The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-09-22

ment has hit the poorest people i'm
this country, the tenant croppcr. who
Is obliged to sell his cotton seed and
cotton on the market. IL that is go-
ing to be. the result Of our food reg
ulation 1t Is going to take bread out
OF tho mouth of the man who needs
" and furnish the manufactures &
stick with which to hammer down
tho raw product from the producer
below what ii Is worth. Not only
that. but In the course of the pro-
ccedings the government has in the
last few days made insinuations that
there will be an embargo placed
upon the exporting of cotton. There
is less cotton. than, ,othe-, ,p,anufactur-
ing world will need. as ] shall show
before l get through. What has bee
the result? In 80 days they have re-
duced the price OF cotton $50 a bale
Let us sec what these two items
which are only In process of antici-
pation-nOt actually I'm force-arc
costing the cotton farmer of the
South. A reduction Of $50 O bale on
the 12,500.000 bales that the agricul.
tural department estimates will be
made this year in the South amount.
to s375.O00,O00. and a reduction,
which was put into effect yesterday
OF S11 atom on cotton seed makes u
reduction Of s61,S75.oOO which makes
grand total Of $43S.S75. 900 that tn,
threatened action Of our government
lis taking out of the pockets of the
farmers Of the South; and yet we arc
expected to pay taxes heavily in the
maintenance of this war, and we cx-
pect to do it. Let us sec where tha;
Is going. Who is getting it? There
has been no reduction yet. ~
The cotton manufacturers all over
this country are boastir hat they
have sold their product for month
ahead. and they have sold it largelyt
the government on the basis of 8,
cent cotton. and they are buying thei
cotton today at 20 cents and are ex
pecting to put it down to 1S cents
That Is where 1t is going, and tn
government Is not getting any consiG
Grafton for 1t. The product is bcin.
sold to the government on the basi.
OF 80 cent cotton (and i'm many In
stances $50. and they are buying it d
20 cents. 1 submit that we are get
ting a rather raw deal on that prop
osition. Where is the other going
As said moment ago, Mr.. DuPon
for his patriotism, and the secC
crushcrs of the country, are takin
S61,OOO,000 out of the farmer i'm o..
der to give the government a concc.
sion of $3O.OOo,O 900. and the othc.
$50. 900. 900 is to be profits. 1 take i
to the seed crushers and Mr.. DuPon
While I do not want to talk loca
troubles. and all that kind of thing
It strikes Tc that the activities tha
are denied. te.ause they publish
the newspapers that there is no nc
cessity for this talk about an cmbarG
upon cotton affecting the price of co;
ton. are costing the farmers of tn
South pretty penny.
"The mischief has been done, whit
there Is no embargo to amount t,
anything. 1t has been done. and don,
for the benefit of the people who ar,
already getting money cut of thL
war world without end. and who ~
now In a position to make more ant
more IL they can hammer down tn.
products Of the country. Let us Loo
for q minute to see If there Is an,
| necessity for it. / omitted to men
| ton, i'm addition to the manufacture
the speculator upon the future mar.
<ets of this country. The manufac.
turer and the spcculator arc the fei.
lows who are going to make S375,-
100000 that the farmers will loso il
this Is consummatcd. Last year the
cotton that was consumed in the
world was 20, 0,1S0.00O bales. The pro-
duction was 18,365,OOO bales. There
| fore there was shortage of more
than 1.S15.00 bales coming over
from last year. This year the csti-
mate is only 12,5OO,O0O bales in thia
country, and the production will no .
reach 100000. and yet we find thu
product that Is sold to the govern
ment and that is sold to everybod%'
else on a basis of so cents-we find
that just the talk Of an embargo ana
the talk of interference with the pro-
duct and putting 1t on the skids goes
on the extent Of reducing the pricc