The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-08-21
COTTON HOLDING AND COMMON
SENSE.


for higher or for agreed prices. Dis
posing Of their own products Is a
matter strictly up to the farmers
themselves to settle according to the
best lights of experience and obser-
walton, and the very fact that there
is a wide divergence of views as to
the best course to pursue shows that
the hard and fast agreement of last
year to warehouse and hold for fif-
teen cents proved a serious disap-
pointment while the actual market
movements of the past season show
it resulted in a very heavy loss for
those who commenced holding early
In the fall when the open market
price was around 13 cents. When
the very large amount of cotton held
back at the beginning Of the sea-
son delayed the flow of the usual
amount of money into the cotton
states, and, while not the cause of
the October panic, acted to intensity
and aggregate its depressing effect
in the south, and the farmers, of
| course, in the end had to bear their
part of the loss from general de-
preston and dullness, not only in
the cotton trade, but in all lines of
business and in all markets for
other products they had to offer,
says the Fort Worth Star.
The common sense business view
of the question seems to suggest as
| the safer and better coure, what the
! Star has frequently advocated
gradual marketing, neither starv-
ing the market by general holding
back nor Cutting it by scramble
to turn loose. This plan oils the
wheels of busiess, locally as well
as generally, at the opening of the
season and thus aids in promoting
tone and regularity for the entire
season At least some of the think
| ing cotton farmers are beginning to
| look at it in this way. One such,
| writing in the Burnet Bulletin, sums
up his conclusions thus:
Il wish to add a few words to my
argument that it is best to market
cotton enough to settle all indebte ed
ness. In the first place, it is impos-
sible for us to hold cotton with any
degree of success on borrowed mon
| ey. Why? In the first place, we give
to the money lender mortgage on
the cotton, the borrower gives an
| Understanding note with limited
time for maturity and when matured
the lender has full control of the
cotton This is my view, am ! right
or wrong? If | am right it is very
easy to see where the burden would
fall. If | am wrong then l hope to
| see my error, still it will take strong
argument to convince me that these
are not facts. To borrow money on
i cotton to pay debts with reminds me
of a man being caught in a shower
! of rain and jumping in the creek to
| keep from getting wet My next argu-
| ment is this: We have in the various
| little towns that are advancing the
necessities of life to US and | am
satisfied that a majority of them
are poor men and depend on early
collections in order to meet obli-
! or fn hn oil 70
to accommodate their customers. 1t
may be asked, do they make a pro-
fit on what they sell? The answer
is they do provided they are able to
collect. Then the case is too plain
to need any explanation. So let us
sell cotton enough if we make it to
give them their money. BY SO doing
everything will be in a happy, pros
porous condition. No man nor set of
men can be very prosperous, and
not at all happy, while in debt, or
at any rate this is the case with
me. There is never a more happy or
peaceful time with me than in the
fall of the year when all of my OBJ
legations are settled"
This mans point certainly seems
to be well taken.
His argument looks like good,
sound, economic reasoning.
Those who take different view
claim that a movement among the
farmers to sell early when it is
generally known that most of them
are in debt will result in a combi-
nation to keep down the price, but
this view seems untenabe for sever
al reasons.
The first is that combinations to
depress the price of any staple so
much talked of, are mostly imagi-
nary. The worlds markets ebb and
flow according TO the great laws
of supply and demand and trade
activity in various countries, and
no set of men can control market
movements except in a limited
scope and for very short periods,
and those who attempt even this
often come to grief as the record