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rHE NEWBBRRY 8U1» 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA O. F. ARMFIELD Editor and Publisher Published Every Friday In The Year Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at tht postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. Spectator I was among the early birds at tending the annual convention of the National Cotton Council of America, meeting in its annual convention. Perhaps we early birds are just worms. Strangely enough millions of words have been spoken of the predatory early bird but little has been said of the foolish early worm; perhaps he turns an amiable little smile of impotence as Mr. Truman gives the C. I. O. I saw in a Memphis paper _ this morning a cartoon showing Uncle Sam, weak a nd crippled, bowed in weakness before a burly, menacing figure, representing Labor. These words axe supposed to sum it all up “Inadequate laws”. That is all wrong; the laws are largely at fault, but not because they leave Uncle Sam weak; but rather because Uncle Sam deliberately cut the ground from under Industry and management and made Labor offi cials an Octopus. But Mr. Truman will not propose the one true remedy because he fears he might lose some votes. Better to lose the whole Na tion than to lose a few votes for Harry Truman. About the Cotton Council: I’ve just seen Mrs. Boswell, Secretary to the Secretary. She is looking after the thousand details of the Convention to make certain that all the machin ery is in order and well lubricated. This Cotton Council was founded in 1937. At that time J. Wane Drake of Andersdn was the Original Caro lina member, and J. B. (Pat) Murphy of Columbia was shouting for the Council because of his Texas friends who were still freezing ice cream with the hail stones of a year be fore. Very soon “Pat” Murphy de clared war on Japan and went to Asia; not long afterwards Wyndham 'Manning went back to the Army, leaving Uncle Wade, and me to hold the line. Uncle Wade is still here— with Mrs. Drake, so he is not only present, but accounted for—as they say in the army. If you think South Carolina and Texas produce all the cotton, it may surprise you to read the list of cot ton-producing States represented here. They are: Alabama, Mississ ippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, South Carolina, North Car olina, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Tennes see, California, Arkansas, and New Mexico. Oratory of the old sort is not heard in the Cotton Council, ordin arily. Spellbinding words, and knee swinging genuflections of a loud- voiced declaimer, bending under the weight of his own words, are rare here in this Cotton Convention. No one has denounced Wall Street; no one has villified the politicians. Chemists, Economists, Businessmen —cold precise men of ideas, prevail here. Present at the Convention were: W. A. Hambright, Blacksburg; E. H. Agnew, Anderson; M. S. Stackhouse, Dillon; J. Wade Drake, Anderson; L. Cotttingham, Dillon; Frank A. Jones, Greenville; R. M. Hughes, Greer; E. H. Lawton, Hartsville; W. T. Mikall, Columbia; Fred W. Symmes, Greenville; W. A. Floyd, Greenville; Dr. W. P. Jacobs as Al ternate and Mr. R. R. Coker as Ad viser. I was an alternate for Mr. H. Gordon Kenna, a Cotton Warehouse man, a nd attended in his stead. No one among the cotton leaders has lost hope. Cotton hasn’t sur rendered to Rayon and Nylon. On the contrary, Oscar Johnston called on Cotton to take the offensive, to go out aggressively. As Mr. John ston remarked, Rayon and Nylon are manufactured products, syntheic fib ers. They have started from noth ing a id have been made popular througn every method of sales pro motion. Cotton, as he repeatedly pointed out, must build on the re search work of the chemist, sup ported by vigorous sales methods. * Mr. Johnston said that cotton was called to war and used for about two hundred purposes, whereas the com petitive fibers were limiteu to about twenty-odd. The purpose of the National Cot ton Council is not to urge the use of coton in cases in which it cannot be be used to advantage; it isn’t a ballyhoo campaign for brief results, but a sustained effort for permanent markets. I usually sit with or near Mr. Hughes and Mr. Mikell, Mr. Cotting- ham nearly awdays come's around with the right hand of fellowship. Mr. Fred Symmes and Mr. W. A. Floyd of Greenville are the only spinners from South Carol-.ia I’ve seen up to this minute. Mr. M.’ S. Stackhouse came up with a hearty greeting, as is usual with him. Mr. Hambright of the Grange and Mr. Agnew of the Farmers Union are here. I’ve just spoken to Mr. Rob ert Coker. This National Cotton Council is com posed of all the cotton interests: Producers, Ginners, Seed Crushers, Merchants, Warehousemen, Spinners or Manufacturers. From South Car olina the delegates to this conven tion are: W M. Agnew, Donalds; W. A. Hambright, Blacksburg; E. H. Agnew, Anderson; M. S. Stackhouse, Dillon; J. Wade Drake, Anderson; J. C. Miller, Sr., Jefferson; L. Cotting- ham, Dillon; H. Gordon Kenna,* Columbia; J. Roy Jones; Columbia; Robert B. Walker, Columbia; Alex Oliphant, Chester; Frank A. Jones, Greenville; R. M. Hughes, Greer; E. H. lawton, Hartsville; W. T. Mi kell, Columbia; Fred W. Symmes, ' Greenville; W. A. Floyd, Greenville; Edwin Malloy, Cheraw; R. E. Henry, Greenville; D. W. Anderson, Pacolet; and Walter S. Montgomery, Spartan burg. Mr. J. Wade Drake of Anderson, wide-awake farmer and good citizen, told me of men who have two hund red bales of cotton unharvested. He said that -he made cotton himself but counldn’t gather it. I told him that in my farming operations we didn’t make anything, but we gath ered it. A man from Oklahoma told me that he didn’t plant a hundred and forty acres he had intended to plant (in cotton) because it rained all the time of planting. The papers are devoting a lot of space to the Steel Strike and to the threatened Meat Strike. They seem to lament, the failure of Congress to enact laws that would correct the conditions which promote strikes. To legislate at all would be the typical method of recent years. Why pile on laws and more laws? The trouble springs from laws already passed by Congress. If Congress would only go back to the principle of Equality before the law, we should be in a fair way to correct the trouble. Hav ing almost delivered the whole na tion into the hands of Labor politi cians, the Congress can hardly cor rect the condition by some mild tasteless tonic composed of clear water