Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-05-06

for the purpose of maintaining the
supremacy of this country in cotton
trade or for clothing the world. There
is no divine command which says thai
the western farmer who can make
money in raising corn shall be compel
/ led to raise wheat for the purpose OF
feeding the world. No moral respon-
sibility whatsoever rests upon the
farmer to raise any crop except that
which pays him best. II the south can
raise cotton, he would be a fool indeed
who would insist that the south owed
it to the world to raise cotton. There
..may be some people in the world
whose minds are thus fiabby, but no
intelligent man could for a moment
take that ground.
There is no obligation upon the south
to raise cotton merely to maintain the
SUPP emaey Of this country in the cot
ton trade of the world. If other coun-
tries can raise cotton by means OF
the cheap labor in Chi a and India or
Egypt, at a lower cost than the south
can raise it, there Is n, earthly reason
(which compels the south to sacrifice
Tits people in order to produce cotton
lat the starvation wages which are paid
Ito the cotton growers of India and
Egypt and China. So long as the south
can raise cotton prof1tably to itself,
Iafter having paid a good living rate
of wages to every cotton laborer, and
after having banished from the
cotton field every woman WHO should
be at home and every child who should
be at school, whether they be white
or black, then it can profitably and
wisely keep on growing cotton. But
il the people of the south can IND
more profitable employment In doing
something else than in raising cotton,
then it is their bounden duty to do the
work which pays the largest pront
and gives the best living conditions.
If the world cannot get its cotton ex-
|cept from the south, then 1t is abso-
lutely necessary for the world to pay
a price which will bring prosperity to
the cotton growers and lift the rate
of wages in the south in the cotton
fields and from that on to the factory
and into every avenue Of work to a
parity Of wages in other sections
The statement quoted from this
banking circular are indicative OF the
density of ignorance which prevails
in other sections about cotton growing
lin the south. For one hundred years
the south has been misrepresented by
the cotton spectators and the cotton
handlers Of the world. 1t has been
misrepresented by officials OF the
United States government and in for
mer years by officials OF the British
Fgoyernment, and probably by the off,
cials of every other European govern
ment. The whole theory of the cot
ton BUYERS Of the world has been to hold
the cotton growers in economic slavery
caring far less as to the poverty and
the illiteracy entailed upon the south
by low-priced cotton rhan they careo
for the slavery of the black man prior
to 1860. Co., s-s.s.
At that time the Abolitionists OF the
north and of Europe were bitterly as
sailing slavery in the south. The
moral forces of the world were against
slavery, and very wisely, for the bene-
lAt of the world and for the south es-
pecially, slavery was destroyed so far
as physicial slavery to the black man
was concerned: but the very same
forces which then broke the chains OF
physical slavery have to large ex-
tent ever since been forging with all
their power the chains Of a more
damning slavery of the negro and OF
the white man in the effort to keep
cotton at a price which would hold In
desperate poverty in every sense the
cotton laborers and the cotton OF the
south.
/ Holding monopoly Of this great
staple. the south should have become
enormously wealthy, and its cotton
growers and workers should have peen
the richest agricultural people in the
world, but low-priced cotton has kept
them under the pail of poverty.
The importance of cotton to the
world Is very clearly stated IN an ar
ticle by Mr.. William Whittam, for
merly special agent in Great Britain
of the United States department OF
lIcommerce and long intimately ac-
I'ouainted with the cotton trade, puo-
lushed in the New York Tribune. In
ltbe course of his article dealing with
the question of cotton and its relation
to world affairs, and especially as 10
whether Germany shall be allowed TO
have cotton or not, Mr.. Whittam said:
"The world has now to face the TASK
of getting back to normal again, anu
in that enterprise cotton will be one
| of the raw materials Of major impor-
tance. Few realize the significance ol
cotton in the sphere of human activl-
ties. 1t concerns every human being
II meets man at the cradle and goes
with him to the grave. The hbre alsc
forms the scanty clothing OF hundreos
of millions of the poorest people OF
the world, Cotton is vital to industry
There is no substitute for 1t. Ano
Americans should remember that the
United States produces the larger par'
| Of the worlds supply.
with the single exception or 1000
stuffs, no other product Of the soil Is
so necessary to civilized human exist
cnce. It's use in the every-d day life OF
mankind may be measured by the fac'
that a year or two before the war
taking into account the commodities
handled in international trade, exports
and imports from all countries, cotton
ranked first with value of $1.127,-
600 900, wheat coming second, with
value Of $774,000.000."
These statements OF Mr.. Whittam as
to the value of cotton to the world are
trite sayings, fully understood by the
business men of the world. They know
that cotton is product which cannot
be supplanted by any other fiber
They know that our commerce de-
ponds upon cotton that Great Brit
aims vast manufacturing interests are