The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-03-09

fare depends upon the marketing Of
cotton ut fairly rcmunerative rates
and southern bankers should, whcr-
ever possible. make liberal conces-
sions in their usual rates on COM
modify loans. High interest, he
pointed out, means forced sales"
THE attitude of Great Britain and
her allies Gin declaring cotton con-
traband) has created much uncer-
tainty in the cotton trade and great
apprehension on the part of cotton
producers in the south" He could
have dssipated that uncertainty in
one minute had he told what he
knew of the secret agreement.
You have an opportunity Of con-
serving the value of the sOuth's
greatest asset, and upon you, south
ern bankers and merchants, rests the
responsibility of the veal or woe OF
great agricultural section, perhaps
for years. Leading hnanciers freely
express the fear that the sudden pros
perity developed in some sections ani
along certain lines of industry will be
followed by Il period of wild specu-
lation and imitation. The banking re-
serves of this country are consider
ably more than one billion dollars in
excess of legal requirements. Our
gold holdings, over two billion dol
lars, are larger than those OF any
other two countries combined. Our
trade balances are piling up unpre-
ccdcntedly, probably amounting TO q
billion dollars during last months OF
1918. What better security could q
southern bank ask than the obliga-
tiOn CT a merchant or farmer which
he has been carrying on crop not
yet existent; what better investment
than to carry this obligation along
for few months, if necessary, secur-
ed by the actual cotton properly
warehoused and insured and certain
or market. DO not sit supinely
on the ginhousc floor to be smother
ed beneath a mass of cotton, but keep
on top the heap, and feed it out, at
living prices to the spindlcs and fac
tories of waiting world"
Not in sorrow and in tears would
the south be today, If the policy so
outlined had been followed by the
Federal Reserve board these last two
months. But as an economic pro-
phet. that August day i'm 1915, Mr.
Harding was not running the risk Of
incorrect diagnosis. He knew what
was going TO happen. An agree
mcnt had been made that it must
happen.
1t is not surprising that men lose
faith in statistics and the claims that
market prices are natural, not ma
nlpulated. Here was Il man high
in the government, fortified with a
letter from the president of the Unit
cd states, solemnly massng a lot OF
statistics and rules and rulings to-
gether and Offering them as reason
why something was likely to happen
although all the time he knew that
thing had TO happen for an entire
~ different reason.
We are not complaining ncccssar-
lily because the arrangement with the
British was made. Certainly we are
not complaining, if at that time the
president felt that the British were
fighting the battle of civilization. We
could only wish that to that view he
had adhered, and that he had not a
year later gone before the country as
Il candidate for recollection on the
plea OF absolute neutrality, declar-
ing that "he kept us out of war;" and
rather intimating that he would con-
tinue to do so. One wonders, if it was
then the determination to help Eng
land in the stupendous conflict, why
it was done at n price, and why Sec
retly? Men who have in all solemn
ity once acted part and kept the
people in complete ignorance of es-
scntial facts, ascribing TO economic
causes events which they knew were
the result of manipulation, cannot
readily be trusted at other times and
IN other circumstances to be more
open and frank.
III, in 1915, there was an internat-
ional and secret agreement to raise
the price OF cotton. who knows that
there was not another secret and in
tornational agreement i'm 1920 to
'or'" the price of cotton down.. The
poWcr to manipulate by such means
having been proved once, the temp
tatlon to employ it again would be
great. Moreover, one is struck by the
fact that Mr. Harding, then at Biz
mingham, said that it was time for
the bankers to do as the railroads.
give excursion rates in order, said
the News, that 'the merchants can
hclp the farmers hold their own un-
I'll the spinners Of the world are con-
vinced that they cannot buy it ut less
than It's fair market value The
Federal Reserve board has been
driving cotton on the market ire
spcctivc Of fair or any other market
value. II has utterly and absolutely
reversed the policy enunciated by Mr..
Harding at birmingham, although
the banking reserves are still con-
sidcrably moro than one billion dol
lars in excess Of legal requirements"
In our opinion, the ruinous prices
OF cotton today are manipulated
prices. prices forced to lower levels
by action of the government, and this
driving down has been tho rosult oc