and chocolate syrup. I called one speaker a flourescent orator, because he shed a lot of light on trade and textile conditions in Rusia, Germany, France, Italy and Japan. He did illumine the subject, with virtually no heat. Cotton has called the brains of the Nation to solve the problem of main taining and expanding the uses for cotton throughout the world. How far is rayon superior to cotton? Is it superior at all? The Cotton Coun cil's investigators find that rayon’s claims of great war use have been greatly exaggerated. Of the largely expanded production of rayon during the war only 23 per cent of the to tal production of rayon was used for war purposes. President Trumen talked to the Nation over the radio, urging the people to call on their Congressmen to support the President’s program, including F. E. P. C., of course. I found in circulation in Memphis a large printed sheet reproducing a petition to their Congressman signed by about two hundred citizens of Pulaski County, Arkansas. The peti tion does not call for support of the President’s program. Rather it call ed on Mr. Truman to bring about the repeal of the Wagener Act and other laws which have peted Labor and traded for labor political support. Again a nd again I wonder why our Nation penalyzes the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine. Surely most of our people know that mar garine is a cotton product, being made from cotton seed oil. Instead of America, being a nation trying to develop its own resources, it stands divided by discriminations, some by Statutes, some by regulations of Government agencies. Margarine is a wholesome product, a palatable spread. If the needless taxes were removed margarine could be sold for considerably less than the price of today. The farmers of Bamberg County have shown qualities of patriotic citizenship which shold encourage us to hope for a revival of real Ameri canism. Those men of Bamberg con demn closed shops and other politi cal devices which have virtually sold America into the power of Labor unions. They believe in giving to every man his rights, all his rights, as an American citizen, but no one has a right to do anything which tramples on the rights of some one else. What sort of men do they produce in Bamberg County Good farmers, sound men in their private business, sound men in their County business. Behold a county free of debt! Here is a County which buys what it needs and pays for it, cash on the barrel head! It is not a County of rich men, but a County of workers who enjoy the good things of life—on a cash basis. And they operate their coun ty on that same plan. The farmers of Bamberg have de clared against this epidemic of strikes, but they see the tie-up be tween Government pditicians and Labor politicians—and they speak out as Americans. We Americans of the South should lead in a great revival of real Ameri can standards. We are descended from the men who led in the making of the Union. Massachusetts, Vir ginia and South Carolina should speak again for the full re-assertion of those principles of government on which this nation was built. The ancient and un worthy order of Pottage Seekers has seized this na tion by the throat. Instead of prin ciples, we are bought with favors. A few million here, a few there—and we sell ourselves to the buyer, even though he buys and pays us with our own money. Any one who has studied our his tory knows that our liberties came to us through struggle, scrifice, bloodshed and death. For centuries our people fought for the principle of equality before the law; that high and low, rich and poor, should have the right of an equal hearing before the courts; and that the courts should hold the scales of justice in a perfect balance between man and man. That may sound simple, but for centuries some men had no rights; they could be (and were) ar rested, beaten, thrown into prisons, and left to die there—no rights, no trial—the poor underdogs, victims of privileged groups. America be came the land of equality before the law. The rights of men are set forth clearly and plainly in our Fed eral and State Constitution and they are our charters of liberty, our guarantees of freedom, independence and equality. It was what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he de clared that “all men are created equal; endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to se cure these rights, government are in stituted among men”. Jefferson did not mean that all men are equal in brain power or phy sical strength, but that all stood on the same level before the bar of jus-, tice. We have departed from that idea today. Our practice today is to put one organized group of twelve millions on a high platform of special privilege, leaving more than a hund red millions of unorganized citizens defenceless. If every group must organize as a group in order to en joy the full rights of citizenship why have we a government? What is a governm-nt for, except to protect all the citizens? Are we to divide into armed groups, with machine guns and atomic bombs; or shall we have a government speaking for just rights to all and special favors to none? A singular feature of our Consti tution is that it assumed equality in National affairs, but feared discrim ination in State matters. The Consti tution prohibits the States from denying to “any person the equal protection of the law”, not bejng able to imagine the nation meddling with wages and hours, strikes, closed shops—and a hundred other vote- getting devices which the politicians have put on us. If America were being governed by law, instead of by and for selfish politicians, it could be cited to the Supreme Court of the Nation that both the Nation and the States must not deprive “any person of life, lib erty or property, without due process of law”. The present Supreme Court, however, does not inspire con fidence; it is like a judicial robe to cover the tomfoolery of the Northern Democrats, and to sanctify whatever they do. USE 6 6 6 COLD PREPARATIONS Liquid, Tablets, Salve, Nose Drops CAUTION—Use only as directed Here’s what would show up if a B. F. Goodrich Silver- town were cut apart layer by layer. Why? To let you see what goes into its construction. Here, ply-by-ply, you find out why B. F. Goodrich gives longer tire life and greater driving safety. Full Pre-War Tread Thickness—made with Duramin, the "tire vitamin” that fights wear. 28% Stronger Cord Construction—Better than pre-war. 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