The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-08-18
REV. ASHBY JONES
TALKS OF COTTON
WHAT SHALL 1T PROFIT HE
SOUTH If 1T GAIN IHE
WHOLE WORLD (FOR ITS
COTTON) AND LOSE
ITS OWN SOUL.

COIIOn dI llC SOSC VI
too large a price to pay is the CLOS
ing sentence of a sermon by Rev. Dr.
M. Ashby Jones of Augusta, Ca,
which should be read by every man
in the South. Discussing the rela-
tive value of a man and property,
where Christianity always raises the
issue of values and insists as its fun
damental teaching that a man IS
worth more than property, DR.. Jones
turned his discussion to n
existing in the South today and the
influence of cotton upon the life and
character of this section, and SAID:
To translate this teaching into
terms of our present pressing prob
lem. we must ask, How much, then,
is a man of more value than a bale
of cotton?
Instantly religion becomes con.
crete. for cotton is the most f~orceful
influence in forming u economic
theories, people.
WHAT a part it has played in our
history! 1t made us a slave-holdlng
people sand determined for a century
our social customs and standards. 1t
absolutely denominates our lndns-
trial and commercial prosperity 1t
has been the most forceful influence
in forming our economic theories,
and has often dictated u political
creeds. According to its price we
are liberal or parsimonious, morose
or cheerful. In playful eulogy of
its immense value we have called cot
ton King, but in all seriousness we
should ask ourselves the question If
it does not actually rule in well-nigh
every realm of our life.
Now, as we approach another har-
vest, the price of cotton stands like
a mighty menace, threatening the in
tellectual and moral integrity of our
people. Great world questions which
challenge the cisanest and clearest
thinking and call for the highest and
hottest moral convictions front the
characters of men, and already it is
distinctly suggested that III attitude
on these questions shall be determin-
ed by the price of cotton. We must
answer, whether we shall merge our
characters into cotton and auction
them in the markets of the world.
I look back to last autumn with
shame and humiliation. 1t is a pic
ture of the South hawking her impo-
tence upon every avenue of COM
merce, advertising her weakness, and
like blind beggars pleading their pow
erty with the plant, "Buy a BALE"
lest we starve.. Was this the South
which rose phoenix-hke from the
ashes of the Civil War with a resili-
ent resourcefulness which astonished
the world and rebuilt this miracle
of a new South? Have we forgotten
all our principles of democracy, with
its familiar protests against pater-
nalism, that we so quickly creep to
the national treasury crying for
charity? Is cotton of so great a
value that for it we will sacrifice our
manhood, our independence and our
moral poise? I am profoundly con-
WINGED that the price of cotton is a
fundamental moral question, and by
it God is testing the souls of our peo-
pie.
This year the issue is still more
acute and significant. England has
declared a "long-distance blockade"
of cotton. In this blockade she
threatens no property, and holds sa-
cred and inviolabie the lives of those
who. sail the seas, no matter what
may be their nationality. 1t is a
debatable question whether, under
international law, she has the right.
But let US grant that she is wrong,
as I believe she is-what is the re-
suit? She helps to lower the price of
cotton. In retaliation Germany an
nounced her submarine blockade,
threatening not simply the property,
but the life of every American who
dared to travel the ocean highway.
In carrying out that threat she has
deliberately murdered men, women
and children. When our Govern
ment protested, she not only refuses
to repudiate this inhuman act of her
navy, but justifies the murder, and
refuses to reverse her barbarous pol
icy. A Savannah dispatch to a New
York paper a few days ago says:
."The South is far more interested in
the English blockade of her cotton
than she is in the controversy over
the German submarine warfare" l
believe this to be "a SANDER upon
my people. Has the price Of cotton
so paralyzed moral sensibilities
and destroyed u moral perspective
that we believe a cotton bale to be
more valuable than a babe-that a
commercial advantage is more impor-
tant than the maintenance of human
rights?
1t is not only our right, but our
duty, at the proper time, and in the
proper manner, to take up the ques-
ton with England of her cotton
blockade and to insist upon whatever
are our commercial rights? But at
this supreme moment, when our Gov
eminent is striving to maintain the
standard of civilization and preserve
the sacred rights of 'unarmed men
and helpless women and children, for
politicians, newspapers and trades
bodies to seek to defect attention to
the price of cotton is to reverse all
the moral judgments of u Chris