Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-04-26

effort to the movement to have
better system of cotton warehouses
in the South, and has gore SO far as
to have plans prepared for The proper
warehouses. These plans will be
ready in few days for distribution
to any of the counties that desires
them, In further discussion upon
the subject of warehouses President
Harvey Joidan, ofthe Southern Cot.
ton Association, says:
"The Southern Cotton Association
is now directing it's efforts along the
line of having better care taken of
the staple after it is put into market
able condition, and encouraging the
building of modern up.to.date ware
houses in every cotton growing
county where from 1000 to $4,000
bales are annually handled.
"Tbe association is having pre-
pared plans and specifications with
blue-prints of number of modern
warehouses which will meet the
wants, and conditions of different
localities, and will be prepared in the
near future to send these plans and
slpeci6essions to any county which
desires to build warehouses. Letters
for in 'ormation of this kind are being
received and interest is being greatly
aroused IL all sections of the country
along the lines of securing more ade-
quate and better facilities for hand
ling the.staple in the future.
"The fashioned brick ware
houses, without proper equipment, is
a thing of the past, and no more of
similar kind should be constructed.
The difference in the cost of a modern
warehouse, carrying. with it mini
mum charge of insurance, is but little
more than the cost of an old-time
warehouse, carrying with it maxi
mum cost of insurance.
"The cotton growers of the South
are annually being taxed for an ex-
cess of insurance of about ten million
dollars more than they would have to
if cotton was stored in properly
constructed warehouses carrying a
minimum rate of insurance. This is
tremendous item of expense, and
should at once command the atten-
tion of cotton growers throughout the
entire cotton belt.
"The high rate of interest charged
on money borrowed on warehouse re-
ceipts for cotton is also enormous as
compared with the rate of interest
that could be secured by presenting
a cotton receipt that should-be nego-
table in every financial center in the
country, the rate of insurance should
not be more tnan 1 of per cent on
cotton stored in properly equipped
warehouse, and the rate of interest
on cotton warehouse receipts issued
on cotton stored in such warehouses
should not be greater than s per cent
per annum. In other words with a
system perfected for properly taking
care of our cotton, the insurance,
storage and interest on money bor-
rowed on the value of bale of cot
ton for IL months should not exceed
more than $3.50 per annum, or J per
cent per pound.
"With only this minimum cost of
carrying bale of cotton for twelve
months it is quite evident that by re-
stricting the supply to meet the de-
mand the price of our staple could
easily be maintained at from 2 to 8
cents per pound higher than usual
market prices controlled and dictated
by speculation.
elf, through the gradual marketing
policy we could advance the price of
our cotton $40 per bale, selling part
of the production each month, with
the burden of only J per cent per
pound carried for II months, it is
quite evident that the producers
could make clean profit OF from So
to 80 bale on the average for pat
ronizing system of that kind"