The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-09-10
SENSIBLE VIEW OF COTTON

Al this time when the cotton mar
kets are not open and there is
confusion as 10 values We are repro
dUcing a letter written b. Samuel 7.
Hubbard Of Hubbard & Company, cot
ION merchants Of New York city. This
letter outlines the situation better
than anything else We have seen and
il j. interesting to cotton planters
and 10 all other persons Interested
in the cotton crop. The full text
Of the letter follows
"For some fifty years the south has
regarded its chief staple, cotton, not
as d piece Of property, but as cash,
nov az a result Of the war. they find
that lt has become property in the
same sense az lumber or real estate.
The fact that It IS property does not
make II worthless any more than a
piece OF land which cannot be sold
s. worthless, but Il seems to us that
the sudden shock that Il became
property instead Of cash has created
a desire to sell it all at once. When
a man has a piece Of land he cannO;
sell, excepting at below what he con
siders 81 worth, he does not rush to
sell it at any price; he finds some
one to take mortgage upon It and
holds 1t for better or for worse Usu-
ally, the experience Of this country
Is that he holds It for better Now,
all these years through the opera
tions OF the exchanges that has been
the progress Of trade, but 50 covered
uo in the vast complications OF in
ternational commerce that few have
been able to comprehend or realize
IT, Therefore, regarding cotton as
property anybody can understand
how TO mortgage It, or IN other words
how TO store II, so as 10 preserve it
from the weather or from theft and
fire and then borrow. Therefore the
question Of borrowing money, or
rather not money but credit, becomes
much simpler one than to borrow
money on n piece OF land, because it
is only a queqstion Of time when one
is sold and a long time before the
other IS sold.
Every obligation Of a merchant
is paid in credit. only very small
proportion Of actual business out.
side Of daily wants is paid in cash.
The government has shown every
banker how he can obtain that rela-
lively small amount OF cash without
difficulty and the government. as
does every other thinking man. be
lieyes the banker, and II not he, the
merchant will hunt all over the coun-
try 20 place loans or mortgages on
the piece OF property they now have
in their hands To say they cannot
do this Is TO expose their inability
10 handle an ordinary business prop
osition. Just as soon as they come
10 consider cotton as property instead
of cash we expect to see them hunt.
ing all over the country IN every
town, for loans on a perfectly safe
piece OF property at the moment
unsalable but below the cost Of pro.
duction, and not to be replaced at
the ruling price
"Of course. some will say that it Is
a case Of supply and demand; so
cotton should sell at any ridiculous
price, but We find most of these opin-
ions come from men who have been
going to Washington for years ask.
ing congress to give them protection
on their cotton goods and factories,
so they would not be compelled to
encounter this same law Of supply
and demand when Europe could man
nfacture goods cheaper than they
could.
I'VE think the situation that con