Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1917-08-29
KING COTTON AND THE KAISER.
Some Statements that viii Prove
Surprise to Many.
A dispatch from Washington says

| y uispalCH lio!H w qSHlHSlOn says.
| The administration Is being urged
| to exercise more rigid control over
| exports Of cotton to the neutral coun-
tries bordering the Central empires
to prevent any OF this vitality needed
! staple from reaching Germany.
That cotton may be the means Of
/ defeating Germany is fully recog-
| nzed. 1t is the basis Of nitro o-cellu-
( lose, the most powerful explosive
known. The United States is report
/ ed TO be using 100000 bales Of cot
! ton each year in her own munition
| plants. How much Germany is using
no one knows. Reports, more or
less. official, have stated that the
enemy has devised q method of using
wood-cellulose, but it is less efficient
| and deteriorates more rapidly than
| gun cotton.
| Importance of Cotton in War.
The importance Of cotton in the
| war is strikingly emphasized in q
story by Aaron Hardy Ulm, formerly
an Atlanta newspaper man, published
in The Nations Business for August:
"a 12inch gun disposes Of a half
! bale Of cotton with every shot fired.
"A machine gun in operation will
use up bale in three minutes.
''in naval battle, like the one off
! Jntland, from five to six thousand
pounds a minute are consumed by
each active warship.
1T takes more than 10000 bales
a year to provide absorbent cotton to
staunch and bind the wounds OF the
injured.
'One change Of apparel for all the
troops now engaged in the war rep
resents more than a million bales.
"One hundred thousand bales will
be required to equip our proposed
aeroplane fleet If cotton, as may be
necessary, supplants linen for wings.
This country is now turning near
iy a million bales year into explo-
sives alone"
or course, Germany has been un-
| nplC W liiDOIl any COllOIl
from the United States since the out
break Of the war, but has supplied
her textile and munition plants by
means Of the stocks on hand and
such supplies as she was able to OBJ
tain from her neutral neighbors, as
well as from Turkey.
Even If the entire exports to neu-
tral nations were shut off, it would
curtail the market only by half a
million bales, or 2ls ner cent Of the
worlds production Of cotton. 10 dis
tNrbancc OF the market uricc ~ cot
tnn ~. therefore. anticipated.
While he latest available nguyeS
show that exports 10 Spain, Den
mark, Holland, Sweden and Norway
have not exceeded 100000 bales
above their pre-war requirements, it
is deemed essential to cut off any
surplus supplies that might find their
way to the enemy. In the crop year,
19l3-14, the above-named countries
received 335, 1000 bales; in 1911 they
hSNSlNSu Q bOoO DtlSS, anu Ill
l9l5-16 they received 525, 900 bales.
Despite the large shipments which
Germany is believed to have obtain
ed through this channel in the first
year Of the war, it is reported that
her supply Is exhausted and that
wood-cellulose Is being used in the
manufacture of explosives in place Of
gun cotton.
The cotton mill men of the United
States, through their associations,
are actively urging the need of put
ting an embargo on cotton. A state
ment issued by the National Associa-
ton of Cotton Manufacturers was
read into the Congressional Record
on last Thursday by Senator Lodge.
Of Massachusetts.
"The cotton textile interests of the
country 1t says, "in spirit of pure
patriotism have offered their services
to the government to control these
exports that none reach Germany.
| What is the government doing to-
ward this control, which Is so vital
to the successful prosecution of the
war?
"All exports will sooner or later be
put into three classes; these will be
known as vital. essential and non-es-
sential. Cotton will'be considered in
the essential. If not vital, class if 1T is
| for the requirements Of our allies. 1t
| will be considered in the non-essen-
| tial class If for neutrals, and it will