The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-01-02
wade Plan Is nISUsED.
WAREHOUSE COMMISSION ER
SAYS MONEY Is BEING LOAN
To COTTON MILLS.
Declares He Has Facts tn Prove State
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Says He Could Sell
Cotton Direct TO European Spnncrs,
10 His Power was Extended.


States shipping commissioner for the
port Of New York. published Dscem-
Der 30 In The state. In which Mr.
Psddison spoke Of the urgent demand
abroad for American cotton. especially
among the belligerents I'm the Euro
pean war. has brought down upon the
state warehouse commissioners. John
L. McLAurin. some hundreds Of let
ters. inquiring In most cases whether
South Carolina might not exploit this
demand to advantage.
Mr.. McIAurin has drafted q letter
In reply to all such inquiries. In
which he says. among other things,
that he deems II advisable that his
powers be 30 enlarged al to enable
him to negotiate sales direct with for
eign spinners. THE reserves are ex-
hausted." he says. "and they are
obliged to have our cotton"
Mr.. McLaurinb letter follows:
Dear Sir: have your letter of re-
cent date. In reference to shipment Of
cotton abroad. have written sew
sral articles on this subject and here
with inclos. you a statement given
out by me. which was published in
the Columbia State of Dece mber o, in
which I called attention to the fact
that the German and Austrian govern
mg~fs both were buying futures In the
Ssv York markets to yrotect their
manufacturers.
4 W1sn I was a member Of the Unit
"a 4axss senate was very severely
criticised for advocating ship subsi-
dies recognized as far back as
1900 that tho South. producing the
chief export crop OF this country. was
at great disadvantage because We
had to depend upon foreign vessels
to curry our products abroad. Ger
u|(C. England. France and Japan
wU4 paying heavy subsidies to their
sh1A and thu inevitable result was to
er4e the American merchant flag
tom the sea: AZ the time that took
this stand there was only one Nne OF
american vcsaels left, and this has
neV soas undNr foreign flags. The
fAee is'khAt Z considerable portion of
the mosses svested in foreign ships is
asrc>tc.Sa Icy. and they vent un-
der Il. s'.-., ..--s In order 20 Participate
In thsse subsidies. hut. under the
terms OF the subsidy. AZ IN a. war
is declared all of heso sn,ps become
. part OF the navy OF the country
whose f,ag they are f,.lng.
In our extremity President Wilson
Is proposing that the government buy
he ships outright and Arrow private
pcrsons or corporations 10 operate
them. II
II seems to me that X fSthe federal
administration had suficient back
bone to announce positively that cot.
ton. not being q contraband Of war.
would be shipped to any country In
the world. under the protection Of the
american navy. that none Of the
eountries now at war would dare to
interfere. As II In. II looks an IL Eng
lshd is determined that cotton shall
h shipped nowhere except to her.
Taking this In connection with the
fact that the secretary OF the treas
ury In responsible for exporting to the
Bank Of England enough gold to have
bought one-haif Of the cotton crop,
it seems that the South is expected to
contribute ut least one-half Of this
crop To enable England to conduct the
war TO u successfui conclusion. About
the time that tho treasury department
made this large contribution or gold
to the ant o: England. the British
minister gave notice 10 the spinners
hat they could not furnish funds for
tho purchase a. American cotton, and
that the mus. consume their re-
serves. The effect OF this, Just as
this large crop canie on the market,
was to cut p. ices half in two. IL
there hal been no war. the action OF
the secretary cf the treasury alone
would have destroyed one-half of the
value Of the cotton crop Of the South.
1 have never been able to sec why.
when England and all the other coun-
tries In Europe declared moratorium
the United States should not have
done the same thing by suspending
specie payments. Two hundred mil
lion dollars OF gold was exported To
England M August and September.
This was e1sivaient to $500. 900. 900 OF
paper money. enough to have bought
the entire cotton crop at 10 cents per
pound. The reason assigned for doing
thla .x.aa ihaA ...-.-i.