Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-08-31

c...es- .. @ = in speculative clsss, and tAc inter
 eated or disintor susd friends the. have induced 10 ch mpion heir cause l in Washington and elsewhere, il rc
 mains true that the policies adopted by other nations, and seemingly madt requisite by the war, have thus Iai 1 iniui cd the American cotton indus y greatly, and that the institution Of $ still atriCter blockade under q con traband ordlr viii, if untempered with frindlinsss, inture i, still more
 l. is well therefore, 10 find Great Britain ana FHnee manifesting an tagefnes5 to go the full length io assist lba south .n cotton planter through a very trying period. Nojh- ing appears pIainor thar that, tho cf- feet of the blocN dc will be still fur the1 to contract the uarks for ,..5 staple, and that this, unless provision sh3u bs made to prevent it. must re- suit in lessening, if not destroying, the value of this years cotton crop
 "Whatever tho allied nations may do tow3rd ayerting depression in Iprices-hoWeyeI much they may con
 tribute toward the absorption Of the surplus 1t IS certain that tho United States government wilT not shirk it's proportion of the task The slack must be drawn in-draWn in:o ware
 housQs-if tha market is mot to be gtuttcd by cotton under the op ration of the eontroband order. We have it from the United ates comptroller of the currency that the present un- employed leaning capacity of the na- tion2l banks and reserve hanks of the country is sufficient to finance at market value the entira cotton crop nnd to leave a balance capable of talk ing care of some other of tho impor- tant crops. In other words, the banks named have at tAeir disposal resources which Wonli justify an ex~ pansion Of credits of from $2000,000,- 000 to S3,00G 0000 000. Loans necessary to enable the cotton growers to hold their product for b1tter prices than it will be. possible to obtain if they Nte compelled to asll al current Quo- tations would make but little inroad upon his great reserve
 But whatever thl allies may do, and whatever tha United stabas gov ernment may do, toward alpeHorating the present cri,ical industrial SltUa- tion in the Southern states. the poinI that seems to Us to stand cut in bold est lelief in Qhis connsction is that the south must finally solve the prob 1 lem for itself Neither the allies nor the federal governm mt can undertake to care for the cotton slaek-tho co., l ten urplus-annually The South did not need 10 be taught by the preser5 war that oYzrproduction of eotton is an economic mistake. It has been tausat by hard experience in the past and .repea edly, that by producing nore cotton than the markets could naturally absorb, it impaired it's wealth-pro3ucing capacity. Tha mls- dom of diversifieation has been held Up to it for year by it's own leaders, it's own public men and its news papers. The hesa thinkers of the whole country h2N> been trying to convince the south tig3t the single crop custom, if adhered to, would eventually result in the impoverisn- ment of the farmers. The planters should bs brought to sec now, more clearly than ever, that they can not
 in the face of all economic considera- tions afford to 60 on raising morc cotton th2n the world is c2pable o1 consuming; that they must. in hon own p1btection, turn 10 ether crops ana turn to them quickly and largely
 'Ths planting of cotton in ths Seu hern states next year must, i seems plain, be kept at the very lninl lnum if the surplus Of cotton new or hand and the sulplus from this year: crops are to have value in 1916 Una
 will 5nabla the souths uenelactor' to reimhurse themselves fer he loans of 1915. The South should put more thinkins into its farIins hefealtcr,