The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-15
MONTGOMERY FARMERS
 PLAN TO HOLD THEIR COTTON

tra sessions of Legislatures. He would license every gin to the amount of $t for each bale of cotton ginned and re- quire every bale to be tagged so as to certify that the license has been paid. The cotton seed oil mill and fertili- ger manufacturers would also come in Tor more tribute. .+-ssa5s
 Let every cotton seed oil mill or agent be licensed equal to 25 cents per ton of seed bought" says Mir. HouGh- ton. Raise the fertilizer tag license to $1 per ton..,
 Abolish the so-called cotton ex- change or make the license almost prohibitive. Prohibit the sending or receiving of orders for future delivery except for actual cotton and provide. a State Examiner to verify every trans action and when a bona fide sale has not been made and the baled cotton delivery make the penalty severA one." - ..a
 Would Raise Great Revenue. Mir. Houghton estimates that the revenue obtained from the new H. censes enumerated would be for Ala bama about $1,500,000 and for all the cotton States about s1s,0oo,0Oo. With this fund it Is proposed to secure bonded storage warehouses in each county and at the principal ports. Shipping and commission rates, weigh ing, compressing and insurance would so come within the regulatiye power of authorized agents of the State as to be lowered. Thus, direct trade with the spinners could be established. Advances may be also made to holders of cotton at rate of interest not exceeding per cent. S''
 The farmers have the right of votes to bring about such legislation as is proposed" urged MT. Houghton yes- terday. "I do not believe that there is single farmer in my hearing here, who is unwilling to give up s1 on every sacrifice he gets a profit of $4"
 The paper of President Houghton which met with hearty favor in the Association is as follows:
 Or paramount importance to the cot ton farmer and the section dependent on his success for prosperity is a com prehensive and practical working plan to market the crop when made.
 No scheme of cooperation can now be devised to dispose of the remaining portion of the present crop except a general refusal of holders to part with 1t until reasonable price shall prevail general reduction in acreage for the coming crop, a cutting off of fertilizer bills and a common want of interest In trying to produce another crop that VIII not sell for enough money to re- turn the planter his outlay, supple mented perhaps by unfavorable seasons may make the out turn so short that good prices will be obtained for what may be produced and whatever surplus Of old crop that may be carried over.
 That the producer Is not receiving 3 to 10 cents per pound for middling cotton Is not the fault of the spinner, nor his customers. nor the consumers, but the unreasonably low values is the result of vast speculative influences and combinations of capital operating through what are termed Cotton Ex- changes, but really gambling rooms. The producer will not receive A fair and adequate return for his cotton based on supply and demand and the spinning business will not be steady and profitable until the future con tract gambling business is suppressed or eliminated.
 Cotton Menaced by Speculation.
 ''The whole business of growing and spinning cotton is menaced by the speculative spirit as evidenced by a large number of mills the past year selling their stocks of cotton and clos ing down their mills causing their machinery to be idle and their workers to suffer Formerly the manufacture of cotton goods was considered among the most conservative, regular and profitable lines open to the industry of man. It Is now so beset by margin operators and concienceless future con tract combines that if a number of mill agents purchase a months supply to- day, week hence their competitors may secure supply at a price that will virtually put them out of business.
 The farmer, through his agencies must furnish the spinner his supplies direct or he must protect him from the yagaries of the speculative mar ket, or the manufacture of cotton will decline and factories will be run as mere speculative ventures, the demand Tor actual cotton and for cotton goods will fall off and the producer and spinner will go down together.
 on the Soth day of December, 1904. middling cotton was quoted in the market of Montgomery at 6 3-S cents per pound. A few months prior in the same year the quotations were for the same grade 16 3-S cents, a differ ence of $50 per bale. These extreme prices furnish their own commentary and show that no lawful business can stand such vagaries in a product that is in universal demand in all civilized countries -~'T'
 No other great and necessary pro- duet Is subject to so violent and sense- less fluctuations in quoted market value. No other has such an army of cormorant speculators and future com tract gamblers and go-betweens to feed upon its vitals from the time the advancing merchant, the fertilizer agent and the oil mill man plan the planting of the crop until the product arrives at the gin, the warehouse and the factory.
 Whnt Cotton Exchange Costs,
 "A well known agricultural editor is authority for the estimate that the New York cotton exchange costs the farmers of the South $15O,0O0, 900 an nually, and this sum represents what the producer. the spinner and consum- CT should get instead of the specula-