Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-09-21
UP TO THE BANKERS
President Says They Alone are to
Blanc If Cotton Suffers.

FFcSiOent Gays Incy fNioHc dTO "
Blame If Cotton Suffers.
1.-The president feels that the whole
maintenance Of the cotton situation
depends directly and Immediately up
on the southern bankers and they have
themselves to blame IL 1t does not
come out satisfactorily" says ]. P.
Tumulty, secretary to President Will
son, in a letter to John L. McLaurin,
state warehouse commissioner.
1.-The president" says the letter,
has received your letter Of Septem-
Der Is, and has been greatly interested
In reading it. He asks me to suggest
that you emphasize the letter that he
wrote to Mr.. Harding, and which Mr..
Harding read in his speech at Bir-
mingham, Ala
Mr.. McLaurin left yesterday for
Atlanta, where he will this week de-
liver an address on the cotton ware
house system to a gathering Of Geor-
gia farmers and business men, which
has been called by c. E. Barrett, pres
ident of the National Farmers Union.
On September Is, Mr.. McLaurin
sent the following letter to President
Wilson:
You were so generous in the letter
read by Mr.. Harding in his Birming-
ham speech that I feel that you
should be promptly advised Of sit
uation now pending.
"The quick advance in cotton Is due
primarily more to that letter and the
statements of Messrs. McAdoo and
Harding than to the admitted short
crop. This will later sustain prices,
if there is no combination of moneyed
interests to force cotton on the mar
ket.
Last spring the New York banks
freely loaned cents per pound when
the market price was much lower than
now. The same banks are refusing
to loan over cents. This is q very
short crop, and at 10 cents a pound
will not bring what the last crop did
to the producers.
The banks of the south are, as a
rule, opposed to lowering the interest
rate. They are afraid since your letetr
TO come out openly and are working
through the New York banks"
| At this point In the letter follows
some matters Of confidential nature
and the charge that certain bankers
in the south are writing letters to
influential bankers in New York, ad-
| yising that it is best not to extend ac-
| commodationS to hold cotton; that 1t
should be sold at 10 cents a pound
and that the best manner to accom-
plish this is to make the financing as
difficult as possible by unfavorable in
terest rates and the refusal to loan
over cents a pound. This summary
was furnished by Mr.. McLaurin:
| You will observe" the letter con-
tinues, that the basis of the trouble
is with the southern, not the New
York, banks. l do not wish to stir
strife and incite hatred among our
people by letting it be known what
some Of our large banks are doing.
| | am to address q mass meeting of
the farmers of Georgia on the 21st in
Atlanta, where this matter will be un-
der discussion and desire to be as
conservative as possible.
TO some extent l have the ear OF
the cotton planters and feel the re-
sponsibility. If you will advise me-,
marking your letter personal
promise not to use what you say ex-
cept for my personal guidance. .
While we made this crop at less cost
than the 1914 crop, it is so short that
at IL cents we will barely break
| even.
1T is a shortsighted policy, because
this crop will be about 5,500,000 bales
under the 1914, and if it does not show
a profit to the producers, the 1916
crop will be curtailed to where manu-
facturers will not have the raw ma
terial to supply their spindles. You
can see the far-reaching effect on
finances as well as labor.
IF the representatives Of the Allies
arrange a credit here and can be in
duced to use a portion in purchasing
low grade cotton carried over from
the last crop. no power can keep
prices down. The question will settle
itself. l had this idea when l wrote
you in August, and l still think this is
the solution which will relieve your
administration of embarrassment. If
they intend to purchase through New
York banks, and these force the cotton
out of our hands. it will be a grave
injustice to the helpless ss"-Columbia
State Sunday.