Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-06-29
What Cotton Has Done for
Americas Balance of
Trade.
Trade.

the Federal Reserve Board during the
Hast nine months of the Wilson ad-
ministration were trying to wreck
the South, it probably did not occur
to them (and if it had, it wouldn't
have mattered' that the cotton ex-
ports since 1880 have been twice as
great as wheat and corn and were it
not for cotton the balance of trade
during these years would have been
against the United States and in Ia
vor of Europe.
In recent discussion in the sem
ate of the United States, Senator
Harris, of Georgia called attention
to these facts and said that the gov
ernment owes a debt of gratitude to
the cotton producers of he South.
Senator Harris pointed out that the
enormous gold reserve which Ameri-
ca had been able to accumulate was
on account of the cotton that we sold
to Europe, money for which is al
ways flowing back to the United
States.
However, cotton and the cotton
producers have no friends. They are
at the mercy of Wall Street gam
blers ON the one hand and the Fed
eral Reserve Board on the other:
But there is time coming when they
will be able to talk and act with in;
dependence, and that time is when
they will refuse to make cotton in
such quantities that they cannot
make living, even though the whole.
world might be naked. Every time
one thinks of the government adj
monition we had to produce cotton
for the world is naked, and then
when we produced it the same gov
ernment tried to break US financially,
it makes him rebellious and the
Southern farmer has his eyes on the
pretended friends of the past who
proved to be wolves in sheepskins.
Senator Harris in the senate dis
cussion said some pertinent things
about cotton which we are eproduc-
ing herewith, the quotation being
from the Congressional Record:
"Mr. Harris. Mr.. President, I
wish to call the attention of the Sen
ate to an important fact in connec-
tion with &C ton. The Senator from
North Dakota (Mr. McCumber) and
Senators on the other side of the aisle
who have given the Senator from
South Carolina (Mr. Dial) such close
attention will be interested in this.
Except for the cotton exported from
the South since 1880, the balance Of
trade would have been against the
United States more than half the
years from that time until the last
year. The gold reserve that we have
had to help the country in the trying
times the past few years has been due
more to cotton exported than to any
thing else. Without this cotton the
balance of trade would have been
against the United States and we
would have been sending annually
abroad hundreds of millions Of dol
lars. Onr Government owes the cot
ton producers of the South debt of
gratitude, and I hope to see the time
when Senators from every section
will feel an interest in the welfare of
the southern cotton producer, whose
products now sell for less than third
it costs to produce. No section has
suffered from defation as much as
the South.
s'I ask unanimous consent to in
sert in the Record the balance of
trade between the United States and
foreign countries and statement
showing the exports Of cotton, which
amounts to double that of wheat and
corn, and showing the amount of gold
that cotton we have exported has
brought into our country the past 30
years. Also, I wish to insert a copy
of the British Board of Trade jour
nal, showing what Great Britain is
doing to encourage the production of.
cotton. Unless our Government helps
the cotton producers, the production
will be deceased, our exports lessen
| ed, and our gold reserve reduced. l
think everything this Government
can do should be done to encourage
the production and expectation OF
cotton and financing cotton produc-
ers SO as to help the price of cotton.