Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-04-01

waiting around for awhile, through tht
aid of southern senators they got ar
audience. The audience room was the
private office of Mr.. Barnard Baruch
After waiting there about an hour ant
chatting about the weather, they were
greeted by Mr.. Baruch, who appear.
ed upon the scene, moving in haste
and clad in a business suit or ordinary
gray, and a beamlng smile, that reach
ed from the tip of one ear to the ex-
tremity of the other ear. The first
thing ne did was to ring for a page
and call for cigars. When they came
he took the box out of the hands OF
, the boy and personally passed II
around among the delegates.
He explained that they needn't hes
itate to smoke; that he, not the gov
erment paid for these cigars. He
also shook hands with every man pres
ent and declared, with visible emotion
that his forbears had been hitched ur
with the cotton patch, had toiled and
suffered in it, and that both tradition
and experience had taught him that
the cotton producer never got what
was fairly coming to him. Then every
body was happ and eXpectant.
Parenthetically, it should be re-
marked that Mr.. Baruch missed his
calling when he went to New York and
tackled "the street" No matter how
many millions he may make there he
will never enjoy the sense of triumph
that would be his if he will go upon
the stage and play Mulberry Sellers
Widow Bedott," or something of thai
sort.
| When the cigars were all lighted
and good fellowship reigned from pole
to pole, Mr.. Baruch impaired the in
formation that he had just come from
the White House, and was authorized
to speak for the president, who was
too busy to speak for himself.
The representatives of cotton, sew
eral Of whom were officials Of theil
states, presented their case. They
asked no favors Of the government
although the government was then
scattering it's favors with a prodigal
hand among all or most all of the big
| industries of the east. All they ask
ed was that the government would
take it's hand off cotton, and leave il
alone-to work out it's own salvation
They pointed to the fact that there
was no law which authorized the gov
ernment to fix a price on cotton and
for the government to do so would be
a palpable and fragrant ursurpation
of power.
| Mr.. Baruch listened with neatness
and dispatch. Among his numerous
accomplishments must be listed that
of being a good listener. Whatever
ne does, Baruch does we'll; that is to
say, he does it artistically, if he ever
attempts grand opera, goodbye Car
uso.
The net result OF this audience was
that the cotton producers were pass
ed on to the Page committee.
In the meantime the bears ham,
mered and hammered away on the
! cotton marketsS- e.
When cotton went below thirty
cents the Page committee granted the
cotton producers another hearing and
graciously told them it had been de-
cided not to make a price-unless cot
ton went too high or too low.
And the bears continued to pound
and pound away on the cotton market
And the financial and industrial
| journals of New York and the east
recorded with great gusto the achieve
ment of Mr.. Baruch's board in coming
to the rescue and preventing cotton
from getting beyond their control and
running to 40 cents. Only in Texas
did the daily press take vigilant care
to avoid any reference to this highly
interesting and somewhat important
fact.
| The existance of a state of war fur
nished a seeming reason for the fail
ure to find boats for cotton exports
although Mr. Hurley, head of the
shipping board, assured the represen-
tatives of cotton that there was nc
| lack of transportation facilities tc
supply the Allied and neutral coun-
tries with the cotton they needed.
| The war came to an actual end, ano
still Mr. Baruch's board kept an iron
grip on cotton.
| And the bears continued to hamm"i
and hammer away on the cotton mar
ket.
And still Mr. Baruch's boards sa!
cotton shall move freely.
And in every nook and corner to-
day of Wall and Broad streets, New
York, the question on every tongue
is. how much longer will the farmer:
of the south, reinforced as they are
by the bankers and the merchants
of the south-all, thank God, for once
standing solidly together, like a stone
wall-hold out against the opposing
forces, which include all of the spin
ners of the world, plus all the poweI
of Europe and Asia, plus all the bank
ing. powers of the east, plus all OF Mr.
Baruch's boards.
If a breach can be made in thai
wall, the forces opposed to cotton viii
rush in like an ave anche; cotton vii
go down, hundreds and thousands o.
people in the south will be ruined, anc
hundreds of cotton gamblers in the
east and in Europe will greatly ado
to their riches. Also, the spinners VII
be enabled to cut several juicy melon:
when next dividend day rolls around
But that is not all. If the producer
wins now he wins for good and cottor
is free-free to seek an open marke
in an open sea; free to endow the toll
er in the field with just share OIL th'
proceeds of his own labor. If, how
ever the European combine-rein
forced by Mr.. Baruch's boards-shal
win this battle, the fellahin who toll: