The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-12-04

Activities OF Pest Threaten to Bring
World Famine in Staple. Affects
Not Only Planters, But Manufact-
urers and Mill Workers
A special dispatch under New
York date line to the Baltimore Sun,
bv Bert M. Mcconnell, of the edito-
rial staff of the Literary Digest says
in part:
The United States is facing the
worst cotton famine since the civil
war. The price of cotton as this is
written already has reached its war
peak of "a cents a pound Hundreds
of mills must close because of the
shortage. AS a result cotton clothing
prices are nearing those of 1920, when
overall clubs" and buyers strikes"
brought the price of clothing and 9TH
er necessities little nearer normal. In
those days there was no shortage of
cotton. but now the government tells
us that this years cotton crop will not
Weld more than 10248,000 bales of ap-
Droximate1y 500 pounds each and that
OF the 38,000,000 acres of cotton plant
ed this year some 100000 have been
abandoned.
The chief cause of all this is a de-
structive little insect about the size of
the common house hy-the Mexican
cotton boil weevil. One conservative
economist estimates the cost of this
pest at $3.50 yearly for every man,
woman and child in the United States.
The people of every section of the
country except the south, where the
LII ,,,aaxys1 %ha holt 1JlYp
blanket and destroys approximately
S1OOO00O worth of cotton every day,
have lightly dismissed the invasion of
this scourge as a sectional problem.
international Menace.
For 80 years we have been almost
wholly indifferent to the incursion of
this insect-this billion dollar bug"
Which only goes to prove that, as
people, we are nothing if not long
suffering.
But the boil weevil is neither a sec
tional nor national problem; 1t is an
International menace. It's ravages al
feet not only the cotton planter OF the
south. and the merchant and the bank
er of the south, who advance money
on the cotton crop; together with the
cotton manufacturers, cotton mill
workers and merchants of the whole
United States and Europe, but in the
last analysis every person in the world
who wears cotton clothing.
And that includes some six hundred
millions. When, therefore, it is con-
servative1y estimated that the boil
weevil has destroyed since 1914, and
not including this years crop. some
3OO00000 bales of cotton, and that in
these nine years only 100000 bales
were produced, this parasite by caus-
ing a shortage in the staple and con-
seouent rise in the price of cotton
clothing, will at once be recognized
not merely as a sectional menace but
an evil that cuts sharply into the
pocketbooks of all of us. In other
words, you and I are helping to pay,
in high prices for cotton goods, the
staggering cost of the boil weevll in
vason.
Government Active.
The government already has done a
great deal to eradicate this pest, yet
it has continued to spread over prac-
tically the entire south. Still more
drastic measures must be taken, tor
in the past five years this insect has
caused loss of at least 81. 500,00O,OOO
hence it's name. the ''billion-dol1ar
bandit" This loss is partly shoulder
ed by the cotton grower, but the
wearer of cotton clothing shoulders
most of it. 1t is felt, therefore, not
only BY the south but by the entire
country.
This enormous loss curtails the purr-
chasing power of the south and tends
to limit trade between that section and
other parts of the country. II the raw
ages of the boil weevi1 could be cur
tailed one-half the gain to the south
of some $180,000,000 yearly, at the
present rate of losses, would enable
that section to spend what amounts to
new-found source OF wealth Ior
shoes. clothing, furniture, automobiles,
agricultural machinery and other lux
uries and necessities produced else
where. This would mean more work
for labor in other sections OF the
country and greater demand TOT
manufactured products.
Kept Prices Up.
1t has been argued and with some
degree of success that the boil WeeVli
ravages in recent years have tended 10
keep up the price of cotton, thereDy
saving the COltOH SlOWNi
plight of the wheat grower, who mas
a surplus of wheat, which, for one
reason or another, he cannot sell eth
er in the United States or Europe. But
southern planters, bankers and meT-
chants, whose prosperity depends
mainly upon the cotton industry, have
come to realize that high prices re-
cutting from small crops are not per,
manenuy desirable; that more and
greater profits will be made, even at
lower price per bale, if the boil wee
vii is halted in his search of devasta-
ton, for the simple reason that they
will have more bales to sell
AT present, however, cotton grow
ing is one of the most hazardous I'M
dertakings. For every bale which ne
hopes to gather the planter must. grow
another to feed this voracious insect.
This is shown by the latest govern
ment statistics; the damage done by
the boil weevil to the 1921 crop was
6,277000 bales, whereas but 7,954,OOO
bales were produced.
not fNf1lPd " -