Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-14


banks are deposited in New York
This money does the price Of cotton n
good-locked up and kept out Of cir
culation. If 1t were deposited with
chain of banks furnishing money t
foreign spinners to buy more cottor
1t would help to keep the price uI
The banks in the south making tn
deposits, would make sure they re
ceived a similar courtesy in June an
July, when the foreign bank was over
flowing with deposits from the manu-
featuring concerns, which are windin
up their fiscal year and getting thei
annual dividends ready for payment.
| Another Burden to Be Removed.
There Is another Discriminate
under which the cotton planter la
bors, that the plan herein set fortl
will correct.
The planter makes his annual in
lvestment between January and June
This happens to be the period whel
the largest amount of money and al
the credit paper has been raised, be
cause at this time agricultural pro
ducts have been consumed or export
ed and the money invested in then
gone back to circulation. July is tn,
end Of the fiscal year for the govern
ment. the banks and Industrial enter
prises. At this period all credit pa
per Is being released, hence money
and credit Is plentiful and prices are
at their highest.
Compare for a series Of years
prices of hay, corn, flour and sup
plies used in making cotton January
first and June first, and you find ar
average annual advance of twenty
five per cent. No business on earth
except farming could stand an aver.
age annual discrimination Of twenty.
five per cent, and 1t could not, II the
labor on the average plantation in the
south was not the worst fed, housed
and clothed Of any class in the coun-
opoly in the production Of cotton, and
yet the surplus each year is allowed
to pass into the hand Of cotton mer-
chants or spectators for under pres
ent conditions, the terms are synony-
nous. These men through their con-
troll of available spots manipulate
the future market and reap theil
largest profits from the lamb croI
which never seems to fail.
The greatest authority, 1 believe
in the world on finance as applied to
cotton is Mr.. Theodore H. Price OF
New York In his weekly circular
letter under date of March End, he
says:
This season, for the first time ir
the history Of the trade, there have
been found buyers and sellers willing
to make contracts for the delivery OF
cotton, three, and even six and seven
years ahead.
"Spinners impressed by the made
quate production Of cotton for several
seasons past, have been willing to
take advantage Of temporary
abundance to secure their supplies fol
years to come, provided they could
| in some way be relieved Of the cost
Of storage, insurance and interest in
tho interval.
"At first this seemed mathematical
ly impossible, but through machinery
Of the futures market, 1t has been
done. Those, whose information Is
believed to be accurate, estimate that
under such contracts, at least 2,00O,-
900 bales Of cotton have been sold
for delivery at various future dates
In some cases, these contracts cover
the prospective requirements Of man.
ufacturers up to 1920. They have be-
come the basis Of vast number OF
secondary obligations, and are pos
sible only between parties of unques-
toned sponsibility.
Anyone who comes to understand
how such transactions have been
made feasible, must admit that the
economic value Of the system Of flu
lures trading, as developed through
the Cotton Exchanges Of America and
Europe is so great that 1t can never
bo abandoned.
Roughly, the cost Of storage, In
|terest and insurance on cotton, aggre-
gate about one cent pound annu-
ally. Cotton bought today at ten
cents. must be resold at Is cents In
1917 to realize cost and charges
How, then has it been possible fol
responsible merchants to agree to de-
liver cotton at cents per pound In
1917 at a time when it was selling at
that price for immediate delivery In
1911? For this Is what has been
done"
1 believe that I can answer Mr.
Prices question. The present crop
Of sixteen million bales, has from
three and one-half to four million
bales of the worst grade Of cotton
that l ever saw. 1t is plain that under
normal conditions there must be an
enormous demand for good cotton In
September This would naturally
mean a great advance in price. but
this poor cotton can be delivered on
contract at a difference Of $50 points
or $3.50 per bale. The spectators
selling the cotton ahead will be using
this bad cotton to depress prices of
good cotton for the next five years.
The grades were revised last fall at
the New York Exchange to protect
the market so it was claimed against
this low grade cotton. These ex-
changes are controlled by spectators,
and now that they have this cotton
in hand, what is easier than to re-
wise the grades again so that the same
cotton can be delivered at a profit.
The lesson for us to draw is
First-Grading should be done un-
der government supervision as pro-
vided in this bill.
Second--The surplus Of any crop
should always remain in the hands OF
the cotton planters or their friends.
Is not this condition alone sufficient
to warrant the exercise Of the police
DOwers Of anv state in the cotton