The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-03-07

Erossts Against Price Fxing
Your correspondent called on SEN
ator McLaurin to day to see IL he had
any political announcement to mxke.
He said no. that his position was
made clear by his recent public
statement and he had nothing to add
& to or subtract from them" asked
him to give me an interview on the
cotton situation, as he probably comes
as near voicing the sentiments Of the
planters as any man in the South.
The establishment of the State ware
house system and his knowledge of
Anance makes him recognized au-
thority in the cotton world. AS to cot
ton he said:
IF you could tell me when the war
will end. could answer you def
Aitely. am sure that the end of the
war will fnd the world facing cot
ton famine, and that for several years
cotton will be reativey much higher
In p.ice than food, for the reason that
food is Of world wide production and
cotton Is restricted by soil and cli-
mate to certain limited areas. Cot
ton has increased about 100 per cent
in price, while iron. steel, wheat and
other standard products have in
creased around 200 per cent. 1t is
evident that cotton must 60 higher in
order to maintain its proper CONNER
cial relation to these other articles"
iX Xbat about price fixing?"
IONS are determined
Ne the government
liking this natural ef-
of cotton. They even
ia price below 20 cents a
ii. which Is an absurdity, be-
cause. under present conditions, cot
ton will cost over 20 cents to produce
in 1913. The cost of merely feeding
mules hase nearly doubled since this
war, and where we paid SO cents per
hundred for picking. it is now 81.
Fertilizer is practically double in
price and Of inferior grade. do not
think this price fixing movement is
engineered by the spinners. but by
spectators who former pool in
September to put the price of cotton
back to 10 cents, buy it up and reap a
huge profit as they did in 1915. was
In Chicago in September with w. D.
Crist and We were in one Of the larg-
est brokerage houses in the United
States. I talked very bearish to draw
them out. and the head of the firm
told us that they expected cotton to
go down to cents a pound. What Go
you think of that? A most determined
effort was made. Millions of bales
were sold short and huge crop esti-
mates broadcasted all over the land.
The mills bought their cotton ahead,
and these greedy gamblers are now
begging the government to fix the
price and let them out of the hole
that their avarice dug for them. 1t |
makes my blood boil to hear the |
whine some of their
papers put up about the patriotism of
the South am glad the mills bought
their cotton from the greedy gam
biers who confiscated our crop of
1914. The high price is not affecting
mills, which bought ahead, nor the
public. 1t is being paid largely from
the Ill gotten gains Of 1915. We went
to Washington In 1914 to beg the gov
ernment for help. and what how
these men raised. The government let
us alone then and we want them to
treat cotton gamblers the same way
they did cotton planters in 1914. This |
crowd estimated last October that
this crop would total IA. 900, 900 bales
and sold millions of bales knowing
their statement was a lie. The pur-
pose was to gobble up the spots. Our
people refused to be stampeded, and
when the mill call for cotton these
mblers have to pay the losses Cot
Is not as high as the other arti-
p. 1t is the cry Of the busted
gambler seeking to evade the result
OF his own cupidity and recklessness."
1 asked him what he wanted the
government to do. He replied:
1T let cotton alone in 1914, and we
lost 0.000.000. I want it let aloen
now. l want this s400,OOO,OOO back