December 3, 1009] 



SCIENCE 



813 



on aceouut of high-priced cotton 13 a humor- 

 ous bluff." This view is of course taken up 

 by the farmer, who is not in a position to see 

 the seriousness of the situation. 



The American Cotton Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation issues in the Textile Manufacturer the 

 following reply to President Barrett, of the 

 Farmers' Union : 



The recent utterance of President Barrett, of 

 the Farmers' Union, and the editorials of the 

 Cotton Journal are in bad taste, and show a sur- 

 prising lack of grasp of the situation. 



The cotton manufacturers of the soutli are in- 

 terested in the development and welfare of the 

 south and are big and broad enough to realize 

 that a fair price for cotton means prosperity for 

 this section. 



The farmers are in tlie midst of prosperity 

 while the mills are in distress. Both are linked 

 together in the general prosperity of the south 

 and the farmer should show his willingness to 

 cooperate. 



This relation between the two great factors 

 of the cotton industry of the south grows a 

 little more critical with each report that comes 

 from either side without any possible means 

 for either side to know the status — the real 

 status — of the other. The writer is inclined 

 to believe that such a matter is of national 

 importance and should call for the best 

 thought of the country. K these two great 

 organizations, the producers, on the one hand, 

 and manufacturers, on the other, could be 

 made to more clearly understand the other by 

 a National Industrial Commission or Arbi- 

 tration Board, the country would be the gainer 

 far out of proportion to the cost of maintain- 

 ing the commission. 



The mills concede that the price of cotton 

 is not too high, yet they can not fail to see 

 that such action as they have taken actually 

 cost the farmers of the country right about 

 $450,000 the tenth day after the meeting of 

 the Industrial Association. Possibly the 

 farmers should help bear the burden, but the 

 real issue is this — the mills should not have 

 the privilege of passing judgment on the mat- 

 ter for all concerned, which it virtually 

 amounts to, since their action seems to vitally 

 affect the price of cotton. The point upper- 

 most in the mind of the writer is that all 



should help bear the burden, but let the matter 

 be submitted to an arbitration commission, 

 whose duty it shall be to investigate the cost 

 of raising cotton, and the cost of manufac- 

 turing, and such report as the.y make annually, 

 or oftener, be distributed among all people. 

 The commission need not confine its work to 

 any particular line of industry, but should 

 turn its attention to all matters of national 

 importance about which there is likely to arise 

 a misunderstanding. This commission could 

 well be considered a common resort for justice 

 in proportion to its authority and influence. 

 Wlien we contemplate the fact that Great 

 Britain is developing cotton growing in all 

 her colonies, and will sooner or later be in 

 position to supply her own mills with the raw 

 material, the matter assumes a new interest. 

 A letter comes by this mail from the director 

 of agriculture, Zomba, Nyasaland, British 

 East Africa, that the cotton crop will be in- 

 creased over 29 per cent, this year over last 

 year's crop. The general outlook for the 

 British government is very bright, and surely 

 there is no time for delay in adjusting our 

 own affairs to the best interests of the nation. 

 England is in doubt as to the meaning of the 

 inconsistency of the present situation in 

 America, as shown above, since short crop 

 means high price for raw material, and yet 

 an overplus of manufactured articles seems 

 to be the explanation of the low price of fin- 

 ished material. " It is difficult to get at the 

 truth from contradictor.y statements of this 

 kind," comes from an English review. 



R. J. H. DeLoacii 

 State College of Agriculture, 

 University of Georgia 



(SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 rkstixo spores of the potato fuxous 

 (piiytophtiiora infestans) 

 The potato fungus, Phytophthora infes- 

 tans, has been carried in pure culture in the 

 botanical laboratory of the University of Ver- 

 mont continuously since 1904. Various nat- 

 ural and artificial media have been tried in 

 the hope of securing additional information 

 as to the ability of the fungus to produce 



