The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1905-03-02
Mr.. HILLYER'S ADDRESS
Delivered Before New Orleans
Meeting of Cotton Planters.
REDUCE YOUR COTTON ACREAGE

Mr. Riiyer Says It Is tine Part of Pa.
trotism Tor the Southern Farmer to
Meet the Issue Face to Face by Pro.
ducing Less Cotton.
The address of Mr.. L. P. Hillyer,
cashier of the American National Bank
of Macon, Ga, on the Southern Bank.
ers Financing the South's Cotton
Crop" delivered before the Southern
Interstate Cotton Association at New
Orleans:
Mr. President, and Gentlemen OF
the Southern Interstate Cotton Con.
vention: When | behold the earnest
and intelligent faces of this convention,
the faces of men who have come from
every portion of the South, | think |
can truthfully say that the forelock Of
opportunity was never grasped at a
more suspicious time than now, nor
| have conditions ever been so ripe for
the graphing together with hooks of
steel, the farmer and the banker! De.
signing politicians have attempted to
array them against each other;
, but | say to you that the banker, be
his capital great or small, is wholly
dependent upon the farmer for his
dent upon the other, but the farmer
can live without the banker, while the
banker cannot exist without the farm
er. While the farmer can flourish to
certain degree without the assist
ance of capital, he can never hope
to achieve the Arcadian dream of com
fort and content without the aid of that
commerce whose myriad wheels are
kept eternally revolving by the aid of
the almighty dollar! And for the
banker to increase his surplus, ena-
bling him to render more efficient SER
vice to those around him, the farmer
must adopt sound principles of business
and must learn that the price of every
commodity is regulated by the immu.
table law Of supply and demand. The
farmers mistakes are reflected in the
published statements of the banker
Raise this year another bumper crop
and you can no more withstand the
calamity of cents cotton than could
the Russian Stoessel withstand the
Jove-like bolts Of the terrible jap
Bankers and bonded warehouses are
f,11 oil bn+ -
= in harmony with the farmer. But
great as they are, they cannot control
the price of any commodity-no, not
even with the aid of every Legislature
effort of all deliberative bodies. We
may resolve and deliberate, and delib-
crate and resolve, but when it is dis
covered that the supply for cotton is
greater than the demand of cotton, the
price will surely fall. But whether
cotton is selling at five, ten, or fifteen
cents per pound, one fact remains, and
that is that the financing OF the crop
must be done by the Southern banker.
He must pay the checks of the cotton
buyers and make advances to the ware
hOusemen, and If, perchance, the de-
mand upon his exhausts his reserve,
he must look for assistance to those
faithful bankers on the northern side
of Dixie. This assistance has always
been needed and has always been free
ly extended. 1t gives me great pleas
ure to state, however, that the bank
ers of the South are growing stronger
with the years. If the policy advo-
Gated by the Daily Telegraph, of Ma
con, Ca, is adopted by the farmers of
the South, the Southern banks viii!
soon be able to finance the crop with
out the aid of the money centers across
the line. That policy is to make cot
ton surplus crop-"Less cotton and
more proyisiOns-on these two hang
all the law and the profits" If your
association will thoroughly organize
with every cotton farmer in close
touch with some active sub-officer of
the association, the cotton acreage can
he regulated and the product of the
crop from seed time to harvest can
be approximately known by your pres
ident here, long before Wall street or
Liverpool have ceased their guessing.
If the efficiency Of your organization
for giving reliable information is
doubted by the buyers Of cotton, then
will the bonded warehouses work won
ders for your salvation.
1t is not within my province to dis
cuss tho plan by which these bonded
warehouses should be conducted.
take it for granted that there are
those among you sufficiently alive to
your needs, and possessing the requi-
site ability and conservatism to organ
ize, capitalize and equip them proper
ly. 1t might not be amlss, however,
to suggest that the bonded ware
houses be made of brick with fireproof
compartments, and with automatic
sprinklers of the latest design, so that
the rate of insurance may be reduced
to the lowest figure | would also
suggest that the receipts" be on
graved on steel and printed on the