Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-03-28
Unreasonableness Of Southern
Farmers.

sas, has said about them in connec-
ton with their efforts to get a fair
price for their products, because a
careful reading and thoughtful study
Of these are calculated to show the
cotton farmer his real position with
regard to the general economic situa-
ton.
In the first place we will remark
that II Governor Allen knows what he
is talking about, he is deliberately
misrepresenting the situation. and II
he does not know what he Is talking
about, he is very careless with the
name and reputation Of people who
have contributed more to the prosper
ity of this country and received less
benefit from that prosperity than any
other people in it.
AS to whether 35 cents cotton is
equal to 1926 wheat we are doubtful.
Really we do not think 35 cents cotton
is more than $2.20 wheat; but any
how, Governor Allen is badly misled
as to the price Of cotton. The people
of the south are not getting any 35
cents. They are not being offered
more than 25 or 26 cents, and If they
would show willingness to sell at
that, the price would be quickly beat
en- down to 10 or 16 cents. That Is,
the price to the farmers would be
quickly beaten down to those figures;
but the price to those people the Kan
sas governor wants us to clothe while
he is feeding them with 1925 wheat,
would still be from so to 60 cents a
pound.
That is very nice talk about the
Kansas farmers trying to increase the
wheat yield so that every one may
have bread; but nevertheless it is a
fact that so long as the people Of the
south are compelled to buy 1926
wheat with even 35 cents cotton they
will have very little with which to buy
anything else. not excepting the cotton
cloth with which they expect to be
clothed, and of which they require al
most II not quite as much as the Kan
sas farmers. If Governor Allen had
not put the matter as he did we would
have assumed that the main reason
why the Kansas farmers were trying
to increase their wheat yield-was not
so much to feed the world as it was to
get that 1926 a bushel, and we are
not yet convinced Of the incorrectness
Of such assumption.
Every one who Is at all acquainted
with the economic development or
these United States knows that during
a period covering three -fourths Of the
history of this country the cotton crop
of the south was responsible for 80
per cent Of such balance Of trade as
resulted in our favor in our dealings
with the whole world. 1t was southern
cotton that brought British and other
European manufactures, including
iron, steel, hardware, crockery, porce-
lain, agricultural implements. locomo-
tives, stationery engines, firearms. cut
lery, paper, books, steel pens, and
practically everything else we needed d
to this country 1t was southern cot
ton that brought our earliest supplies
of gold and silver, and made possible
the development Of our national re-
sources in this direction. 1t was
southern cotton that built the great
cities of the north, and that opened up
and developed the state Of Kansas, and
Notwithstanding the tremendous
wealth and prosperity that has been
created throughout the north and else
where on a basis Of southern cotton,
the people who have been producing
the cotton have realized less direct
benefit from it than have the people
of any other civilized portion Of the
world.
The people who have been raising
cotton have prospered more during the
past two years than ever before. We
will admit that; but thy have not
prospered like the people Of the east
or the people of Kansas. And neither
have they prospered because Of the
high price Of cotton, for cotton has not
been nearly as high as other things
More than from any other cause, they
have prospered because the food ad-
ministration shut them off from buy
ing that 1925 wheat and other food
products and made them live to a
larger extent on what they could pro-
duce at home.
Not long ago the treasury depart
ment announced how all the eastern
and northwestern regional reserve dis
tricts had oversubscribed their quotas
of treasury certificates assigned to
them in anticipation Of the Victory
loan, while the southern banks fell
short. If, in addition, to what we have
saved by raising so much Of our own
food, we had been able to sell our cot
ton for the 35 cents the governor Of
Kansas thinks we are getting, we
would at least have been able to buy
our share of those certificates.
OF course it has never occurred to
the governor of Kansas that way; but
it ought to be evident to him that if
the people of the south had been get
ting our share Of the wealth they have
been creating, the percentage Of illit-
eracy that runs so high in the south
as compared with the balance of the
United States would not be nearly so
conspicuous. But so persistent and in
dustrious have the people Of the south
been in creating wealth for the bal
ance of the country that they have not
been able to educate their own chill
dren.
What Governor Allen looks upon as
an organization to retard production
Is only an effort on the part Of the
southern farmers to get the price Of
cotton up to where 1t will buy 1926
wheat, and it strikes US that his alarm