The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-10

l The. necessity of cotton grading | schools a all central points in the | south, one in each county at the coun- ty seat if possible, is amazingly appar- ent when we realibe that there are only ? per cent of the cotton planters able to grade cotton and arrive at q correct estimate of the value of their chief agricultural produce. Let us alter | this condition by educating our sons for business IS well as for the pro- fessions. There is no honest and intel | iigent cotton buyer but who had rather | buy cotton from a posted man then rom any other. The posted man knows what he has and the man who is aot posted may know but he has no means 1 cf proving that he knows.
 ."There is no escaping the absolute l certainty that this season we have both overplanted and oversold our- | selves in cotton. In the face of large crop and the most unprecedented rush | to market, trade conditions in EI- | rope and the Orient are indifferent to | bad. Of course the time will come when this adverse element will be re- moved by the restoration of peace in | China. Italy and Turkey and then these countries will be heavy buyers to make up for lost time. The world, or no | part thereof, will go naked, even If the great bear lairs do claim that .ha consumption of cotton is growing less. In the meantime the simple solution of 1 the II alter is for all who have raised an | excess of cotton and have any of it left IS to hold it, carry it over into next years crop and reduce the acreage fully one l fourth, if necessary to make the next crop with all cotton carried over, not more than 1S,000,000 bales. It is cheaper to hold the present crop than to make another one at the prices of cotton at present. The south would have been $500 000,0G0 better off this year had we raised 2000,000 bales less cotton, to say nothing of the cost of raising cotton on 1 land sorely needed for food for man and l his beasts of the farm The southern people have met every crisis in the past i with a fortitude worthy of Spartan sires l Why not now? To hold up 100000 or 100000 bales of this crop, and make al- lowance. for carrying that much into the next crop, will very soon convince the spinners of the fallacy of waiting to milk 1 the market to the last point down. Trade lcondtions will advance with whoop when 1 traders realize that the price of dry goods will advance to meet an advancing cot | ton market, and the way to advance the | cotton market is to hold up selling till the spinners get hungry for it and the bears who have sold the market short and then gone out and lied about the 16.OO0o90 bale crop will have to bid up the market to 1 1t cotton to deliver on
 
 because the mills are going to have the cotton. They cannot spin hedges.
 Regarding the financing of the cotton,
 l am persuaded that it is a simple ques-
 tion of individual credit. A good man
 can get money whether he has cotton or
 not. A man who is known to be lax in
 his financial obligations cannot get money
 even with tfe cotton. What we want is men who can get the money and hold their cotton. If they mortgage the cot \ ton they lose control of 1t. This cotton
 must be held on the farm or in d good \ fiIeproof warehouse, where it can be in- \ sured. To sell spot cotton and buy fu-
 lures CT hedges against it is the worst
 possible folly, because the short traders will take the actual spot cotton and run you out of the market with it. Let every creditor any every debtor get to- gether and keep the burden of the held
 cotton off the market. They have done
 so in 1904-5 ard in 190S-9 and advanced
 the market from $l5 to $35 per bale. The south was never in better condition to do this than today. There is hardly any man who has even one bale of cotton but can get accommodations for awhile that will prevent the sacrifice of his cotton. 1 This is campaign that appeals to the | unselfsh interests and at the same time selfish interest of every person in the south if not the entire nation The well fare Of all the people in the cotton states
 is affected, and their welfare should be one of national concern. Therefore, it
 behooves everybody to talk high priced cotton and assist in holding movement by making extensions in, every direction. The planter can well afford to pay in-
 terest to keep from sacrificing his cot ton. On the other hand, if the balance II of this crop is sold in the nine months
 that must intervene before another crop is planted, about one-ninth of the bal
 ance each month it will keep the con | sumers eager for it. and the spinners would prefer to pay 8 per bale more for cotton when they can get 1t as they l need it. instead of being compelled to
 buy a years supply in three or four. months. Let us sell a years supply of \ cotton fin 12 months. Any sane man. 4 knows tltat any market will stagger un- I der an offering of F months supply 1 in three or four months. A simple plan i of cooperation and sympathetic concert
 of action between the bankers, merchants i and planters. the trinity of the south's l prosperity, will do the work.
 Run Over By Train
 l Jackson. Miss, December 9.-(SpeciaD.-- 1 The body of c. B. Merrill prominent