New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1916-12-23
Editor ENTERPRISE :.

l"iy publish the following
article: 'Cotton's Magical Ris,
Enrlching the Nation" which ap
pears In asst Saturdays Literary
Digest. 1t is a most forcible arti
c'e. one that appeals to every
htnest being in the land and VIVA,
Is said Of cotton, may very wei
be said of every other industry
in the land.
l would like to comment a lit
tie upon the various points dis
cussed therein and draw the at
tention of our farmers to them,
Tor what is said about cotton may
also be said of cane and, in fact,
OF every one of our industries
but. l fear. l would be taken too
much Of your space this time and
will. therefore, wait to do so in a
future issue Of your paper.
A. B. ROMERO.
when the whole world was
breathless with panic at the out
break Of war in August, 1914,
the c0ttOn-farmer Of the South
saw bankruptcy and poverty near
er on the horizon perhaps than
many a farmer in the warning
countries. The outlook was so
dark that, it will be recalled, he
was put in the class for relief by
the inauguration Of the "Buy-a-
Bale" movement. Cotton, known
as the "king" of crops, was de
throned and abased. and such sec
tons Of the South as had planted
more diversified crops rejoiced at
having saved at least something.
AS if by magic, fourteen months
later. cotton on the New York
Exchange rose to twenty cents
pound, and the question was
asked, not ".When will it DROP"
but "Where will it stop?"
y Financial writers and South
ern editors assure us that King
Cotton is now restored to his
throne, and from fields nodding
drowsily in white through the
summer he draws royal revenues,
which he spends with royal pro-
fusion in so many various chan !
nels that his spending inures to
the benefit Of the whole country.
This is why. East, West, and
North, everybody is interested in
the restoration. A writer in the ,
New York Sun speaks of him as
"a husky war-bridegroom, threat
ening the popularity Of the war
Brides" and tells us that the
Comeback Of King Cotton. who
two years ago was a rank down.
and-outer, a hat-in-hand beggar
for dimes from charitable folks"
has been as Spectacular and in
teresting as his sudden fall was
disastrous. When cotton sold
in New York for twenty cents a
pound or 800 bale, this inform
ant goes on to say, it marked the
highest price the staple has
brought on this or any other mar
ket "since the Civil War devas-
tated the South and made cotton
worth any amount the holder
chose to ask.
Among the several reasons back
of twenty-cent cotton. we, are
told, are: first, that acreage has
been smaller than usual this year;
second, the boll-weevil has prob
ably done more damage than ever {
before. Then some sections of
The cotton-belt have had too much !
rain and others have not had I
In the meantime, too, {
D tremendous demand for cotton !
abroad and at home has developed. '
Another striking feature has been .
the big domestic mill demand, and !
The prices of cotton goods have s
risen astonishingly. but the Sun '
writer adds that the problem Of
whether the advance in cotton I
goods is pulling up the price of q
sotton, or whether the advance in :
cotton is raising the price Of the G