The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-05-31
BONDED WAREHOUSES;.

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Address of MI. Lewis w. Parker BE
] fore Bankers Association.
Following is the address on the sub
ject of Bonded Warehouses;" deliver
ed bv Mr.. L. w, Parker on Wednes
day before the bankers convention:
/ have been asked to address you to
day upon a subject in which I al
much interested and upon subjec
which I believe is of much interest tt
YOU as bankers. Though I am my
self banker, in a small way, my ad
dress to you may more properly bt
the views of a manufacturer.
do not think there is any subject
which should appeal to you with
greater interest than that of bonded
warehouses.
Cotton is the one staple upon which
we here in the South depend and upon
which our whole interest is centered
In the summer and fall we think O;
cotton, dream of it, and if we do moi
feed upon it, we are conscious of the
fact that it is the source through
which we will obtain our daily bread.
If this is the case, then it is a sub.
ject with regard, to which it is we'll to
consider what is the best way to pre-.
serve it and how to give such value to
that product that the producer may
get full return.
From the standpoint of mauufac.
turer, which, as / have said, am in q
larger way than a banker, we have
gone through most peculiar conditions
within the past two years. We have
seen cotton rise from s cents to II l-2
cents and fall to IL cents, conditions
which have been hard upon the man.
facturer. hard upon the producer and
hard upon the community at large.
If such q condition can be guarded
against in the future it is certainly to
the interest of the whole country to
take every possible step in this direc-
ton.
Today, with the variations which
are attending the value of cotton, the
man nufacturer has almost ceased to be
a legitimate manufacturer and has be-
come in one sense of the word a gam
bier, in SO much as bis profits are de-
pendent upon the success with which
he has purchased his raw material.
AS said in the outset we are all
more or less dependent upon the sue
cess of the cotton crop and its market
ing. Ifthe farmer is successful, if he
has made good crops and has gotten a
fair price for his staple, the commun-
ity at once feels the effect of the pros
perity. He trades freely with the
merchant and pays his bills promptly;
the merchant IS thus stimulated to
buy more freely, anticipating active
sales, and is enabled to meet his obi
cations to The satisfaction Of the bank
with which he deals; the bank has its
obligations met at maturity and sees
its deposits steadily increase; the man.
utacturer has the assurance that he
can sell his product to good. advantage
and is enabled TO figure lis margin of
profit, while today he is confronted by
the uncertain question of the price of
his raw cotton.
The cotton crop of 1903. 1904 was
only ten million bales, while in the
season of 1904-1905 we had an aston
ishlng increase to fourteen million
bales, making an aggregate for the
two years of twenty four million bales.
The worlds consumption at g. maxi.
mum of ten million eight hundred
thousand bales, or putting it at eleven
and half million bales. as some have
estimated for the present year, making
total for the two years Of twenty
three million bales, was ample for the
worlds deeds and sufficient to prevent
the unparalleled fluctuations which we
have seen within the past two years,
could we arrive at and carry out some
solution of the problem Of handling
and marketing our crops with more
uniformity.
The solution l think can be found
in the development ofa proper system
of warehouses throughout the South.
The warehousing of agricultural pro-
ducts is nothing new in the world. i
am probably not so well up on the
Bible as some of my Presbyterian
brethren present, but l believe it was
Joseph who stored the excess Of seven
prosperous years to meet the needs of
the seven years of famine which he
had prophe lied and foretold. As
Joseph provided for the years of fam
inc in the years of plenty, so we
should in good crop years store our eX-
cess product for the years of shortage
which must follow. Therefore, from
that view the warehouse is impor-
tant.
But there is 40 view from which it
is 30 important as that of the waste
attendant upon the holding of cotton,
as it is to very large extent he Id by
the farmers of the present day. I do
not think the people of the South rea-
lize the extent of the waste which is
due the improper care of our staple
product. At this season of the year
we find practically every bale of cot
ton mulched to the extent of forty
pounds of damage. In this section of
the cotton belt we know that in
many cases the damage exceeds
forty pounds to the bale. A few
days since ! purchased 81 bales of cot
ton and refused to pay for it until it
had been picked and weighed. When
this was done the damaged cotton was
found to weigh 3,2l5 pounds, or about
six and half bales. Now when the
number of bales held by the South is
considered the loss to us through i'm
proper care rurs up into the millions.
Are we to impress this fact upon our
people and give them the opportunity
to make this saving? Are we not
bound in justice to us all to make pro-
visions to prevent such a waste? The
only practicable system, Of course, is
the erection of warehouses.
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