The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1904-08-27
SYSTEM OF COTrON WARE HOUSES.
Plan Proposed to Insure . More
Uniform Scale Of Prices.

i lSOutheln Cotton Corporation,
with headquarters in New York,
will be of special interest to cot
ton raisers:
With scarcely ten per cent.
change in any recent years in the
production of cotton, prices have
lfiuctuated more thar. two hundred
| per cent. In 1898 with crop of
III ,270, 900 bales the average New
] York price was six cents, though
lin many places in the South cot
lton sold as low as 4 and 5 cents d
pound. During the present sea
lson, with a crop of little over TO-
I000, 900 bales, or a difference Of
lonIy about 10 per cent, cotton
has sold as high as II to Is cents,
and may average for the year
- cents, These changes in prices
moreover are more rapid than in
jany other product. Between the
time a farmer starts from his
home to sell his cotton inhis near
est market and the time he gets
There, prices may change IS to $10
la bale. Under such conditions the
/ planting interests can never be on
la thorouhgly sound basis, nor can
manufacturing expand as it would
under more stable conditions. But
with prices fairly steady from
year to year, the worlds trade
would rapidly expand and increas-
led production of cotton would find
an ever increasing market, where
as now the production of only q
flew hundred thousand bales in ex-
cess of the actual needs of the
year, makes possible the breaking
down of the price of the entire
tIcrop. In other words, surplus
lof 100000 or 1000, 900 bales, or
3 to 10 pei cent. excess over inn
mediate wants, may be made un-
der present conditions to cause a
decline of 100000, 600 to $780,
1000, 900 in the price received by
1.-THE farmers for their crop. Ii
Nature favors the South with good
weather and other propitious con-
ditions and thus gives 1000, 900
bales more of cotton than is tenn
porarlly needed, she may, instead
Of having added $50,00O,00O to
the wealth of the South, have les
sened it by several times that
much. To overcome these de-
plorable conditions, it would only
/ be necessary for the planters TO
store that surplus, thus taking it
of the market until the inevitable
return of a short crop year would
restore fair prices. BY doing this
they would make any heavy de-
cline in price impossible, and
would save millions, possibly a
1 hundred million or more to them
selves aud at the same time bene-
4 fit the whole cotton industry OF
the world. In 1851 a Cotton Plan.
ters' Convention, held at Tallahas-
see, Florida, reviewed the wide
fluctuations in the prices of cot,
ton, pointed out that such condi.
tions were alike improbable tc
the grower and to the manufaet.
urer.
To overcome these fluctuations.
which are not known to so great
an extent in any other important
staple, that convention suggested
that the only possible remedy
would be found in the establish.
ment Of a broad warehouse system
in which the surplus from years
of large production could be car
ried over to years of short crops.
The Importance of such a system
lis now universally recognized.
Such a plan is but an adaptation Il
the cotton trade, on somewhat
broader lines. Of the elevator sys.
EN-, without which it would now
be impossible to handle the grair
trade Of the world,
Only a few weeks ago the Texa!
Farmers Congress passed a reso-
luton saying that the development
of such a system would save a
least $40 a bale, or 800, 900, 900 !
year, to Southern cotton growers
lone of the main purposes of tt,
Southren Cotton Corporation is Il
establish throughout the South ;
system of warehouses. Under this
system when farmer brings BIZ
cotton to the market and find:
prices below what he believes Il
be a fair value, he will be able Il
put 1t in a warehouse and receive
for it a negotiable receipt. Will
this receipt, his cotton protectes
Eagainst exposure to weather an,
against loss BY FIRE, he can 60 t'
any bank and borrow money II
meet his needs.
The cotton mills Of this country
land Europe can utilize this system
to equal advantage. They cal
ware house cotton and carry il i
1.-THE same manner and ship it t
their mills from day to day d
month to month as needed. Il
this way the congestion of trafi
on the railroads will be avoided. q
cotton Will be shipped out during
I twelve months instead Of the bull
! of il going forward il thre
: months as now. Thus the vast f
I nancial operations of handling cot
ton will be carried On III the SoptI
: Ito the great profit Of all Southeri
business interests, instead of i
Europe and New England as q
! present. We believe that d
greater enterprise for the enrich
Z menf Of an entire section, With0u