The Ocala evening star., 1915-09-14
FROM MAJOR IZLAR
Blackville, S. c., Sept. II.

Blackville, s. c., Sept. II.
Editor Star: | have been reading
some things in the Star which make
me feel like saying a few things my
self, but before doing so / Will write
Of some matters here which may be Of
interest 70 some Of the readers Of your
paper.
will begin with the crops, as you
and are good farmers and know good
crops when we see them. / found out
you were when I read that article of
yours after your visit TO the Ottawa
ha Valley Farms. Some folks thought
when they read it that you set out
from Ocala to go fishing and rounded
: up at the farm about the time the
F knew it was no fish story for / had
seen good corn myself up in the Pa
colet valley. Well / have seen some
real good corn here, but not as good
as that you saw-that l. not so much
of it that was that good. The crops
here are not so generally good as the
people had hoped for, although many
of the farmers have splendid crops of
/ all kinds, others have poor crops and
will not make corn enough TO feed
| their stock through another season.
| Commercial fertilizers were not used
by any means as freely as hereto
fore and while cotton is bringing a
fairly good price and the crop was
produced at much smaller cost, still
| the crop is short and there will be but
/ little surplus cash left in the hands
of the farmers to supply the needs of
| the coming winter or to start off an
other crop for the coming year. OF
course this does not apply to all of
them by any means, for many of the
| larger planters have an abundance of
every necessary thing including a
good cash balance in the bank. The
people, however, are not down-hearted
or pessimistic. They have the true
grit and will go at it again, confident
that they will win out sooner or
later-and they will.
Some of the best informed cotton
men here, who have dealt in the
staple for many years and of course
made crop and market conditions a
study for years say the crop will be
very short this year, less than 12,0O0,-
600 bales. They do not hesitate to
blame the English government for the
present condition of the cotton mar
ket and believe that it is all done to
! hamper American commerce and so
as to keep our trade with foreign from
growing and expanding while the war
| is on. That England does not want
the United Sta-es to get an establish
ed trade in foreign countries fearing
the loss of much of her trade and for
mer customers if after the war she
has to compete with US. They scout
the reasons alleged by England for
her interference with the freedom of
our trade with neutral nations and
do not believe that cotton enters to
any great extent into the composition
of high explosives, saying, if that
were so, why does Russia, so sadly in
need of munitions speak for so little
cotton? And if so, why is it that in
the U. s., where it is claimed that mil
lions and millions of dollars worth of
munitions are being manufactured,
] that the demand here for cotton does
not run the price up? If the English
contention we've true, it does seem
that the ammunition factories would
now be in a regular scramble for cot
ton in order to be in position to meet
their large contracts. 1t looks so
doesn't it?
Further than that-some of them
believe that England is responsible for
the strained relations now existing be-
tween our government and Germany
and believe that England is doing
everything she can to bring about the
breaking point between the U. S. and
Germany, even to war. / have heard
some say (and they believe it) that
the English government actually paid
a big price to American adventurers
to travel back and forth across the
Atlantic on English lines so that there
may be an American life lost on ev-
cry ship the submarines torpedo. They
say they have heard this from men
who have travelled here and there
since these troubles began. Now all
these sentiments / have heard ex-
pressed did not come from the lips
of Germans or Americans born of
| German parents, but from the lips of