Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-02-22
WORLD NEEDS COTTON
The World Is Exceedingly Short Oh
Cotton
COST OF PRODUCTION INCREASING
Grave Crisis in Cotton Production In
dieated-Averase Crop Of Last TWO
Years 100000 Short-World Almost
Bare Of cotton-cotton Farmers
Should also Raise Food Crop.

4
Of agriculture was l4.l75.SI2 bales
as compared with l1,4i9.93O bales
in 1916 and l0.9i9,00U bales IN
1917. The average crop of the last
two years il, therefore. 2.s0v.voo
bales short of the average for the
preceding five years. Last year
yield was 100000 bales short OF
the average for the five years from
1911 to 1915.
These figures indicate an acute
crisis in cotton production. Not"ith-
standing the war. the consumption
Of cotton must so on at an acccler;it-
ing rate. TO some extent ii is tenn
porTrily halted in some countries.
but those countries are draining 10
the last ounce their supply of cotton
goods. In this country and in Great
Britain and France and Italy. while
the consumption of cotton may lie
decreased for domestic purposes. an
enormous amount of cotton is beng
used for explosives. The world Is.
| therefore, becoming as bare OF cot
ton and cotton goods as II Is OF
foodstuffs. The production Of the
last two years has been short of the
worlds needs, and whenever peace
comes the demand for cotton goods
TO ill up the existing stocks of the
world and to re-clOthe the people
l,.,t S.t. Ill
make II demand for cotton as phc-
nomenally great as will he the de-
mand for fOodstuffs.
In producing cotton. looking to-
ward the future after the end of the
war. the south would, therefore. he
not only helping itself, but helping
the world situation. In the mean
time, however. it seems TO be almost
impossible for the south under cx-
listing conditions to produce enough
cotton to meet the actual needs or
the hour. Increasing cost Of rails
ing cotton by reason of Il higher
price for fertilizer, higher cost Of
labor. higher cost OF agricultural
implements and Of everything which
enters into cotton production has
completely changed all basis of cal
culation as To the cost Of growing
cotton. Unlike wheat. which is har-
vested by machinery, cotton must
be harvested by hand labor. and the
cost of cotton production therefore
increases more rapidly than the cost
of wheat production.
While eNerYt hing thai ca;a5c-Sa
to increase food production must he
| done, we should not lose sight Of
the fact that cotton is essential to
civilization. 1t is absolutely neces-
Sary for clothing. for tenting and Il
thousand and one things for which
| there is no substitute available. An
other small cfop would be Il disaster,
and yet il will be very difficult for
| the south To plant. cultivate and
of the last two years. 1t is possible
| that it can he done. but II will
stretch the resources of labor to
accomplish ii. It is almost as vital
to the winning of the war that the
government should cooperate for II
larger cotton crop as it is to COOP
crate for increased wheat produc.
ton.
Some of the suggestions put out
by New York spectators and cot
ton buyers To the effect that low
maximum price should be put on
cotton would. il put into effect. be "A
national disaster. The south could
stand such situation much better
than the rest Of the country, for the
south can thrive on the production
OF other crops. while the rest Of the
| country can not exist except in ter
rifle suffering without an adequate
| cotton crop. The figures which
have been named by some Of the
New York sn-called experts as II max
| imum price for cotton are absolute
ly absurd. They might have been
justified as Il maximum price on cot
ton before the war, for cotton never
| has sold at anything like its intrin-
| sic value. nor have cotton growers
and cotton laborers ever secured. at
| least in the last 80 or 40 years, one
half as much for cotton as better
economic system for this section
would have amply justified and de-
manded. Cotton growers and cot
| ton laborcrs. having monopOls of
the most important single crop ir.
| the world. have been held down To a
| bare existence, often selling their
| cotton at less than the actual cost
of production even counting, as the
small farmers and tenants have had
to do. the labor of their wives and
children as nothing on the balance
sheet
The whole policy of the cotton
buying interests Of the world has
| been to crush out the prosperity OF
the cotton grower. perchance not in
tentionally, but actually so by rea-
son of the conditions which prevail
ed after the war and which estab-
| lished precedents in the trade that
the poverty Of the cotton-growinG
interests.
While western farmers have
grown rich on grain production,
southern farmers. whose staple
crop is just as important to the
| world as grain. have. by reason OF
the economic conditions over which
they have no control. been kept to a
large extent in poverty. The high
est prices of the last two years have
been bringing few rays Of sunlight
into the homes Of cotton GROWERS and