Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1915-01-07
EUROPEAN Win shit.
TIERS KING C0T10N'S
THRONE
FLEEcY STAPLE MUST PAY RAN
soM INTO THE GOLFERS OF
WAR.
Nation Rings With Cries OF Stricken
INDUSTRY. .
BY Peter Radford :
Lecturer National Farmers Union

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, -Spanic-stricken.
the nation cries out God save the
king!"
| People from every walksof life have
4 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 lp;ans;. congress and legislative
bodies have delfberated over relief
measures; statesmen and writer's
have grown eloquent expounding the
inalienable rights !. of ''His Majesty"
and presenting schemes for preserv-
ing the financial integrity of the
stricken staple, but the sword of Eu-
rope has proved mightier than the pen
of America in fixing value upon this
product Of the sunny south Prices
have been bayoneted, values riddied
and markets decimated by the battling
hosts of the eastern hemisphere until
the American farmer has suffered a.
war loss Of 100000, 900, and a bale
Of cotton brave enough to enter
European port must pay ransom Of
half its' value or go to prison until the
war Is over
Hope Of the Future Lies In co-opera-
tIon. s%-
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 as
grave 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 of the backs of the farmer,
for unless something's done to check
the invasion Of the war forces upon |
the cotton fields, the pathway of the |
European pesti1ence on this continent |
will be strewn with mortgaged homes |
and famine and poverty will stalk over |
the southland, filing 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 q perma-
lent and satisfactory basis unless W.
build warehouses, cold storage plants,
elevators, etc. for without storage and
,redit facilities, the south Is COM
yelled to dump its crop on the market
It harvest time. The Farmers Unions
n the cotton producing states have
or the past ten years persistently ad-
'ocated the construction of storage
ABILITIES. We have built during this
erfod 1000 warehouses with a ca
acity of approximately 100000 bales
nd looking backward the results
yould seem encouraging, but looking
orward, we are able to house less
han one-third of the crop and ware
ouses without credit system lose
0 per cent of their usefulness. The
roblem is a gigantic one-too great
,r the farmer to solve unaided. He
lust have the assistance of the bank =
:, the merchant and the govern4pent. '
In production we have reaches kfle
Ugh water mark OF perfection in the
orld's history, but our marketing :.
ethods are most primitive. In the
avn Of history we find agriculture
owing with forked stick but with !.
system Of warehouses under govern =
entail supervision that made the =
gyptians the marvel of civilization, :
r who has not admired the vision Of
seph and applauded the wisdom Of
,araoh for storing the surplus until d
manded BY the consumer, but In :,
70 age We have too many Josephs =
10 dream and mot enough Pharaohs
% build. :,