The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1919-11-12
4WHAT DOES COTTON
MEAN TO THE SOUTH?"
BY B. F.. MCLEOD

MEAN TO THE SOCIH?"
BY B. F.. MCLEOD
State Manager South Carolina Cotton
Association.
The question, What does cotton
mean to the South?' is Susceptible to
two answers. If cotton was selling
anywhere near .pre-war prices, IL
would mean seni-starvation and
mere existence, not a living for a
large per cent of the producers. 1t
would be a continuance Of illiteracy,
bad roads. and a depreciation in ianc
values. It would mean an exodus OF
the white tenant farmers to the cot
ton mills and other industries and an
increase in the immigration of the COL
ored farm laborers to the North and
West. ct is estimated that 100000
colored laborers immigrated to the
North and West in 1915 and 1917.
It would mean that the purchasing
power of the cotton farmer would be
reduced to such an extent that all
manufacturers, a part of whose
product is consumed in the South,
would pile up a surplus to be dump
ed at a loss. Ninety per cent of the
manufactured goods that are consum-
ed by the cotton farmers in the South
are manufactured north of the Mason
and Dixon line.
The money received for cotton is
the only money paid for a farm prod
uct that reaches every nook and cor
ner of the United States. Therefore,
it is to the interest of all manufactur
ers, including the cotton manufacture
ers, to cooperate with the cotton farm
er, merchant, banker and professional
man of the South in their efforts to
organize the three elements that con-
stitute our economic structure-the
farmer, merchant and banker, for
the purpose of insuring to the cotton
farmer a living price for his product.
If cotton continues to sell at present
prices, it would meanethe blotting out
of illiteracy and great improvement
in the living conditions. 1t would
mean a higher moral standard. 1t
would mean 'Back to the Farm
movement and good roads. 1t would
mean a great Improvement in our
common schools, and our colleges
would have to be enlarged to accom-
modate the increased number of STU
dents applying for admission. 1t would
bean a large per cent of the farm
houses would be equipped with mod
ern conveniences and better sanitary
arrangements. It would mean COM
mercial freedom and happier people.
If the farmers, merchants and
bankers organize for mutual benefit
and act as a unit the cotton produc-
er will continue to receive cost Of pro-
duction plus a reasonable profit on his
investment and a fair remuneration
for his labor.
When the purchasing power Of the
producers is increased the merchants
and bankers business is increased in
the same proportion. Therefore it
means as much to the business man
as it does to the farmer.
The efforts of the American Cotton
Association to bring the three ele-
ments together in one great and pow
erful organization should be support
ed by every man and woman in the
cotton belt. 1t is believed by many
thinking men that, due to the un-
rest and that hundreds of thousands
Of working men are en- a strike, with
a million or more threatening to strike
throughout the world, and the enor-
nous rate of exchange, cotton would
be selling for not much more than 20
cents a pound, if the American Cot
ton Association was not in the max
ing.
Tie only way the bears can force
the price of cotton down is to sell it.
They know that it is dangerous
proposition to sell cotton down much