Bisbee daily review., 1915-08-20
4ow Aeour ouR oor1oN1

HOW ABOUT OUR coTToN2
Cotton is becoming great national and nternatona
issue The South fears that it may soon have to fac
situation as bad as that of last year, when it wa
caught with the greatest crop Of its history while tn
foreign market closed.
There will be such bumper crop as there was las
year The planters, learning from that bitter experience
diminished the this season by half million
The total production expected to be about u
100000 bales, against 100000 in 1914 But nasmuc
100000 100000 bales will be left over the resul
is the That surplus is financed for the present
but the due in the fall The outlook accord
ing to southern experts, promises "a market for onl,
about twohirds Of the total How is the rest to be SOLE
or financed?
About 100000 bales, half of visible supply anC
onethird of the worlds will be consumed by the United
States and Japan Spain will take less than 100000
According to Col F. Watson president of the southern
Cotton Congress, England has bought a years suppl,
ahead taking advantage of last years low prices to ay
in 100000 bales and may decide to buy more this year
According to the authority Russia has four years
supply Germany is said have 1000 900 bales on hand
but Germany is inaccessible as Austria u.s. Belgium!
mills are out Of business. And purchases Of the
neutral European countries never large are severely re
striced by England.
Cotton has come to GRIEF between the two groups Of
hostile powers It has to have military value be
cause it is used to make ammunition-not merely
the highly explosive guncotton used in torpedoes but the
slowerburning propusive ammunition needed in such
vast quantities for firing shells It is said that the Ger
mans have worked process by which the raw cotton
is sent to the firing line and converted into an ex
p1rgf e,,b-t
acids
The result is that England the shipping
Of cotton to Germany and Austra-hthero two of our
best customers-than she toleraes our sending them
shells or And make their deprivation certain
she stops all cotton cargoes bound for Holland Den
mark Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. and lets only
as much through she believes is required for the
minimum needs of those countries lest the surplus be
to Germany
Cotton is thus treated virtual contraband And at
any moment Great Britain decide to make it absolute
The difference would be that whereas Eng.
land now merely seizes cotton shipments and buys
what she suspects is ultimately intended for Germany
She would then be entitled legally to coniscate it,
There is doubt OF Great Britains right to declare
the staple contraband if she She would be just
when made cotton contraband. And when we object
that by doing she viii impose grievous burden on our
South, England may reply that by so doing half cen
Jury ago ruined her weaving industry by cutting Off
It's raw material and starved the cotton operatives Of
Lancashire
There those who hold that the South is crying
calamity without cause. The Manufacturers Record of
Baltimore maintains that with diversified crops and big
grain production, and and steel plants running to
capacity, and the coal and oil output steadily increasing
the South is really prosperous suggests thai the cot
ton calamity talk in the South mostly due to con
spiracy the part proGermans to turn national sent
ment against England But that explanation fails to re-
assure southern business men
The president of the Southern Cotton Congress has an
ambitious plan by which government is to persuade
the British to issue bonds and buy half the
cotton crop-sx million bales-at about eight
cents pound That would be a good investment for
England, he Though equal the cost of rails
ing the cotton it would the South from disaster
and England ought to be willing to do it to preserve
American goodwill
Another southern suggestion is that Britain be
coerced into letting us sell cotton freely to European
neutrals and begerents by threatening to sell her no
food other supplies she refuses That of course
would involve our whole country in disaster in England
refused and the embargo were applied.
cANADA's SACRIFICE
Canada is feeling the effects Of the war She has a.