SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



and cartons. But the most desperate, most doubtful 

 battle will be on the political front. Here greed and 

 ambition enlist Quislings perfectly ready to betray this 

 great American crop for their own selfish ends. 



In the worldwide market, our foreign cotton com- 

 petitors are sitting snug and happy under the umbrella 

 of our artificially high price. Consistently they cut six 

 cents or seven cents under the American "parity price." 

 Except on lend-lease deals, they naturally get the busi- 

 ness. For them it is extremely profitable business, and 

 nobody dares guess how cheaply they could sell if it 

 came to a knockdown, drag-out price battle. Every 

 year, while our cotton acreage shrinks, theirs grows. 

 Under the protection of our own subsidies to American 

 growers, they have raised their production from nine 

 million to fifteen million bales a year. Some nations 

 have made stunning gains. Mexico has trebled her 

 cotton acreage and Argentina quadrupled hers; Brazil 

 has multiplied by six and Russia by ten. 



To meet this situation the Commodity Credit Cor- 

 poration recently adopted an export bonus of four cents 

 a pound. What happened is prophetic and disconcert- 

 ing. Brazil immediately cut her export price four cents 

 and protested violently to our State Department at this 

 flagrant, official violation of the principles of the At- 

 lantic Charter calling for free trade in the world's staple 

 commodities. 



This export-bonus idea is packed with TNT. It puts 

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