The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-21
CENTRAL BUREAU
 PLAN ATTACKED
Memphis Conference Brings
 Out Opposition
RESOLUTION ADOPTED
Despite Explanations Offered by Kern and Haight. Southern Bankers and Cotton Men Oppose Cen
 tral Nalidation Bureau

Memphis. January 20.- Representative bankers. shippers and cotton dealers whose interests extend throughout the cotton growing states of theEsouth re- iterated today that the so-called Liver pool planf of bills of ladms valuation through the medium of a central bureau is "repugnant to sound business prn- cipes7 and refused to sanction the plan as originally drafted at the European bankers conference or qs amended seV- eral times as to details. Instead, q com mittee was appointed to meet with rep
 resentatives Of the European bankers and cotton men at Memphis Monday to
 arrange. if possible. another plan.
 H. Kern. chairman of the Liverpool
 cotton bills of ladins committee. and
 Charles s. Haght representative in the United States of the European cotton
 interests, were the only advocates of
 the plan at todays conference. They
 explained the plan in detail, but al the
 end of their argument the southern cot
 ton men were uneonvneed, and after three hours of spirited debate. adopted
 resolutions denouncing the proposed plan. l NSAlGI W dHtS AnUhhtI AoHlCifHSt Sol wrxler of New orleans suggested
 that a committee Ia be named by the ! chairman of the conference. Elias Por-
 ter of Memphis, confer further with the
 English delegation Monday. He gave as-
 surance that if the central bureau should | be abolished the American Bankers aS-
 sociation, of which he k a member would | draft q sub-plan from which the fea- | lures regarded as objectionable would he | eliminated. but affording equal safeguards | to the foreign buyer of cotton. Messrs Kern simpson and Haight will remain l in Memphis to meet the committee, which
 is composed ol W. C. Lawson of Waco, | Tex S w King, Dahas, Tex, M. W. Williamson. Little Rock, Ark. C. w. | Butler, Memphis and New Orleans, and l C. K Smith of Memphis.
 l In the resolutions adopted the central bureau proposal Is scored in terms equal | V as emphatic as in resolutions adopted ai a similar conference held at New Or leans several months ago.
 DeplOre Losses
 while members of ttIe conference de- plore losses entailed by certain fraudulent practices by two cotton firms in the re- cent pastH the resolutions continue and although they declare in favor of, and will render active support to any and all reas- Onable, Just and leHluInate feloht1S III tHV methods of billing and forwarding cotton still the central bufeau plan is questioned l both in it's original amended form Is here lby condemned es being repuenani to sound business principles in that il pro- 1 poses to invest bills of ladings with q status entirely Independent of the char acter of the shipper. discriminatory in that it imposes burdens and hardships OH the cotton exporters and possible costs upon the cotton producer from all of which the producer and shipper of every ether commodity Is free. and futile in that the fiat of the central bureau certifying
 to the one virtue of genulneness of sig natures would place irresponsible and dis
 honest shippers n a position of vantage
 from which they could practice a multi
 tude of collateral irregularities pregnant
 with greater injury ito the cotton trade
 than the isolated danger of forgery. The
 remedy lies In the enforcement of moro careful business methods
 Sixteen delegates attended todaX's con
 ference. E. r. Glenny,s president of tho New orleans Cotton exchange and w, B. Thompson of New orleans. represented the cotton interests of that city as well as other cities in the south. and Sol Wexler acted as spokesman for southern banks. The other delegates were from ,Misss- sippi, Texas. Arkansas and Tennessee.