The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-02-23

Hon. John l.. McLaurin, of Marl-
boro. Is keeping himself before the
public by means of open letters and
authorized interviews, prepared and
circulated by himself. What his mo.
tive Is In conducting this propaganda
mt this time no one knows. unless he
himself possesses this knowledge; !;
but be that as II may. he is writing
Interesting and readable letters and
the newspapers will continue to pub
Ish them as long as he makes them
interesting. IL he Is using the news
papers to pull his chestnlts out of
the fire. he Is doing 1t very adroitiy.
No matter what office he has his eve
on at this moment his plan OF cam
paign Is shrewd and subtle, for he is
Keeping himself more or less i'm the
lime light and is creating the impress
sion by constant repetition and sue-
eestion that he Is tho friend and adj
vocate and defender of the dear peo-
pie. His authorized interview today
on the subject of fixing the price OF
cotton by governmental regulation is
not only interesting. but is q for
chile presentation in a brief space OF
facts that cannot be disprovcd For
tho government TO undertake to nx
the price OF cotton this year would
be to do injustice to the South and
eventually bring down disaster upon
the entire country. Cotton cannot
sell for more than II is worth. ac-
eording to the law OF supply and de-
nland. for the producers of cotton
have no machinery for controlling the
marketing OF their crop. and without
this machinery they are helpless to
override the law of supply and de-
mand.\ When cotton is i'm greater
supply than the demand can absorb
quickly. the Spectators have been
able to manipulate the price. so that
they obtained all the profits and the
farmers seldom received cost of pro-
duction. Now that the supply is short
and the market is hungry for cotton
the spectators are shorn of some Of
their power and the producers are
coming into closer touch with the
consumers. and thereby are receiving
the real market price and the profits
This is what hurts both the specula-
tors and the manufacturers. For
tunately the manufacturers are not
being damaged by the high price OF
cotton. for the world Is hungry for
cotton and the mills have advanced
their prices for cloth 10 such an
extent that they are now making
greater profits than ever before. II
the farmer can obtain "a price for his
cotton that is based upon the price the
mills receive for cloth there Will DO no
complaint.
Another section of the John l..
McLaurin propaganda is printed.
The author OF this article Is Senator
Tanks. of Calhoun county. closc
friend and ardent admirer of Mr.
McIaurin. Mr.. Banks w!elds a ia
Gle pen. when his subject is the
sstacsmanship and transccndcnt abI!
tiles OF his beau ideal; and. as
newspaper readers have noted. Mr.
hanks has let no opportunity to s!ns
MIR. McLaurin's prlises slip by unim-
proved in recent years. The next
contributor To the symposium OF
McLaurinism is unknown to the
writer. but the signs are that the
end Is not yet-not by "a long sight.
There will be more OF the same sort
between this time and the May con
vention. Mr.. McIAurin is feeling the
political pulse OF the State, and II
the symptoms are found TO be right
ne will be I'm the race for some D!
hce--either the governorship or 10.
Senator Tillman's seat. AS things
stand now. personally we do not car,
copper cent which Office he run.
for or whom he runs against. If Inc
Is i'm the race against Blcase. Blcas
will not enjoy the proceeding am
more than nc did the experience M
had with Jennings and Pollock: II hC
Is against Peoples. Stuckey. Richards
Cooper and any other onlce-huntins
statesmen. who want to be governor
the county to county canvass will b'
mort interesting than usual The
campaign that McIAurin is conduct
ing intrigues our curiosity. What Il
ne up To. and why IL he going at 1t IL
the way he Is?