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PAE PULL FOROF P _CE ORPULL OUT Entered April 23. 1903 at Piektler . .- as ace-~md vI::- x u m-.a~~ ', ~r (a un - of n .-- ... 3 9 - 41st YEAR. PICKENS, S. C., EBRUUARY 29U AIKEN SCORES COTTON BEARS. Asks for Drastic Regulation of Cotton Exchange. Gives Some Interesting Fig ures on Cotton Mr. Hay. Mr. Chairman. .I yield 15 minutes to the. gentle man from South Carolina (Mr. Aiken.) - Mr. Aiken of South Carolina. Mr. Chairman, some time ago I introduced a bill (H. R. 12408) the purpose of which is to reg ulate transactions ion the pro duce exchanges of this country. This bill if enacted into law, will confine tran'sanctions on the ex .changes to crop products actual ly in existence and re'ady for dilivery, fixing proper penalties for violations of its provisons. At the same time I introduced this bill -July 12, 1911-I knew ia a general way the evils of exchange methods, but their enormity was not known lo me fully antil the closing mionths of that year. . Only a few years ago a large percent of the lands and homes of southern fariners were under mottgage. . Reduced to poverty by the war, the southern soldier came home to enlist in an indus trial struggle full of deprivation andllittle!less terrible in its effects than the scene of blood and carnage through whilh he had passed. Cotton, by reason of its climatic adaptability and ready market value. is the natural southern crop, and its cultiva tion offered the only hope to the southern farmer after the War of Secession. In the history of its decline in price to less than half the cost of production could be written a history of depriva tion, suffering, and even want never before experienced by a people of like refinement and in telligence. Northern cotton mills were reaping a harvest. They extended their investment to the North and South, mill in terests flourished as never before in the history of this country. Southern homes were swept from their owners and converted into mill profits, and these in tarn nlaced in new mills. Hard as was the struggle with the cotton farmer, it was not with out its beneficial results in cre ating new demand for his cot ton Though many wereldriven -from their farms to seek work in the mills, a better day began to dawn on those who remained on the farns. Increased manu facturing took cotton more and more out of the hands o1 the specuiator, and it began to com mand a price that gave a profit to the producer. Mortgaaes, yellow wvith .age, were lifted from southern homes, and peace and contentment could be read even in the lines of the furrowed brow, These dark days in our his tory will never be reenacted. Our peoole have concluded1 that they are entitled to a part of the profit of their crop, Trhey have built warehouses and so diversi fied- their crops as to stand the assault of the cotton gambler, and a few of them, at least, will share the profit with him and the mill men. Determined, then, as a few of our people are, to have share in the profit on their cot ton. the indignation they feel to ward a lot of cotton gamblers whorK market manipulations has robb ed themn of millions of dollars' profit on this crop is not hy~d to understand. The poorvr, the more helpless, has bernqueezed out and fo ~ to part wit h his -. w the cost of propu( tion. iThis has already been ~Tto yer goMsr Brown Havne, Scales and oteswr charged with mamntaunmg a pool to hold up the price ofa ct. ton, the Attorney Generai of the United States had them indicr ' before a federal grand j ury And for ixhose protectio.'. was done at-the instam' of lot of bear thieves who s *n atically robbed southern iplir for more than 'thirty vars The indictment alIeged that mil men had to pay a tictitious pric< for their cotton, and many (: them were forced to shut down I know something of this insid history of that so-called bul pool, and I state as a fact tha the .idea originated with a south ern mill president of La Grange Ga., that the details were work ed out at Greenville. im my owi State, and that so-called bul operators were brought in to ai the cotton manufacturers to up hold the price of raw materia against the manipulation of t conscienceless band of robbeo As evidence that the Attor uey General proceeded at itI instance of the bear cliquo or exchange, not the character o the witnesses called. Without exception they were representza tives of firms who had sold cot ton heavily in excess of supply. And note the further fact that not a single mill man appear in the list of witnesses. At the time the so-called "bull" poo! came into existence the future cotton market was a cent a pound or more beow the spot narket, held down by the beai gambler. Tie dry-goods ier chant wanted to base the price in buying on the future anld not on the spot-cotton market. amd refuse to buy except on that basis..