Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1915-02-12
EUROPEAN WAR SHAT
TIERS KING COTON'S
THRONE
FLEEcY STAPLE MUST PAY RAN
SOM INTO THE GOLFERS OF
WAR.
Na1ion Rings With Cries of Stricken
Industry.
BY Peter Radford


King Cotton has suffered more from
the European war than any other ag-
ricultural product on the American
continent The shells Of the belliger-
ents have bursted over his throne,
frightening his subjects and shatter-
ing his markets, and. panic-stricken,
The nation cries out God save the
fingl"
People from every walk OF life have
contributed their mite toward rescue
work Society has danced before the
king; milady has decreed that the
family wardrobe shall contain only
cotton goods; the press has plead
with the public to buy a bale;
bankers have been formulating hold
ing plans; congress and legislative
bodies have deliberated over relief
measures; statesmen and writer's
have grown eloquent expounding the
inalienable rights of "His Majesty"
and presenting schemes for presaTv-
ing the financial integrity Of the
stricken staple. but the sword OF Bu-
]
Of America in fixing value upon this
/ product of the sunny south. Prices
have been bayoaeted. values riddled
and markets decimated by the battling
hosts of the eastern hemisphere until
the American farmer has suffered
war loss of 100000, 900, and bale
OF cotton brave enough to enter
European port must pay a ransom of
half its value or go to prison until the
war is over.
Hope of the Future Lies in co-opera-
ton.
The Farmers Union, through the
columns of the press, wants to thank
the American people for the friend
ship, sympathy and assistance given
the cotton farmers in the hour of dis
tress and to direct attention to CO
operative methods necessary to per-
manently assist the marketing of all
farm products.
The present emergency presents rs
grave a situation as ever confronted
the American farmer and from the
viewpoint of the producer, would seem
to Justify extraordinary relief meas
ures, even to the point of bending the
constitution and straining business
rules in order to lift portion of the
burden off the backs of the farmer.
for unless something is done to check
the invasion of the war forces upon
the cotton fields, the pathway of the
European pestilence on this continent |
will be strewn with mortgaged homes |
and famine and poverty viii stalk over
the southland, filling the highways of |
industry with refugees and the bank |
ruptcy court with prisoners.
All calamities teach us lessons and |
the present crisis serves to illuminate
the frailties of our marketing meth
DDS and the weakness of our credit
system. and out of the financial an
guish and travail of the cotton farmer
will come a volume of discussion and
a mass of suggestions and finally a
solution of this, the biggest problem
in the economic life of America, if,
indeed, we have not already laid the
for at least temporary re-
lief.
More Pharaohs Needed in Agriculture.
Farm products have no credit and
perhaps can never have on a perma-
nent and satisfactory basis unless W.
build warehouses. cold storage plants,
elevators, etc. for without storage and
credit facilities. the south is COM !
PEELED to dump its crop on the market
1t harvest time. The Farmers Unions
m the cotton producing states have
'or the past ten years persistently adj
Tocated the construction of storage
ABILITIES. We have built during this
period 1000 warehouses with a ca.
'acity of approximately 1000, 900 bales
md looking backward the results
would seem encouraging, but looking 9
onward. we are able to house less s
han one-third of the crop and ware b
louses without a credit system lose A
% per cent of their usefulness. The ! 4
'roblem is a gigantic one-too great 8
or the farmer to solve unaided He
must have the assistance of the bank
r, the merchant and the government
In production we have reached the
Ugh water mark Of perfection in the
forld's history, but our marketing
nethods are most primitive. In the
avn of history we find agriculture
lowing with forked stick but with ]
system of warehouses under govern t
rental supervision that made the il
egyptians the marvel of civilization. {
'r who has not admired the vision of v
oseph and applauded the wisdom of Il
haraoh for storing the surplus until 5
emanded by the consumer, but in
lis age we have too many Josephs
no dream and not enough Pharaobs
no build.