The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-06-30

which we create to destroy our
market and to deliver US over to
antagonistic interests. They
talk to as about the law of sup
ply and demand. Cotton sold
in my town on the streets in Oc-
tober at five cents. 1t is now
bringing twice as much, and this
difference Of 100 per cent. lies in
the extension of credit, not in
the demand for cotton.
1t is not so often overproduc-
tion of cotton, as contraction of
credits and faulty distribution
that make for lower prices.
Statistics prove that the produc
tion of cotton has not kept pace
with the consumption. New
uses are found for it each year.
1t has almost supplanted wool
and silk. 1t leads in the great
industrial advance, and it can be
made to bring a fair return to
those who produce it. From
the socks on our feet to the hats
on our heads, from undershirts
to overcoat, it is cotton There
are one hundred million people
in the United States today. and
if they were able it is Lot ex-
travagant to say that they
would each use ten dollars worth
of cotton every year. This
would consume the entire crop
of the United States and leave
nothing for the balance OF the
world. The farmers of the
South hold the key to the situa.
ton. Wall Street can sell all
the future cotton they please,
but the mills can not spin the
kind of cotton that Wall Street
sells. You can't clothe people
with paper contracts. We have
the actual cotton, and it is spot
cotton, not paper cotton, which
is king. All that the South has
to do is to put herself in a situa'
ton to hold the crop and demand
a fair price for it. Sooner or
I later these millions of future con
tracts that are now being sold
in the cotton exchange of New
York will fall due, and then
spectators must come to US for
the spot cotton.
|sOUTH CAROLINA ALWAYS A
LEADER.
The population of the world
is estimated at about 1.500, 600,
900 people. About 100000, ,00C
regularly wear clothes; 100000,
900 are partially clad, and, $780,
900, 900 go naked, and it has
been estimated that to clothe
the entire population of the en-,
tire world at the present rate OF
pounds per capita would require
so, 100000 bales of cotton of SOC
pounds each. 1t is therefore
plain that the production of cot
ton will go on extending until
the inhabited earth is clothed
with the product of our fields,
| for cotton at 25 cents is the
cheapest clothing known to man.
| It is the mission of the South to
clothe the world, but if she is to
do so there must be a reasonable
profit for the land owner and
the iaborer. South Carolina,
true to her traditions in the past,
is leading this great industrial
movement for itabillzing the
price of cotton. Mr.. W. P. G.
Harding, of the Federal Reserve
Board, in an address last Febru,
ary to the American Bankers
Institute, said that out of the
agitation which we had last fall
that the only thing worth while
was the excellent warehouse
system in this State Z" Later he
gave me letters to the leading
6nanciers of New York City: in
which he stated that South Car
olina WAS far in advance of any
thing which had been tempted
and her State Warehouse Sys-
5em was model for the other
States to follow. I feel that |
can assure him that South Car
Dina will do her full duty. Our
little State has a glorious his.
tory and has played her part
well in every great national cris-
is. In 1887 John Rutledge de-
livered his ultimatum to the Con
vention which formed the Con-