The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-03-21

today TO the business men ana larm
ers on cotton, fertilization. the need
OF cotton grading, schools, etc.
Mr.. Blackwell said in part:
Il address you not as an editor and
farmer and landowner ! want to ad
dress you briefly on issues of the most
vital importance to every man, woman
and child in the South dependent di'
recIy or indirectly on the cotton
plant
The subject of fertilization is just
beginning to seriously engage the at
tention of our people. In Texas,
Oklahoma, and other sections OF
the South, with rich virgin soil,
we are prone to overestimate the
lasting qualities of same. We per
nit fortunes OF fertilizer to go
to waste for the lack OF energy and
a proper knowledge of the chemical
needs Of our soils to apply same. Ey'
! cry ton of cotton stalks burned robs
the soil of SO in value in potash which
said stalks annually take from the
soil. We cannot go on and on rob
! bing the soil and never giving back
the chemical properties taken from
| it 20 produce cotton without being dis
| appointed finally in the yield.
Il want to urge my hearers to take
as good care of cotton after ii leaves
the gin as they do 15C bale of hay.
Cotton left in the weather will con-
10 hn c
sighted farmer who leaves his cotton
exposed, invariably loses in weight as
cotton once wet will lose when dried
out Take care of your cotton, wrap
1t up fully and neatly and avoid a row
with the buyer over country damage
| and help make our American packages
reach their destination without look
ing like the miserable shabby or
phans they are when they reach the
other side.
Another important question | wish
to discuss with you and urge you to
begin now is to ask your State Leg
islatures to make provisions for the
establishment OF cotton grading
schools in the high school of each
county seat OF the entire South. 1t
Is inconceivable that only two per
cent of our cotton planters are able
to grade their cotton, and thereby ar
rive at an intelligent appraisal of its
value-the most valuable product of
our soil. These schools can be estab-
lished with slight cost and conducted
in the summer months when the
young men of the farms have leisure
time.
The only way to get anything near
what the present or the next crop Of
cotton is worth is to hold a million
bales or two of this crop over into
next years crop and reduce the acre
age 25 per cent A 100000 bale
crop in 1912 will bring cents per
pound. A 100000 bale crop will
bring II cents per pound. The only
thing that can prevent good ad-
vance of say s. to SO per bale in
cotton, il held for few months, is
for the bill of Heflin, Of Alabama, |
seeking to abolish future dealing in |
cotton to pass or even to be reported
favorably by the committee on agri |
culture. Either would break the
price of cotton s. per bale at the
present time.
"On the question OF cotton ex-
changes. the future trading feature or /
the application of the hedge preroga-
tive to the spot deal, our people are
very poorly informed or rather mis-
Informed. In fact when very few OF
our ablest editors or statesmen have
given the matter any thought how can
We eXect our farmers to know any
better when they depend upon the
first named men to enlighten them.
The producer of cotton and
large per cent OF the public generally
have hazy idea that every detail OF
the cotton traffic especially cotton fu-
lures, is one vast propaganda estab-
lished and maintained solely to de-
press the price of cotton and take it
away from the producer as cheaply as
possible.
The cotton echanges. of which
there are but three in all the world
""i'h tIc price vi tllUtT SDO1S
or futures. are those of New Orleans,
New York and Liverpool.
THE New York and New Orleans
exchanges are the producers ex-
changes, and the Liverpool exchange
IS the consumers exchange, and in my
humble opinion both the producer and
he consumer must have an exchange
TO create balanced market Alto
sether the exchanges are clearing
houses for the worlds cotton traffic.
Without them it would be absolutely
impossible for anyone to arrive at any
hing like fair and equitable price
or cotton.
THE application Of the future trade
,r hedge prerogative to the spot deal
S what makes the cotton market and
makes of cotton a cash asset and sale ,
lble every day in the year at every
own and hamlet in the South. II the (
market was deprived of this facility,