- This produced stagna tion in the cloth market and it was to eliminate this feature that mill men originated the so called pool to maintain a party between the spot and the future market. But suppose American cotton mills were p'aced at a single dis advantage by- "bull" support of the market, can the Attornev 3eneral be excused for protect ing even them at the cost of millions to American commerce f .When we consider that the United States raised 69.9 per cent. of the world's supyly and cosumes only 24.-7 per cent. the magnitude of the injury done to American commerce and American business by the effort to depress the price of cot ton is apparent. That his act did not reduce the price of c:ot ton at the time more than cents per pound is duec to the stubborness with which Hlayne, Brown, Scales and others bought all actual cotton offered, instead of accepting settlement of mar gins, which is a trick of the trade to sell large quantites of cotton not in existence. Such a decline was confident ly an tici - pated. A week before Brown and Hayne knew that ther were oing to be prosecuted a "beur' irm, in trying to get a certain party to sell the market said:. I know something is goin. tf happen that will cause a break nu the market 'of from 100 te 200) points. Sups the. break had ma ecline, to give forelt p inn'p about 90,000,000 ;to 'ave oi :30,000000, ostensibly ioAmri can spinners, really to WVah street gamblers. Will the tion never come when Governue representatives and oliicers c:1 see other interests than thos that are center-ed in New iork - the hard-working, respectat( I izen of the 1litedI State - hw!! up by the Goves unc1 ~rught into si1 h0 The worild ' eo cotton~as stated~ in DI L page 2:;, of the Dcpl r Agiulture, is 21. ,0, I ?he statt'eent: it1 app'.taS probable thu enn i-awrea dturmno whe v(:, n~~~~ ligAg 3,912. i her words. the presen rop will barly net the dei mand, colditions being norma in ther cotton raising countries i in India, for instanc the cro is conceded to be short aboul :1,500,000 balcs, and we hav hea1l nothing of a large croy in any other part of :the world. We raised as heretofore stated, approximately 70 per cent. an( - this represents say 15,000,00( bales. The other cotton produc ing countries raise 30 uer cent. or 6,400.000 bales. The total, then. will be 21,400,000 bales as agailst a consumption of 21, 000.,000. But India, as stated, 1is 1,500,000 bales short, which. taken from -the iotal supply. would seeim to indicate a short awe in- he world's supply of the crop of sometlhing like 1,100,000 bales of cotton. We need 21, 000,000 bales of cotton, we have on1 19,900.000 bales with which to supply them. In the face of these facts cotton has been ham mered down to 8 cents per pound, 2 cents below the cost of pro dRuction, by a merciless set of vampires. Meaning no disrespec.t, but in criticism of the narrowness of the Attorney General's view and the siortsightedness of his poli cy, I charge that he, more than all other combined agencies is responsible for this condition. His prosecution of 'the so-called bull element of the exchange has driren out competition and made the market a one-sided af fair. No single operator can affect prices on the exchange, and no sane "bull" operator would enter a combination while he or his fellows were unde! prosecntion by the Federal couirts charged with this very oftense. The "bears' may com bine at-will, but. ftr the "bulls" to combine is in restraint of trade, is an affront to thegentle men of Wall street, and proper cau-e for Government interven tion. What a spectacle. Mr. Chairman. if the Attor ney Gener". concludes finally that he can not proceed against --bull' operators, I believe a committee of Congress should mvakc investigation of exchange methods. If it is a fact that ndlilions of hales of cottoni are oild annually on the exchange that never had and were never ntended to have existence, herleby abnormally depressing its price, then the evil should be eradiented. in the name of coilfnon decency, inl considera ion for the southern farmer, who contributes fiore to the ex port tr'ade Of the Unit ed State:s than hailf of the rest of this con* ()1iYcJmined((, this pirae on his Prmducnts shoul be stopp) * . If th !]A-()t toni e.xchaniges are (ed by the "bears,"- it wvoull be initelyc1 better to abolish them altogecth'er. Congress should know~ the facts, aniX knowing thilem Thould pass such legisla inher a wili pro'tect thle po co 4f (A ((t on \ woIuld have beten of it has '-ld as & lawx as S cenlts per piorund (Owing to bear mm~a by' 'e Gvern1:nenit, the co)tton i, ucr has easily lost .3 (cnts pe pond on3501 the entIre crop 01 . 