The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-11
COTTON FUTURES BILL ID BECOME 4 LAW THIS SESSION New Measure Will Go More Int, Detail Than Pre-
 vi0us Bills RECOGNIZES VALUE OF THE EXCHANGES House Will Certainly Consider Meas ure and More Than Likely
 Will Pass It on to the
 Senate
Dy c. E. sTEwART

Washington, June 10.-tSpecial )-If the Senate yields to the demand of the ad- ministration and remains in Washington long enough to pass the antitrust bills aneady acted upon by the House it is possible that the cotton futures bill" recently reported to the House, will also become law
 The House itself will certainly consider @this bill and more than likely pass it on 10 the Senate.
 The committee on agriculture of which Representative Lever of South Carolina is chairman. in reporting the bill to the sHouse declares:
 Tn the light of the best information available the ultimate effect of providing contract of the character described in the bill will be to enhance. in the opinion of experts, the value of the cotton crop in the hands of the farmers of the south not less than s1Oo,oOO.0Oo annually"
 The cotton futures bill now proposed differs essentially from the Clark amend ment to the Underwood tariff bill which aroused such spirited opposition from the friends of the farmers in both the House and Senate, who looked further than the surface into the ques- tion of cotton exchanges and their ef- feets upon the cotton market, by opera lions In futures The Clark amendment dld not command the unanimous support < of the farmers organizations over the south, as it did in Congress- The Sen ate adopted it, but the House. under the leadership of MT. Underwood, turned it down. and in it's place took a substi- ,y ba ture, which met with the approval of the President. In conference between the House and Senate both the Clark amend ment and the Underwood substitutes were rejected.
 Covers More Details
 The present bill covers in greater de- tail the ground covered by the Under wood substitute
 The whole purpose of the cotton fu- lures bill is to compel by law the use of such a contract by the futures markets the quotations of the value of which Will reflect accurately and truly the value Of spot cotton of .spinable and "usable quality says the report of the commit tee. Il
 The bill in short undertakes to regu- late the transactions of cotton exchanges that is, such cotton exchanges as deal In futures. The bill recognizes the eco homie value of cotton exchanges, pro- Vidlng they provide contract to their customers which represent the true value or splnable cotton. Upon all contracts that do not so represent true values, there Is prohibitiye tax levied by the bill The measure will not put out of business any cotton exchange. This vas the great | feature of the Clark bill which made an option to buy cotton taxable under any and all conditions, and would have neces- sari1y put the New York cotton exchange out of business because very little ..spot cotton is sold there
 As did the Underwood substitute the cotton futures bill provides that the stock exchanges must adopt the govern ment standards of grades, and must use no other. These standards are to be plainly set forth in all contracts and a purchaser has the right to demand his cotton of one of these grades and must pay the difference between the market value of the grade he bought, and the government grade delivered. if the cot ton delivered is of a higher grade. or in event of lower grade he is to be paid the difference NO tax will be levied upon contracts made upon any cotton exchange which privides government standards, and which represents the true value of spot cotton.
 Secretary Designates Markets
 Under the bill the Secretary of Agri- cuture is to designate five markets in which cotton exchanges are operated. Which selections are made, after he has determined that these markets truly re- fleet the prices and real values of spot | cotton; he is given the power, too. of | designating other points as official mar | kets if in his judgment the conditions | warrant.
 Representative Lever declares that the | nill as amended covers the ground and | removes all the objectionable features of | the cotton exchanges. It does not re- | move cotton speculation entirely, but it | eliminates the menace in speculation to 1 the producers.
 The agricultural committee believes that | the bill represents the desires of the | Farmers organizations of the south, and | when it's provisions are fully understood l and there has been fair chance of | analyzing the benefits to be derived from | the measure. it is believed that even 1 those who favored the drastic Clark | amendment to the tariff bill will admit | that the present bill is far better for the | cotton trade and the cotton producer than | the one proposed by the Arkansas states man.