The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-18
COTTON SITUATION COULD
 EASILY BE MUCH WORSE

do nothing about it. If we then per
 sisted in an embargo on the shipm ent of food and munitions to England and iher allies. it would be a hostile act,
 and would justify England and her al lies in declaring war on the United States.
 If the writer is not mistaken, the
 total exports of cotton for this year
 to date are only about 10 per cent less than they were last year. England buys more cotton from us than Germany and probably more than Germany and Aus tria combined. As a result of her ac- tion in reference to commerce ulti-
 mately destined to Germany she has apparently put herself in the position
 of being obliged to buy the cotton that would otherwise go to Germany and Austria if she does not permit 1t to be delivered in Germany and Austria the figures relating to exports would seem to indicate that she probably has bought a consid erable quantity of such cotton.
 In the writer's judgment, the whole trouble with the cotton situation lies In the fact that we have raised too much. The market severely punishes producers who offer it more than it can
 take. Just as illogically and unreason-
 ably 1t rewards producers who de-
 prive it of a part of it's normal sup ply. The remedy for the cotton situa- 1 tions is obvious. We should have re- duced the acreage this year more than we did. If we had. the price would have taken care of itself. and the to- tai amount received by the cotton
 states would have been as great if not
 greater, than that received for a nor
 nal crop in normal times
 Cotton is selling for 9 cents, or bet
 ter, at the present time. It is hard to
 believe that this does not at least
 cover the cost of production. It seems very doubtful whether the situation,
 due to the coming crop, can possibly
 be as had as the situation which we
 had on our hands last autumn It
 Is unbelievable that the south is In any
 danger of bankruptcy. If We had
 raised only a normal crop last year
 We would have had practically nothing
 to carry over in spite of the war.
 V hile the crop this year seems larger
 than desirable, the writer doubts very
 much whether there will be any diff
 ficulty in getting rid of 1t, as well as
 the surplus carried over from last
 yea, at prices which will at least
 cover the cost of production.
 The writer has no desire to under estimate the inconvenience and suffer
 ing due to low prices of cotton. His
 own business is suffering severely be- cause of the conditions now prevailing
 in tle south. In fact, 1t has fallen off
 considerably more in proportion than
 t' Q exports of cotton, but the writer does not believe that he is facing bank
 ruptov. nor does he believe that there
 is the slightest danger of any such
 disaster to the south. It is necessary
 to he economical, and prudent, and cautious But there is nothing in
 the situation to justify us in playing
 the baby or creating false alarms.
 Even If we should face a more se- rious crisis in the cototn situation than
 the writer now believes possible. there
 are still other matters to consider. It
 Is probable that the inconvenience and loss which we suffer now is merely the price we pay for immunity from worse things in the future. England and her allies-regardless of the inn | n' 'ediate causes that took them into the war-are fighting for government by the people against the most powerful autocracy on the face of the earth. A nation which would be guilty of the barbarities that Germany has officially acknowledged responsibility for in this war should not be permitted to triumph in any cause even If it were otherwise just Should Germany win. 1t Is all f, together probable that we would soon face a situation where the price of our cotton and the terms upon which we could sell 1t would be fixed by a com biEaticn of political and military power l instead of by the natural laws Of trade l as it is at the present time
 It Is unbelievable that there is any conscious conspiracy between the | spnners of England and our own New
 England states to depress the price of | cotton. These people have always been
 a large factor in fixing prices because
 they are the largest buyers. They buy 1t as cheaply as they can. just as ev-
 eryone always does and they are not
 actuated by motives of philanthropy in
 making their purchases. The very selfshness. however, which would cause them to virtually depress the price when there Is a surplus crop will cause them to pay extravagantly high | prices for it when there is shortage. We are in position to beat them at their own game, if we may so call it., l by not producing as much cotton as | they really need. If we will do that, the cotton situation will take care of 1 itself
 l Mir. Kettig disclaims any interest in i the war, on one side or the other. l but, whether we like it or not matters of greater importance to the United
 States than one or two years depres-
 sion of the cotton industry are inc