Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-10-10
ESTABLISHED 1865
THE WORLD and COTTON
John l. McLaurin To York County
Farmers.
STATE WAREHOUSE SYSTEM The KEY


sideratien, and After that Maehiner,
Under Which Cotton May be Sold
Directly to the Spinners Of Europe
Cotton Producers Should Stand To-
sether.
Addressing q meeting of the farm
ers and business men in the court
House in Yorkville Wednesday morn
ing under the auspices of the, York
County Cotton Association. Former
Warehouse Commissioner John L. Nc
Laurin of Bennettsville, urged his
farmer hearers to join the county as
sociation, declaring that the trust
principle was a good one and that the
only salvation of the farmers So far
as getting full value for their cotton
was in the organization Of an associa-
tion sufficiently strong to safeguard
their interests as against the interests
Of other organizations. The meeting
in Yorkville Wednesday was attended
by more than one hundred OF the
leading farmers and business men OF
the county who listened with great In
terest to the address of the speaker.
DIR. ]. B. johnson of Rock Hill, chair
man of the York County Cotton 1isso !.
citation precided and introduced the
speaker. In appealing to his audience
to join the association Mr.. McLaurin
told them that If they were not inter-
ested enough in the objects of the as
sociation to join the local association
then 1t was not worth while to do any
thing for them. z....
He spoke in part as follows: -. -
There is no product that will be
more affected by world conditions
growing out of the war than cotton,
therefore l wish to call attention to
some of them before referring to To-
cal matters. The United States has
come out of the war. not only the
richest nation on earth, but the rich
est which has ever existed. The 9TH
er nations of the world owe this gov
ernment 10 billions Of dollars for
which we hold their bonds. The Eu-
ropean governments in addition to
this, owe vast sums to American cap
italists like the loans made by AEeri-
can banks to England and France be-
fore our entry into the war. Paris,
London and other European cities have
sold their bonds or short term notes
at heavy discounts to investors all
over the United States. In addition
to this we have taken up and now
own the three billion Of dollars of
American securities held by Europe
prior to the war. l imagine that all
OF these items are sufficient Qf paid)
to cancel the national debt of the
United States. The bonded indebted
ness of the United States is held by
the people of the United States. There
is no other nation in the world in
this situation, and | do not think you
can find a parallel for it in all history.
Great Britain comes out Of the war
with the flower Of her young men
disabled or dead, and with a bonded
debt which is nearly so per cent. OF
her estimated national wealth. France
has lost n generation of her young
men and is burdened with national
debt which is nearly so per cent OF
the value of all the property in Franco.
Italy, Germany and the other countries
of Europe are in still worse condi-
tion. The war hardly touched the
young manhood of the United States
and our national wealth has enor
mously increased. If you ask me why
the angel of death passed us by,
would say, that it was because God
intended to preserve our strength that
we might use the wealth and man.
hood of America in rebuilding civili-
cation and redeeming mankind.
The horror and wastage of war
has taken the heart out of Europe.
There is today hardly a stable gov
ernment in Europe; there is a relapse
to actual barbarism in Russia. II
England the life of the government is
threatened by the Irish question and
a ioiiiOou SNiihC, "liiSi uiiiSoo ~
is checked will bring on revolution.
You can see how it started in Russia,
Austria, Poland and Hungary. The
world is struggling to get on its feet
from a monumental disaster. Europe
Is too weak and exhausted to do so
without help. The eyes of the whole
world are turned on America. If VIC
fail to meet the issue, then just as
sure as fate, mankind will swing back
once again into the dark ages. You
need not think that the Atlantic ocean
will protect us as it did during the
war. The tide will engulf us with the
others. After long suffering and the
loss of all that we hold dear, another
generation will finally come out of
this pit of despair to again slowly and
painfully take the upward path set for
US by the God who made us free
agents, able to choose the path OF life
or death.
Peace Treaty.
have watched with horror and dis
gust the tactics of certain senators
while the world is in agony; unmind-
full of anything save partisan politica
interest. The delay of the ratification
of the peace treaty under such cir.