150(,00: and two-thirds of thi amount, o': approximiately -1 ?5,00,00. has been given tc forin sPiiners. Vlr Tribble. Wili the-gentle man y kil fr a qluesti.)ns Mr. Aiken of South Carolina. Crain~ly. Mr. Tribble. I unde-rstanl( - I en.'tilmanintroducedI his * n e time ago. in of South Carolina T '.Il as the gentle -.. ..,1 If >outh Carolina , \ a E'.- e n abetogt 1' reoi't at all I ite c)nmi tee fr. Trih. Th: h Id not tigaei that. so far the gentlemm knows, so as to i port that bil Mr Aiken of South Caiolina. They have not, so far as [ know. I would willingly aeord sinceri ty of purpnse to the Attorney General if. areptig tliis hri of the dilemma, he did not dp pear rediculous in the sight of all good citizons. interested n the welfare of a common col-! try. Perhaps, as a newspape in my district tersely puts it: "H'He prefers the hug of the bear to the horns of the bull." (Ap plause on the Democratic side.) While I thought the prosecU tion of Brown, Hayne. and Scales was little less than crimi nal, since the Atto-ney General has assumed the responsibilty and given the "bears" the bene fit of the Government's support. I could see no reason why the "hear" elenient, wvho had robW ed the producing class of fully .3,000,000 should ..ot also be mrosecuted. and to that extent aid in demoralising their robber band. With this idea in view. I directed a letter to the Attor ney General, asking why these men should no be prosecuted. I have my letter to him and his reply. I shall not read them, but will ask leave to print them in the Record. In his reply the attorriey Gen eral says if he had evidence of the existence of a "bear" pool he would proceed against it, as he has proceeded against the so called "bull" pool. While I can not furnish him such evidence ais wonl(l be conclusive in court, such investietion as 1 have made convinces me t hat the evi dence against th- "bear" and "bull" elements of the ex changes is t angible alike: that the market can neither be boost ed nor beared by one man (Ap plaused on the Democraticside): that there are men on the ex changes who opcrate almost ex clusively on the "bear" side and operate in collusion with other "bear" - oper'ators: that/ these raidis on the market are of ten planned m nths before the actu al coup: and that the r'obber band planning them will use every possible inst irumen t a lityv. Incluing . the Government. In, carry ont their danable pur' po0ses. How many times have they had advance inform atio~n of the Government reports Who would deny that they have or have had agents inf the stat is tical depar ienlts of this Gov ernment? Now, 1 hese fact s arle all known to Ilhe Attorney en eral, and vet h10 comes up wt the prosfciuin to thle "bull' 'ligne1 ini hiS right .hand, and in hi'~ left had with th~e lme ex case that lhe do's not knowv. wvho the "'bears" are. (Applaus on the Democratic side.) The Regular "bear" cotton spec(ulator is as u-el knc'V~wn in exhange cir''cs as th of~ii .ers Ih name us of seveta -hear imi wh 1wixvll be found on the -b-r ide of every iml)prtn '.xchange transancti1(n, an.) (ici it's of thle Government rail on i he mariket t wo years ago. if the Attorney Genleral will r ingeac an c l i th arie unde poecui~nfor evi dence, and then rake the leth-r' fib~ s 0of the "bear ilemntii, as fle U in the case of his lUmceeni on1 the "hlulls"' lhe xvill noit heQ lak ing for evidenc'e, A "bLear pn 1 was rin. which held the futur market a cent a ponnaI hel w the spot market at the very time the Government began pro ceedings against the se-called - "hull"' elique. and that very act, -as I have shown, gave ri-c to t~ .-'ald 'lull'' pool as a tim: Mr..Nkl )I ion thatat 2. a ': wer1c jc th11 6 1u IT4.11p Zi o il 1hildb Slji e h1: "i 111r.iil ie 1 mil or ally ii gnu il this NOi! Aifr Ok1ivl ("', u~ sol' i i'.I TlwrcheiaN 1)(1wcn fi2I I O far as I know, M~r. ilCffli. S.--,; 1i i i n I ~111 alll hi 1I. 1tO HI u Not ~ 1 to 1,11,111"k . I v~ imean of j n A LS WV. lit - lA Not; to 1117sf~I2Ytti f tijt SVt dwI c W.! i ti ll \V aftill f IN till into" S1- wasi .tt. worflv an1 odm WKI Cv Li ph.to tIP puldi Ai w a at lor ill r at . ( It is rulwttl 1 i W O \ ii 'lev wvill J(I giarloyr. 7m oa(mwD 1 77*. 