New-York tribune., 1918-01-21


cottonseed Oils being consumed in
the making Of explosives. 1t goes
without saying that no such proportion
of the foodstuffs produced in the
United States is needed for the sup
In view of the high percentage of
the country's normal cotton production
that must be diverted to war uses, it
Is apparent at glance that, on the
one hand, all possible stimulation must
be given to the growing of cotton, and
on the other hand, the consumption of
the products Of cotton by the civil pop
ulation must be curtailed severely.
Such cotton crops as we have had in
this country for the last three years
are totally inadequate to fill the needs
of our armies and the armies of our
allies. and at the same time to permit
the American population to purchase
cotton goods on the scale to which it
has been accustomed. The funda-
mental question involved in the pro-
posed programme of governmental
price fixing for cotton is therefore
whether these two equally imperative
needs are sure to be met by this
method.
Production Greatly Handicapped
AS regards the stimulation of the
production Of cotton, it must be said
at the outset that everything now
points to steadily increasing difficulty
and expense in connection with the
growing of cotton in this country as
long as the war lasts. For one thing,
the amount of available labor in the
South, whether of Independent farm
ers or of hired workers, is certain to
diminish at a rapid rate. Much attcn-
tion has been attracted during the
past year or so by the Northward mi
grafton Of Southern negroes. This
migration has already been sufficient
to embarrass the growers Of cotton
very seriously.
But as the country gets deeper and
deeper into the war, as it enlarees
and multiplies its munition plants, as
IT gets really under way with it's ship
building programme, as it moves
Greater and gres~er quantities of war
materials over its railroads, as it dis
patches to Europe more and more ves-
sells laden with these materials, SUD-
ply OF rough labor indefinitely greater
than that now available in our indus
trial sections will become absolutely
indispensable. In view Of the check
ing or immigration, this additional
rough labor can be obtained from but
single source. the negro population
or the South. Whether by the lure Of
ihlgh wages or by positive conscription,
nundreds OF thousands more of negro
workers must be brought from the
South to the North if the United
states is to play its proper Industrial !
part IN the war. Besides this di,ninu-
ton OF the number of workers hith-
,crto chiefly devoted to the growing Of
cotton, account must also be taken of
the effects of the draft upon both the
white and the negro farm population
of the South
Unfortunately, this is not the only
oDstacic IN the way of an abundant |
Jo..on In;' production in the United States
curing SO many years as the war NAV
contnue Another is the excessively !
1h:ilgn cost of foods and feeds-a cost |
llkeiy to increase rather than diminish |
as the war goes on-cAllinr for a laroo
expenditure of money If the foods and |
reeds are purchased in the market. and !
lmpelilng the farming class to devote
enough or It's acreage and of its labor
TO the raising of foodstuffs ard feed |
grams 10 relieve it of the necessity of
paving out this money Furthermore.
The Southern farmers are being en-
couraged IN every way by the govern
ment, acting through agents of tho
Department of Agriculture, to make |
themselves independent in respect Of
their food and feed supply; and there
IS abundant evidence that the CAMPAIGN
OF education and persuasion directed to
tnls END Will have extensive effects this
coming spring and summer.
Animal Power Depleted
Without going into further details
OF the lmpcdiments to an abundant cot
ton production IN 1913 and the follow
ing years OF the war; if such there be.
mention may be made in passing of the
fact that the South's supply of animal
power-horses and mules-is beine, Sc
vcrcly depleted by the war demand.
adequate, the quality of them is very
Unsatisfactory, owing to the dearth Of
potash, and the price is excessively.
high. In the background, too, is the
ever spreading boil weevil, enormously
enhancing the risks which the farmer
must face in growing cotton.
with these obviously serious difficult
ties to overcome, the question of OBJ
tanning the abundant production Of cot
ton which the war makes imperative
really resolves itself into the problem
OF inducing the cotton growers that
remain in the South to redouble their
efforts, to work as they have never
worked before, to strive to do the seem
ingly impossible. 1t must be admitted
that IT is hard to see how the neceS-
sary inducement can be afforded
through any method of governmental
price regulation, whose objective would
certainly be not to increase but to re-
duce the price of cotton-the alleged
abnormality of the present price being
the prime argument in favor of this
policy.
Rationing of Supply Suggested
We are brought to a similar conclu-
sion when we examine the other neces-
sity of the situation, the required re-
duction in the purchase of cotton
goods by the civil population. Though
the Southern cotton growers do their
best, and though the cotton manufact
urers run their mills to their utmost
capacity, it is simply out of the ques
ton that the country's supply of cot
ton goods and other products of cot
ton should be sufficient to meet the
military needs of the government and
at the same time to give the popula-
ton as whole the same quantity of
goods and products per capita that it
was consuming before the war. How
IS this reduction of the civil consump-
ton to be brought about? Will gov