The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-11
TOCOTTON GROWERS
FARMER's GUIDE DISCUSSES
 NATURAL CORNER.e


 growing since future" speculation usurped the prerogatives of dealers in the actual staple has Nature taken a nanc an,a m tns gsms to dv,cs sne cement or the and bitter experience did not teach the cotton planter 10 reduce the acreage of I his crop, and SO the boil weevil put In an appearances and destroyed enough refused to do for himself. giving him understand.
 For the first time within memory the sufficient to carry the world along un- | til the new crop Is marketable. For the first time in history the bulk of the crop remainder Is not in the hands ] ot the middle man and speculator. The former has strings on part of 1t and | the latter has done his utmost to bull doze 1t out of the exasperated grow CTS hands. Combined. they have not won, and can not win if the cotton pro- ducers who are now holding part of their crop will act promptly and in harmony The proof follows: Sixty thousand bales of Arkansas cot ton has been financed by Memphis banks. which advanced s2,250. .0no, a ba- sis of nearly $40 per bale. or cents per pound. on warehoused cotton, which Is to be shipped abroad and sold di- rect to spinners without the interven- ton tand rake cff) of the speculator or forwarder. No sound hnancier will question the absolute safety and de- sirability of such loans in view of ex- ther the cotton brings the price hoped for by those directly interested remains to De seen, but the lode star has been sighted, the compass pointed and a true course charted which The Guide urges all present holders of cot- ton to follow. for it leads to the port of victory.
 nsaA a1a tan "A bankers in othef cotton growing States will take their cue and promptly fol- low this lead when true conditions are
 ssrly SsSs By ss bales from forced sale. If Memphis banks are in position to do this and see the safe profit in this course, there are twenty other cities in cotton hold- AnG States whose average resources will care for twenty times e0.00O bales if necessary.
 The statements of national and State ss Ssnf Lonisians Aabsms georSia rS sn and Tennessee and other cotton States freely advertised in the daily press-~- disclose the fact that never before in their history have they carried so much actual cash--never have they had such surplus of loana bic funds
 Texas banks. with nearly S500, 100000 of deposits, can readily finance 500 ,000 bales of cotton and be amply secured. There Is not now, nor will there be in 1908, the usual demand for money in various lines of business, at least until 1t is time to handle the fall crops Tex as bankers may well loan per cent of their depositors' money---S25 25 .0OO,- 000---on the staple that they advertise so exultingly brings szo0. 900 a year to their cotton raisers, which immense sum goes through their hands.
 Louisiana banks--New orleans alone s--can easily take care of I5O 900 bales which would. require but se.OOO,o0 on the $40 bale basis. Louisiana plant era hold that much at least
 Georgia banks would not be incon- venieneed by lending twice as much as the Memphis banks have loaned and thns take f2e.0ooS bales under their
 Alabama Is not one whit behind her sister State and can readily assimilate loans on 120000 bales. the probable holdings of Alabama union farmers.
 Thus more than a million bales of cotton can be kept off a speculative market which is being abnormallv de- pressed by all the wit and money power Of the gamblers. who realize that their golden goose Is dangerously Ill dying by inches. This cotton can be held in the growers hands or ware housed and insured until foreign and thropic speculator" realize that they can not have their cake and eat it too-must pay a fair price for the act, SSsrx 1as sGSds na ana ns mat or ths w need
 
 uses, to say nothing of covering their gambling short contracts.
 No honest man who Is yersed in the to deny the bald fact that if the actual cotton was out of the hands of the grower 1t would be "bulled" by the speculator to is cents or more in sixty days on the actual stock situation and the prospect of "boll wsevii ravages" next season.
 The boil weevil scare has been shelved for some time and all we now their acreage and we shall have a big ger crop than ever in 1908" If the gamblers had the cotton they would be Soaring the farmer into fits by prophe- sies that if he planted cotton this sea son he would only be feeding his arch enemy the dreader weeviI.
 The holders of cotton today have a natural corner on the great staple-- with production. They need money to plant a new crop and finance their ob- iigations, but they have security as sta currency In their imperishable cotton
 It is up to the banks to lend the producers of the country what little they need, onl the best of security, or. their only consideration is for the spin ner, the foreigner and the gambler in futuress
 Memphis banks have shown the pos terests. The Guide believes that other bankers will see the wisdom and ad- visibility of following the example.
 The matter of storage, insurance, tn- terest, etc, is merely a nominal con- sideration in view of the increased price the holding grower would re- ceive.
 The money thus borrowed from the banks would be used to pay for sup plies, merchandise and liquidate obli- gations of the cotton grower and the funds would return to the vaults from whence they came within a few weeks. Forty million dollars would be placed in active circulation and the commer- cial activity consequent would be great ton of the country. Prosperity would come to merchants in many lines of business as well as to all manufactur- CTS of and dealers in agricultural im- plements, etc. Wall Streat stock speculators and Chi- cago grain gamblers would eagerly grab all the cotton futures the wise men of the exchanges" could margin, l for if there Is one thing more than an- other these worthies enjoy 1t Is to l tweak the noses of the cotton princes" who grow millions of bales of the weev- illess kind (paperl on the paved streets of New York each year. Let the Southern holder sit tight on | his million bales of actual cotton and | the gamblers would run the market for | once. instead of dividing all | his substance among themselves There is only one menace to the suc- | cess of such an undertaking, and that | Is short time loans. and they must pos Lively be refused. The mills of the | world have on hand and are secured in |