The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-02

SuCI q iOs5S IIledH d return OI the cot ton laborer to a condition of economic slavery so blighting feature of agri- cultural life in the south during the 10 years following the civil war? Will
 the south permit such a return by sur | rendering the liquidation of her cot ton crops to lot of aliens? What is the remedy for the situation?
 These questions are being discussed today in an animated and purpoSeful way throughout every hamlet of the cotton country, however remote that hamlet may be. There is no denying that the only remedy that the produc- CTS can apply is to radically reduce the output of the raw material. The obvious effectiveness of such a rem- edy brings thoroughly disquietin:y sense of how very near the world is brought to the verge of a great ca | lamty by these events What would | it mean. especially in present world conditions, for the cotton crop to be cut one-half? Would it not imperil the great programme of world recon struction now so vital? And. would it not delay the quieting of the dan gerous unrest in the old world? Is not an abundant supply of clothing, as well as food. vitally necessary to allay this unrest which is today so | menacing to every country in the world?
 Everyone at all informed as to the trend of thought among those who make up the cotton producing inter ests of the south realize that the se- curity of vital world interest is chal- lenged by those who are selling fu- ture contracts below the obvious cost l Of production. It has been char ged | that domestic and foreign manufac- 1 turers, acting in concert, have inspired l the attack which have brought these | conditions about. AS to the truth of l this, the writer does not pretend 10
 know. He does know however that
 an extensive and well organized pro- paganda has been promoted against the cotton producers for many months,
 and he knows, as every individual at
 all informed about conditions in the south knows. that these attacks have 1 invoked possible result that is fe- | more dangerous to the spnners and consumers of cotton that it is to ,hc
 cotton producers. An adeauate supply
 Of raw cotton is absolutely necessary | to the well being, in fact to the very life, of the former-to the latter 1t i.
 not.
 The coming of peace found the ocean | freight and the price of cotton goods
 both highly inflated. readjustment
 towards normal prices was. therefore
 to have been expected. This process
 has been, however, much slower than most people had hoped for and. as
 consequence. it has interfered with the movement of cotton abroad and ! with the movement of cotton goods tc the civilian trade. This delay has beer great disappointment to the cotton trade generally. Now the price of the commodities consumed in it's production
 makes is obvious that there has been
 no imitation in the price of cotton Yc! SneCnlatIva ctc hox folr
 vantage of these temporary conditions
 and the incident disappointment. to make raw cotton carry the burden of the deflation that was inevitable in
 freight rates and in cotton goods This seems to have been the real cause
 of the drastic recession in prices which have become a real menace to the world -
 It Is. on the whole, a sharply defin ed lcontest for the control of cotton betweer ithe south and alien interests. It is really not so difficult to forecast how the, con test will end. The report of the comp troller of the currency makes this evi dent. This report shows that the saving. ldeposits of the southern country, which lrefleet the surplus earnings of the farm Iers particularly, had increased in 1911
 45 per cent over what they were in 1914
 notwithstanding the various contributions to the war. Then, it is plain, and it ha!
 a significant bearing on the present sit
 uation that with his fields teeming witl
 abundant food crops it Is really unim
 portant to the former whether there il a half, a quarter or no cotton crop a all. In other words, the farmers of thu lsouth can actually contemplate with in difference a reduction in the supply 0
 the raw material that would mean
 tragedy to the balance of the world Thi
 very fact, in connection with curren
 market developments, carries with 1t , potentious warning to the consumin
 world. '.
 When situation like the present on