Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-02-06

| strongest candidate.
Democratic party officials and mem
bers of the administration, however.
are closely watching the situation.
They regard the New Hampshire pri-
mary as a most valuable experiment.
| Needless to say, the Republicans
also are doing a good deal of close
watching. Similar tests are expected
in other parts of the country in later
primaries.
use of the United States government
| and her allies. and to consider
| prices" All of these publications by
| the war industries board will be
found in the Congressional Record
of October %. 1918.
| Mr.. Barnard Baruch was chairman
| of the war industries board. These
| various publications broke the mar
| ket price of cotton more than $50
| per bale.
With a committee of senators from
cotton growing states, 1 called On
| the president and protested againsr
| this line of conduct.
While neither the president nor
| the war industries board claimed any
bright to fix the price of cotton, and
| had no funds with which to buy any
cotton, they insisted upon the right
| to create single purchasing agency
to buy all cotton allowed exported
to the countries engaged in war
against Germany, and they further
insisted upon determining what
would be a fair price for cotton, and
announcing this price as the maxi
| mum price which Would be paid for
cotton to be exported to England
| France, Italy, Japan or any country
! engaged in war against Germany.
Their threat was to consolidate all
| the purchases of exports into the
hands of one agency, while 100000
farmers, selling their cotton, were
| left to find market. No one can
| deny that this course broke the price
| of cotton more than $50 bale.
The threatened price-flXing was
| only threat to fix a minimum price
whieil would be the highest price the
government agency, buying cotton
for export, would give for such cot
| ton as purchasers abroad wishes to
buy. There never was any sugges-
| ton. or any funds appropriated by
| which the government could fix a
price and keep cotton up to that
price 1t was all a movement to put
down the price.
On the 18th of November came the
armistice, and 1 had hoped for an
| immediate rally in the price of cot
| ton, but [ found that the war trade
! board, a board appointed by the preS1-
| dent, which had charge of issue1ng
licenses for the export of cotton, was
| placing such difficulties around those
| who desire to export cotton, that eX-
ports were being stopped.
/ went before the board and pro-
| tested their misconduct. 1 kept up a
| fight before the war trade board, urg-
| ing them to license freely shipments
| of cotton abroad, all through the
winter of 191S-19. By degrees L got
their restrictions lessened.
During that time also, with a petit
ton signed by every senator from a
| on-growing state except one, /
| appealed to the president to take cot
ton off the embargo list, bust he re-
| fused. Finally, the latter part of
| May, 1919, we got rid of practically
| all the restrictions the war trade
board threw around cotton exports
and cotton went up again to SO cents
a pound, thus showing that but for
| the interference with the cotton mar
kets by the war trade and the war
! industries boards, cotton, which sold
for 38 cents a pound the first of
| September, 1918, and for SO cents q
| pound the latter part of June, 1919,
would have maintained these prices
all through the winter.
| [ have gone into detail about my
| fight to save the price of your cot
ton because l want you to know about
| it. 1t was a continuous fight for five
years, and scarcely a day, passed
that I did not find an opportunity to
do something for you.
| Now 1 want to tell you something
about my position with reference to
| the League of Nations. There are d
number of provisions in the league
| covenant which I think should be
| guarded against by reservations. L
will only mention three:
First-I earnestly insist upon a
reservation which will expressly re-
serve to. the United States control
of our domestic questions, such as
immigration.
Second am thoroughly opposed
to the obligation placed on the United
States by article 10. 1 am opposed to
any obligation placed now on future
congresses to send our soldiers or
our navy into wars to preserve the
territorial or political organizations
of the various countries that may
join the league.
| We do not now know what circum-
stances may surround these wars. L
insist upon leaving the congress free
| to enter or to keep out of future
wars, as the people at the time,
speaking through congress, deem
right and best.
Third am opposed to going in,
at this time, to an international labor
l'organiza ton. 1 see in this interna-
tional organization an instrument for
| interfering with our domestic condi-
! lions calculated in no way to benefit
labor, and calculated in many ways
to produce disOrganization and
| strife.
L voted against ratifying the league
without reservations, and L shall con-
tlnue to do so-but with proper
reservations L think it wise at this
time to ratify the treaty.
May [ say to you that in all of
these questions, and in many others
L have not mentioned to you, I have
been moved solely by a desire to
serve your interests. 1 have studied