The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-07-27
EVERYBODY GETS RICH
But COTTON PLANTER
EFFECT ON SOUTH OF EMBARGO
ON COTTON.
Remarks of Hon. JnO. L. McLaurin to
Farmers Meeting at Orange
burg on July "a.


of his address to the farmers of Or
angeburg county, at a meeting held
ere today, Hon. Jno. L. McLaurin, in
discussing the position in which the
South has been placed during the
world war now in progress, said:
at is remarkable Tow little the wis
est man comprehended the far-reach-
ing effects of this worldwide war.
The first impression that we had in
tais country was that our export trade
would be absolutely destroyed and all
business be practically at stand-still
until tie end of the war. We had es-
Inmates from the greatest cotton ex-
perts giving figures to show that the
consumption of American cotton would
be less than ten million bales. No one
realized the new uses which the war
would create for TIE consumption Of
cotton. 1t is estimated that three mil
lion bales of cotton have been con-
sumed in the manufacture Of explo-
sives. This seems to me an extrava-
CANT statement, but if you include
tents, uniforms, gun cotton, etc., it
probably falls short of the figures. Ac-.
cording to an estimate that l have re-
Gently seen, t-ere are now about twen-
ty-nine million men under arms, not
counting the armies Of the neutral
powers, which are at the maximum in
order to protect their neutral rights.
The withdrawal of t:is vast number
from the productive walks of life has
decreased the output of foreign fac
tories and created an enormous and
constantly increasing demand for
American goods of every kind.
at is perfectly apparent now Tat the
United States could speedily have end
ed tx war last October by an embargo
on tae shipment of food and munitions.
This would have meant the speedy tri-
umph of Germany, for, strange as it
may seem, she was the only country
prepared for war.
"'At the present rate, the trade bal
ance in favor of tie United States will
amount to one and half billion dol
lars, more than double the highest
point which it has ever reached before.
1t is tt e generally accepted idea that
this large trade balance is due to the
munitions of war, but the department
of commerce in its figures SHOWS this
not to be the case, as foodstuffs occu-
py the most prominent figure in it.
Unless the United States is drawn into
the war with an eIcausting expendl-
ture of men and money, she will be
richer at the end of another year than
all the nations now at war combined.
This enormous trade balance constl-
tutes a debt that Europe must pay
America either in gold or products OF
some kind. Some Of it has been met
by the sale at low price Of securities
in American corporations. This money
has gone to enrich Boston and New
York. The iron and steel industries
of Pittsburg and the West are reaping
fabulous profits. The Western farmer
is growing rich from stock and grain.
Here in the South our people, WHO
grow the greatest money crop in the
world, have had it forced out of their
hands. and few middlemen have
pocketed something like four hundred
million dollars out of the cotton crop
of the South
"We are confronted by an almost
complete embargo on the shipments OF
cotton. Is the South again to be the
only sufferer? The sinking of tie Lu-
sitania shocked this nation to its
depths; but, after all, the loss of one
hundred and twenty human lives pales
into insignifcance when compared to
the freedom of the seas for which our
ancestors shed oceans Of blood and
expended millions of treasure.
81 I5aye great confidence in the sa-
gacity and the patriotism of President
Wilson, and l fully realize the tremen-
dous problem which he has been fac
ing for the past year in maintaining
the neutrality of the United States
with the whole world at war 1t was
impossible for him, as for any one
else, to Rave foreseen the great de-
mand made upon the United states for
food and ammunition, and how impos-
sible it was for England to have an
tagouized the United States and con-