The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1914-04-10

through an invoice which does not
specify the exact grade of the cotton,
and which leaves the party rendering
the cotton additional time to desig-
nate the exact grades of cotton to be
actually delivered. The purchaser
puts up his money and must wait to
mo out what he is to receive. When
ne finally receives a list of the grades
ne then must go through the process
nave just described of obtaining it,
ana II ne finds that he can not handle
the Cotton outside of the New York
: Cotton Exchange on account of its bad
character and undertakes to resell it
through the exchange, although it
mas been examined and certified by
the exchange to him, he must have it
reclassitied and certified and pay for
this work. With all these hindrances
thrown around him he naturally
throws up his hands and says. Keep
your cotton and settle with me as you
| please"
Arbitrary Difference.
Second. Arbitrary differences: The
mode of delivery before described is
bad enough, but far worse is the sys-
tenn pursued by the New York Cotton
Exchange of fixing an arbitrary differ
ence of value between the middling
cotton which the purchaser undertook
| to buy and the % other grades, either
one or many of which may be deliver
cd TO the purchaser. By this | mean
That purchaser may buy on the New
York Cotton Exchange middling cot
ton the seller can deliver to him any
one of the 13 grades less valuable
than middling or any one of grades
of cotton more valuable than middling'
II one of these 13 grades less valuable
than middling, or if a mixed lot is ten
dered, the seller does not pay the pur-
| chaser the actual difference in market
value Of the lower grades which he
tenders and middling cotton. He is
required by the rules of the New York
Exchange to simply tender an arbi-
trary difference which the exchange
itself has fixed and which it has been
in the habit of fixing only once year.
Buyer Loses 80 Bale.
Good, ordinary cotton is a grade
below middling. The difference in its
value and the value of middling cotton
varies every year, based on the char
acter of the crop, the amount of the
good ordinary produced, and the de-
mand for it. The market difference in
value might be IS bale, and yet If
the exchange fixed a difference at SO
bale the purchaser of middling cot
ton would be forced to take good or
binary and receive only SO a bale boz
nus for taking cotton worth So a
bale less that the cotton which he
purchased. The purchaser would,
therefore, be receiving in cotton and
money S. less bale than the mid
ding cotton which he bought was
worth. 1t will be readily seen that
the inside sellers, realizing that they
could settle for middling cotton under
the system of the exchange at S. a
bale less than its market price, could
bear on the market the sales of mid
ding cotton down l cent a pound
Warehouse Full of "Dog-taiI."
81 will mention yet another element
that furnishes opportunity under the
New York Cotton Exchange system to
manipulate and bear the market by
| freeing the seller from having to de-
! liver a genuine quality Of cotton. All
middling cotton is not exactly the
same cotton. All the lower grades of
cotton below middling are not of eX
aCtly the same value. Cotton is grad
ed largely according to color and
| cleanliness. Under the system used
in the New York Exchange a large lot
of cotton can be purchased, and then
the best of the various grades can be
picked out and sold to the manufac
I turers, while the poorest are retained
and kept in New York to be rendered
to purchasers. There is a difference
in the length of the staple of cotton
of the same grade, and there is a diff
ference in the character of the cotton
of the same grade. A systematic eff
/ fort to select cotton of short staple
and poor character, though falling
within the grades named, makes it
! possible for those dealing upon the
New York Cotton Exchange to retain
a lot of junk, commonly called dog
tail cotton, and, supplied with this in
ferior cotton of the grades to be ten
dered, furnish not only a low grade
with an arbitrary difference between
this and the grade sold, but also a
poor class of the lower grade far be-
low the average run of the grade.
| This means has also been resOrted to
on the New York Cotton Exchange,
and low-character, loWgrade cotton
has accumulated from year to year to
be rendered to purchasers as an ad-
| ditiOnal means of depreciating the
character CT the tender made by the
| seller when the purchaser calls for
his cotton and in this way force down
/ the price of cotton sold by the farm
/ er.
| Dsreputable Methods.
"Ac low as has been the standard