7 ' 4 --7 N11 Illy_ TOWiI _____PIED!IO 1 This L'O~i town is note(I for its hospitality, i ( ): I ) ordert. E vevv door is wide open to strng~ers; the people strictly moral and law 11 ierC pirevais. here has riot been a seriouis crime commit id hre mn mny\ y'ears. We have only oic blue cal, ai' his, services i a're rarely called into re uisi iomn; (circh anti S11nday school' member o giad1ualiv grows; inisiness increases yearly ui iherefor e there is no reason that we should, n i hippy and contented in this good town. Ech <biy we take a step forward. Soon we will quit paddling through the muc and walk (n paved streets. Our mI.chnts are always busy. People e-onie hiI lrom ill mountains and from the low huio buy. to They get their monev's woith (" wy0 :--." -isfid thlat they resolve om' buzer gainl. INEST COT TON ND CORSN MARKET N THE STATE . Tis. is one of~ the best markets in the State or Co; o :1n(1 Cot toni and( all farm products, and n U 4 utoe t rades herei~i he has been won AD1?PLENDID WATER .!'' god inwn to ;j\e, mlove and~ have a i. AUi who are here say so. The *... '.water in flhe world (Greenville * ~x; K'~.Thue h;aY I1(Oli(, and(1 joyan * * (~:81noinenit fore'vermlfore. is;numer. They canni1ot find a better, healUt hier place to spend the : 1 i nvigoratinig, the climate S.~~ ihe c*eva'tingr hills inspiring. W\\e o \.( exeel lent hotels, bult these arc I b hwea and ~ triansient patrons. The o nanin h. ,se~s ::re well filled, anid some ;nid get buisy ovIe accommuuodation h:n \.-ib ->, UV' 1CL :t(rhI \ ,-r;IhinLr ho(rL for ~ . Heavy Loss by Ffre Houston, Texas.--In the wake of the most destructive fire in the history of Houston, smould ering wreckage tonight covers an area of about seven blocks' wide and a mile tong in the eas tern po'rtion of the city. More than a dozen of the most' important enterprises in the cityF are in-ruins; 200 or more dwell Lings andstoresareinashesand approximately 1.000 persons are homeless. An accurate statement of the monetary loss is not yet possible but the most conserivative esti mates are that the amount will reach $7,000,000. The insurance will not exceed 40 per cent. Ex cept for a few who suffered mi nor burns and bruises, no casu alties attended the fire. Warehouse .Commioners J. W. McCown of Florence, chairman; John S. Horlbeck of Charleston, T. L. Clinkscales of Anderson is the personnel of the new State warehouse* com mission, to take charge of the State system of cotton ware houses created under the act of the present session and approved by the governor. The terms of the members are six, four and two yTear, t selected by lot, the three members elected. Agree on Parcels Post It looks as if congress would pass the parcels post law. From a dispatch a few days ago to the daily press the following is tak en: - Democratic members of the house committee on postoffices and post roads have agreed to in corporate in the appropriation bill provisions for the establish ment of a general. parcels post system. They haN e also agreed upon a domestic rate of 12 cents and a maximum package of 11 pounds.. This is the present in ternational post rate. They would also provide for a rural parcels post, the rate to be 5 cents for one pound and 2 cents for each additional pound. The. provisions will be incorporated in the bill to be reported to the house some time next week, but the actual wording of the provi sion's has not beeni~~ T~ decision was reached after long consideration of the subject, a - few Democratic members advo-J cating a system of parcels post zones in which would prevail different rates. This was final ly passed anid the international rate ordered recommended for t general routes and the .limited, ' graded rates for rural routes. AnOld Bar Room. But what is an "old bar-room" -an "open saloon?" The no tion of the South Carolinian is ~ vague and is obtained only from ~ reading descriptions of "gilded dens of iniquity" that are stilt to be found in such benighted regions as Virginia, Pennsylva nia and New York. Neverthe less, persons who wish to be ii formed and are unable to travel half a thousand miles may oh- :~ tain a fair idea of them at the - race track in Charleston.--The State. Acts Not Approved4 Over one hundred acts and ; joint resolutions passed at- the-2 present session of the general assembly have been forwarded by the governor to the secretary of state, where they are now on - file as statutes of South Carolina. An examination of the mass of ratified acts shows that only three or four of the entire lot have been given the official sig nature of approval. In the re mainder, the line drawn for the signature of the governor, above the word "governor," he left blank.--The State.