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-07-21
DEFENDS COTTON WAREHOUSES.
j. G. Dunbar Comes to Defense OF
Commissioner Mel anrin.
Editor Daily Item:

We note there is a publication in
the papers. which is direct attack
on the State warehouse commission
er and we can say with impunity, an
indirect attack on the system. The
purpose of the attack, is'to down
Doth the commissioner and the sys-
tenn. 1t emanates from a designing
source. whose greatest object Is to
predominant in the political atmos-
phere, overthrow the warehouse sys-
tenn, force the cotton producer to
throw his cotton on the market as fast
as 1t Is ready, a natural consequence
OF which always depresses the price
and an opportunity is open for what
you can safely call high financing in
the cotton trade. The cotton ware
house system seems to be a thorn in
the heSh among q certain element and
II proposes to extract it. to which pur-
pose IL Is putting forth every schem-
Ing effort composed of all the in
trigues. substitutes and cunning de-
vices, that its fertile mind can per-
ceive Of. Politics and a ferocious
appetite for financial gain are the
sources from which the charges of ir-
Irregularities in storing and insuring
cotton spring. Anything under the
heavens. by which its enemies can
carry their points. whether the means
used DO honorable or not. hoping to
lhoodwink and bamboozle the farmer.
whereby he will array himself against
IL until the institution be destroyed.
We hope the farmers have awakened
to a full realization OF the times
and conditions under which they are
laboring and when these scheming
politicians are singing their deceptive
tunes In his ears. they will let them
fall helpless and ineffective at their
feet. and exercise this mental faculties
I'm taking care Of their interest first.
IL the charges preferred were over
the signature OF one whom we know
to be reliable, then Investigation would
be in order. but until then we can
afford to dismiss the subject from our
minds. Should Georgia and Alabama
adopt the system In conjunction with
this State. Louisiana and Texas, the
opportunities for tleecing will not be
altogether so inviting as heretofore,
and that is where the shoe pincAes
among those who feel they have a
divine right to control the business
interests Of this country. We are 60
ing to let the shylocks dictate to the
politician and then let him play on
his deceptive harp to his hearts con-
tent, but as a whole the agricultural
interest is getting out of the bushes
Just enough to not swallow everything
IL hears. We believe the charge
spurious from the manner in which 1t
Is put before the public. There was
an effort last winter to destroy the
cotton warehouse system Of this State
and that effort did not come from a
source who Is friend Of the producer,
and the representatives of that source
claimed as to their respective Sec
tons Of the state. one had never
sanctioned the system and in another
the farmers had asked for its de-
struction. We suppose those advo-
Gates of the destruction of the sys-
tenn took at that time a part Of
the legislature and all the farmers for
a set OF ignoramuses, thinking in
their extreme wisdom, that they would
sulp down the medicine dealt out by
such far-seeing physicians. and
would smack their lips in appreciation
OF such a cure-all. Every man OF
average intelligence knows that the
cotton warehouse system Is an, ad-
vancement in the interest of the State
at large and when we hear a fellow
decrying 1t, we put him down as not
beng OF average intelligence or else
he has some axe to grind. Vigilance,
II Is said. is the price OF liberty, and
the people as a whole propose to ex-
ercise H. and our politicians better
get ready to accept the situation un-
less they want to be showed under so
deep that when they scratch out they
will find themselves on the other side.
j. G. Dunbar.