Arizona republican., 1921-08-20
SATURDAY MORNING. AUGUST 20. 1921
National greatness depends Jess or,. the number of men to the square mile than on the number of square mem to the mule. Life.
An Unfamiliar Subject

An Unfamiliar Subject
 Even a 50 usually we'll Informed journal the Philadelphia Public Ledger is subject to we observe in an editorial Egyptian Cotton" which title conceals jubilation over arrangement under which part of the shipments of cotton from Alexandria to the United States allocated to ship ping board vessels
 The unfamiliarity of the Public Ledger with the subject of long staple cotton is disclosed in the following paragraph:
 There may be those who will wonder why,
 with reports that all of cotton crop
 can find market, the government should be
 taking steps to bring cotton here from anoth-
 CT land The answer lies n the difference in
 qualities. For certain purposes of manufac-
 ture need more long staple cotton than we
 can produce here. Egyptian cotton is grown
 in this country practically only in the Inn
 peria1 Valley district Of California. Not
 enough of it is produced there for our needs.
 The Sea Island cotton, which is of similar
 quality, has been ravaged by the boil weevil.
 and the Carolinas cannot produce enough of that. So must bring Egyptian cotton in
 This is where the cotton planters
 loss is the shipping interests gain.
 It is strange that the Ledger should not have heard of the birthplace of American Egyptian cot ton-the Salt River valley. which nearly all of 1t produced in the United States has been grown The long staple crop of the Imperial valley is almost negligible. There is there but we believe much larger acreage of Durango and short staple  have yet on hand or in eastern warehouses unsold about 7ooso bales of last years long staple cotton crop.
 It may be- as the Ledger states that there is not enough long staple cotton in the United States to supply the American demand for the material. but while own (and there is finer in the word) is lacking market we cannot believe that the need for Egyptian cotton from the seas is urgently pressing.
 sS4 to exist is one in which "the cotton planters loss Is the shipping interestsr gain." But is it the the way around that the activities of the ship ping interests mean loss to the cotton planter?
 And will the allocation of Alexandria shipment1 be a financial gain to the shipping board? Will not the at which the shipping board has undertaken carry this cotton result in loss to the shipping board which since its institution has made only unbroken record of losses? Will 1t not pile up a little higher the burden which its activities have created for the taxpayers among whom are the cotton planters?
 It will be remembered that there were two bid- ders last May for the business of the Alexandria cotton shippers: that of the shipping board and that of the London Conference Line. The bid of the shipping board considerably less than that of the British line whose bid presumably intended to cover only a reasonable profit. How then could the shipping board with it's lower bid greater cost of operations under the seamens act hope to avoid loss?
 We have always been in doubt whether the bid made by the shipping board made in the interest Atlantic spinners and the expense of tax payers generally well long staple cotton grow especially, whether the shipping board was seeking business at loss in order that its vessels which rusng in their nests in the mud flats of two coasts, might be put into service.
 The rate at which the shipping board has agreed to carry this cotton is about $2.3s ton Arizona cotton has a rate of $1o.4o ton to the Atlantic seaboard. These rates alone. to say nothing of tht fellaheen labor of Egypt. would consign the lons staple cotton industry in America destruction.
 For the enlightenment of the Public Ledger Secretary Welch of the chamber of hal addressed letter 1t descriptive Of the long staple cotton industry in the alt River valley, rapit growth within eight years and the need that it b, given protection unless America wants to derive al its long staple cotton from foreign sources