The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-10-10
Cheap Cotton
Manufacturers Record.

almost every paragraph Of which be-
gins with the dictum cotton should
be cheap" 1t should be cheap, says
Mr.. Durfee, because it is prime ne
cessity, because it furnishes clothing
for the poor man, because millions Of
workers are dependent on it for a
livelihood, because "only in times of
cheap cotton does the manufacturer
secure a reasonable profit on the cap
ital invested" etc, etc. We ought
to strive to produce cotton as cheaply
as possible, says Mr.. Durfee, instead
of curtailing production. He thinks
that the cotton-producing sections are
capable of producing large enough
crops to make cotton cheap. AS these
arguments, however, appear by them
selves to be a little too "raw," it.
should be stated that Mr.. Rurfee also
contends that "by cheap cotton is not
meant a price which does not show
profit to the producer. All interests
handling cotton are entitled to a rea.
sonable profit, but the producer is not
entitled to charge 20 cents for cottpn
cost 10 cents any more than the man.
';facturer is entitled to charge 81 for
the finished cloth costing so cents"
Perhaps Mr.. Durfee thinks cotton
labor is inefficient and unprogressive.
1t is. FiVe-cent cotton had a way of
closing schools, dressing labor in rags,
housing it in novels and prohibiting
the construction of churches. 1t made
the slavery of pre-Lnco1n days ap-
pear in comparison as some sort Of
heaven. 1t degraded even the negro.
1t swelled the death lists, apotheosiZed
ignorance, pauperized whole sections.
Before the Civil War there had been
negr oslavery in the South. After the
Civil War, the cheap cotton advocates
undertook a new enslavement of the
whole South, white and black.
There is and can be no such thing
as cotton production at ten cents per
pound, under boil weevil conditions,
and nobody knows it better than does
Mr.. Durfee. And nobody knows bet.
ter than he does that if production
of cotton at te, cents the pound were
possible it would be possible only by
:weating blood out Of American citi-
zens and giving them in return not
even proper food supply. Mr.. Dur
fee knows that, or ought to know it.
Nay, more; he knows that price of
20 cents for cotton, now, is an in
famous price-havoc- making. To de-
fend it is equivalent to defending the
march of an invading army through
the South, spreading destruction at
every turn.
The maintenance of American DOM
nance in cotton production is desira-
BILE, highly desirable, provided profit
also is maintained, but not otherwise.
Philanthropy is carried to an extreme
if the Southern farmer is to go on in.
definitely producing cotton at loss.
None more than the farmer Iaments
the necessity for acreage reduction,
but Mr.. Durfee knows, or ought to
know, that the only way in which the
boil weevil can be fought at all sue
cessfully is by intensive cultivation
and intensive cultivation requires cor .
centration of available labor on small
er, nor larger, acreage. Doubling the
acreage might actually reduce the
size of the total crop.
No cotton is cheap that degrades
millions. No cotton is cheap that is
paid for by the misery and ignorance
of blacks and whites. No cotton is
cheap that reduces whole populations
TO the condition of Indian serfs. But
If Mr.. Durfee and his associates, so
intent on profits for themselves, would
work for cotton prices that carried
with tenn something like living wage
for the producers, out of the prosper
ity resulting the South unquestiona-
bly,, we think, might through educa-
tional processes, etc., gradually
achieve a greater efficiency, which
would corresponding reduce produc-
ton costs. Distress cotton" how
ever, is not a national asset; it is a
national liability.
1t is true that foreigners are MAX
ing stupendous efforts to establish
cotton production in their own colo
les. Maybe Mr.. Durfee has noted that
they. are doing it by guaranteeing
prices, which is the equivalent of
guaranteeing profits. They are not
worried so much about price as they
are about supply. If more production
is what Mr.. Durfee wants, he may bc
able to get it by guaranteeing prices
also. We do not doubt that hundreds
of planters would be willing to con-
tract to produce cotton for him at cost
plus reasonable profit. The trouble
with many men of Mr.. Durfee's type,
however, is not that they want cotton
at fair price, bst that they want
cotton at an unfair price. They want
it at less than cost. Indeed, little
less selfshness and little more con-
science would be good for more than
one depresser Of cotton prices. Moral
responsibility! The boil weevil may
be, as some negroes think, visitation