Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-11-16

ton, which is responsible right nov
for the heavy decline in price.
1--WE need to understand finance a.
it relates to cotton, far more thar
warehouses. This great war has de-
monstrated one thing-that money
is not merely gold, but real money o.
country are Its products-the things
that feed and clothe mankindanc
that in great stress and strain like
the present the nations have very lit
tie regard for gold.
THE money Of this country be.
, longs to the people of this country
1t is made by their agent, the govern
ment, whose fiat imparts the legal
tender quality without which it is not
money. The true function of money
Is as a measure Of value in exchang-
ing the fruits Of labor. 1 believe that
money should be issued by the gov
eminent as nearly direct to the people
as possible. If all the southern states
would inaugurate warehouse systems
on the same lines as South Carolina,
we can have money issued by the gov
ernment on warehouse reccipts, not
as a political necessity or courtesy,
but as a matter Of right. The pound
of cotton should be the unit Of credit,
and it should be the same in one
mans hands as in another's, entitled
to the same rights and to the same
privileges, and every man know de-
nnitely just what those rights and
privileges are.
up to now," continued Senator
McLaurin, South Carolina has had
the burden of this fight. They have the
system in Texas, and the Georgia
legislature is now considering it, at
an extra session. If North Carolina
and the other states will go into 1t,
we could have an interstate board,
which would establish minimum
price for cotton, and never again will
it be necessary to sell bale Of cotton
below the cost Of production"
Taking up the matter Of direct
sales, cutting out the profits of mid
die men and spectators, Senator Nc
Laurin said that it must be remem-
bered that we do not grow cotton to
warehouse, but to sell, and in this
connection he also urged state re-
gulation Of grading to save the heavy
drain now upon the southern farmers
from consistent undergrading of cot
ton by local buyers.
THE greatest burden that the south
has labored under" he said, has been
the lack Of capital. We have the great
est money crop on earth. We have
given a practical demonstration in
South Carolina Of how easy it is to
convert cotton into a negotiable Sc
curity as good as any railroad or state
bond. Through the Federal reserve
system, we have made break in the
interest Of rates. II Is high interest
rates which enable the drones and
parasites to devour the workers. The
new currency law is the first great
step, and the next step Is to confine
banks to their only legitimate func-
ton, to-wit, as a channel for the dis
tribution Of money and credits. 1t is
the beginning Of true national bank
ing system, not for personal profit but
to develop the nation. Our great need
Is money at a. low rate on long time,
based upon land, to be used only for
improvements or purchases of home
steads. Then for commercial purpos-
es, warehouse receipts for non-perish-
able farm products as a collateral for
short time loans.
in progress, and the unexpected
strength shown by Germany and
France, as contrasted with England,
Is due to their different management
of the land question, and unless we do
something to avert it, the same dis
aster will overtake the United States.
This country cannot exist except as a
nation of home owners. I have just
read a very interesting book on this
subject. Tie author says: England
has been developing extensively, while
Germany and France have been de-
veloping intensively; while England
has been winning provinces, Germany
has been fertilizing her acres; while
England's drumbeat has been going
round the world and her traders have
been following in its wake, the Ger
mans hive has been humming with the
labor Of an increasing and well cared
for population. 1t is as though I'M
perial Rome had divided, and one half
of her, her lust Of conquest, had found
refuge in England, and the other half,
her aptitude for arms and organiza-
ton, had established itself in Ger
many We have not grasped the full
meaning Of this-the two tremendous
social experiments that are going on
with England on one side and Germany
on the other They reached their
culmination-these two systems. the
extensive and the intensive, one de-
veloping colonies all over the world and
the other the acres at home. England
represents world dominion and Ger
many individual efficiency. From the
outside we have been astonished at the
expansion Of Germany's foreign trade
and her gigantic military power. This
has diverted our attention from the
German landschaften, the system OF
rural credits that has made Germany
the power she is today. The perma-
nency Of all free institutions depends
upon the relation Of the people to their
land, and where this relation is abso-
lutte landlordism, the glittering super
structure of colonial expansion cannot
save a nation from decay. In England
less than thirteen per cent Of the land
is cultivated by it's owners; the other
eightyseven per cent tenants at eX-
tortionate rents. In Germany just the
reverse is true. Ninety per cent Of
the lands Of Germany are cultivated
by the owners. Comparison Of the
agricultural output Of the two coun-
tries Is astonishing. and explains why
10 e., 20