The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-07-20
STUDY REFORM IN
CT0T0N HANDLING
NBCoMMTTTEE OFF AMERICAN cor
MISSION ATTENDS CONFER.
- III.
ENCE AT THE HAGUE. ~
WHERE THE WASTE IS
INVESTIGATING CREDIT SYSTEMS
OF OLD WORLD TO RELIEVE
CONDITIONS OF SOUTHERN
COTTON FARMERS. "
Especial Cable to The virginsan.)

Especial Cable to The virginian.)
THE HAGUE, July IA sub.
committee of the American Commits
sion on Agricultural Cooperation
represented the cotton growing inter-
ests Of the Southern States at the BIZ
ennial convention OF the International
Federation of Master Cotton Spinner9
and Manufacturers association. which
opened here last week. The Amer7-
cans devoted their attention to the
question of reforming the methods Of
cotton baling, handling and markets
Ing, and placed before the convention
recommendation which, II adopted,
would save the American cotton grow
ers s75, 600, 900 a year, according to
! their estimates, and result In mats
rial saving to spinners of Amertcan
cotton.
/ Colonel Harvie Jordan, of Georgia,
president Of the Southern Cotton
Growers assoc ation. acted as chairs
man of the delegation from the Amer.
/ lean commission. and invited three
hundred representatives of foreign
I cotton manufacturing interests to at
tend a conference in Mobile, Ala, Of
American cotton manufacturers. grow.
ers and ginners at the time OF the NTH
/ annual convention Va iuc COuShSA ~
Commercial congress in that city nex1
October. The invitation was extend0d
/ In the name of the Southern Conn
merciai congress. the National Cotton
Manufacturers association, the Amer
lean Cotton Manufacturers associA~
ton. the Southern Cotton association.
the Farmers nnion and the States o.
Georgia and Alabama. Other meme
beers of the American delegation were
+ 7 G Wit1jar .TndRA n. ~.
Lindsey and Clarence Ousley, OF Tex
as. It. J. Brooks, professor of markets
and rural economics Of the Mississip~
pi Agricultural college: Edward Ware
Barret. of Alabama, and Robert /. an4
E. f. Woodside, of South Carolina
Lose on Baling. A
/ II is estimated American cotton
growers lose about IS on every BAH
of cotton they sell through bad meth-
DDS of baling and marketing. On .
fifteen million bale crop this means
SIS. 600, 900. At the convention ~
The Hague representatives from Eng
land, Russia, Japan, Germany. Fra \
Austria. Italy, Spain. Portugal. =
GUM, Switzerland. Sweden and Hol.
land were present, and all OF these
countries are directly concerned with.
reformation of the American system 81
handling cotton TIL American cot
ton ~op represents nearly bfllioa
dollars a year and so0o.o00.0 900 OF the
export trade of the United States.
special effort has been fnade ~
the American commission during II
investigation in Europe to discover
some possible application of the aGrt.
cultural credit systems OF the OI0
World to better the financial position
of American cotton growers Tho
handling of the enormous cotton crop
Of the Southern States is one OF the
most difficult problems to solve IN
American agriculture. 1t sometimes
happens that an unusually large cot
ton crop will sell for less money than
n small crop. Lack of storage facali-
ties and, above all. lack of credit ac-
comm odations to enable the planters
to hold their crops until market cons
ditions improve Is responsible for this.
The American commission has mAde
a thorough study in this connection o.
the cooperative warehouses OF Euro.
pean countries. particularly those 81
the silk growers of Northern italy.
which enable the italian farmers q
Mace their produce in storage ana "a
borrow on their warehouse receipts
and hold their crop until the tenn
porary decline in the market, which
almost invariably follows the markets
ing of a big crop, has passed.