The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-08-10
CONCERNING COTTON
w. P. 6. Hardlng's State
ment Held Very Re-
assuring

The statement u Mr. Harding. the
Southern member II the Federal Ike
serve Board. should be very rea~sur-
ing = the South The mos. SlEniH-
cant part ~ the statement j. the ad-
moniuon not 10 embarraSs the rreSl-
dent with demands which imply that
the matter Il a marzej FOR cotton Is
the major Il not th- sole subject FOR
governmental consideration. and The
South VIII not b.. ml-led by politicians
in urging the president - measures
which, while impossible Of realization
themselves, carry tne possibility If Sc
rlouS Impairment OF advantages al
ready enjoyed. It is worth while 10
consider Some OF these ADVANTAGES.
was a delegate to the Cotton Con-
sress which met in Washington last
August TO consider the problem OF
marketing cotton. and the most opti-
mlstiC opinion could not see a posi-
bility OF more than half normal CON
sumption, and no one predicted a Eu-
ropean demand FOR more than four
and a half TO five million bales. Up
to the first of July We had exported
over eight million bales of cotton. and
the total consumption was over thir-
teen million bales, or within a few
hundred thousand OF the previous
year, SO that the South has been able
TO market its crop in an almost nor
NAL quantity, and Mr.. Harding is au-
tliOIlbt ioI tnt Sidlt iltllt tiAN llt
price received for the staple il as
much as il would have been had there
been no war.
In view of these facts. the question
arises how were such results made
possible? The answer is the key 10
the true course of the South in this
emergency. and is briefly. first, that
the British navy in driving German
cruisers from the high seas made
possible the shipment of cotton TO
both the Allies and .:eutral countries.
and. second, that the allied nations
represent so per cent of the European
spindles, While the Tcuton nations
represent only 20 per cent. If Great
Britain had not succeeded in clear
ing the seas of German raiders 4
would have been impossible TO have
exported cotton to any OF the allied
countries, and if his condition had
not been brought about 50 per cent
Of foreign consumption would have
been cut off. 1t must be remembered
that while the British navy controls
the seas, cotton has not been made
c~Ontraband and SO far no CarEOes
"a have been confscated. while German
. commerce raiders would have sun
cargOes destined to the Allies with
out compensation TO shippers. We
have only to recall the havoc played
$, by the cruiser Emden in shipments
from India, and how the burlap in
dustry Of his country was brought e
a S~tandStill, to appreciate what would
have been the result had German
cruisers been able to have raided AT
" lantic ocean commerce.
e And while the policy of both The
6, European belligerents is TO arrest
We commerce to and from enemy coun-
tries, and both breach l~nternatiOna
law, their practice is widely different
The German submarine blockade Is
no less designed to starve out Eng
ed lan1 than iS tho HrItiSh h1ncLaGo -
starve out Germany, but the means
;, employed are so vitality different tha'
= while the German method destroy:
neutral property without compensa
ri ton, and neutral lives without regret
the British method respects neutra
lives and pays for neutral property
The result Of the British blockade 81
far from destroying has not even re
duced the exports from this countr,
-apart from strictly war munitions
and since the Allies take so per cen
of our cotton exports, nothing coul'
e. be more f~oolhardy than for the Souti
to urge measures which, while failin
to restore the trade with the Teuto
nations, might result in the Allie
making cotton contraband and there
by cOniscating cargOeS which are nor
paid for when seized.
It is immaterial to the South VII
Guys our cotton, but II Is very necee
sary that somebody buy il, and Whc
we consider that there is a powerfl
% party in England demanding that tn
ct ~ .ooo,+ Sc oxaI,,
eve dHu tHoe "
rvn ing in France, it behOOyes the Sout
to Measure Will its steps and TO TAX
under serious consideration the al
vice Of Mr.. Harding, han whom n
man in the South is in position I
speak with more authority.
1t matters not where our sym
o n2thiaS NAV lie in this war. the SUE
224 cess of the Allies is undoubtedly tn
- welfare Of the South.