Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-09-07
BRITISH METHODS AS TO COTTON
A Little More Light on an All-Impor-
TAM Subject.

tdHI SdpJoSS
II we may be permitted to discuss
still a little further this question of
British interference with our cotton
trade-without being accused Of pro-
Germanism, or ~pro-anything else-we
have some more light to throw On that
all important subject.
Perhaps we should explain at the
outset, in order to relieve what follows
from the suspicion Of bias, that 1t
comes from no less an authority than
the New York Journal Of Commerce,
which if 1t is biased at all, is biased
in favor of Great Britain and her
Allies. At any rate, here it is, as taken
from the news columns Of that excel
lent commercial journal:
while the important trade factors
are feeling more optimistic about the
international trade situation, from the
standpoint of the fall trade Of this
country, there is a great deal of dis
satisfaction in circles Of cotton ship
pers whose cargoes, destined to Ger
many and Austria at a time when
such shipments were allowed to move
by the British, have been seized and
practically confiscated. The charge is
made that Great Britain is not treating
American cotton shippers fairly in ar
ranging for the settlement Of claims
for cotton which was seized on four
steamers en- route to Sweden and other
| countries contiguous to Germany"
There we have it; while the New
York importers got busy and went
down to Washington and raised a
rumpus with the state department.
with the result that they got their
| Christmas toys and cutlery and gloves
and notions released almost forthwith
the shippers Of cotton are right
where they stood and right where they
have stood for months pastor prac-
tically so. While some of this de
tained' cotton has been settled for, the
the mos of it has not; and here is the
story about that:
Among other things, it is asserted
that the British have offered to COM
pensate the American owners Of the
| cotton on those four vessels on the
basis Of the American valuation Of the
cotton at the time it left the American
port. This offer has been emphatically
refused, the attorneys representing the
shippers insisting on full payment for
the cotton on the basis Of the price
ruling at the port to which it was con-
signed and the approximate date Of
it's arrival at that port. had it not been
seized. To date, it is learned, ap-
proximately $4,000 has been paid by
Great Britain to American shippers Of
these four seized cotton cargoes and
further sums, aggregating $500, 600, are
said to be due to the same interests.
"One of the attorneys who has been
active on behalf of the shippers Of the
cotton cargoes seized en- route to Ger
many and Austria said that England
Is not fairly abiding by the so-called
cotton agreement. He asserted that
while some payments have been made,
many of the cargoes seized last May en-
route to Germany have not yet been
paid for after nearly three months Of
continuous negotiations"
OF course, all this may be all right
with those people who still insist that
Great Britain should be permitted to
seize our cotton as often as she pleas
es and pay for it, or not, whenever she
gets good and ready and at her own
price; but we suspect that even such
"neutrals" as these might be somewhat
staggered at this additional informa-
ton as to Great Britain's attitude to-
ward our cotton; her determination to
seize it at her pleasure, pay for it
whenever she likes and at her own price
and, then, sell it herself to other
countries at an advanced price. If the
following be true, it is enough to set
every American to thinking. and
thinking hard:
Il know" says this same attorney.
that in certain instances, shippers
informed the British embassy Of every
detail Of their arrangements, cancell-