The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-27
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Gainesville Mans Suggestion

To the Editor of The Age-Herald
 It is with a degree of hesitation that I start this letter, for the reason that profess no particular knowledge of the subject, and what I may say is offered more in the way of suggestion to those who are in closer touch with the situation than am I, not to mention their being better informed of the matter under dis cussion.
 To touch lightly suggestion already made. The ''buy movement is quite patriotic if a bit disjointed. With reference to the various plans for gov ernment aid, I oppose them as a whole am wholly against the government buy ing 1t at any price, I believe in private ownership with government regulation. Further I am entirely in sympathy with the first editorial in your last Sunday paper (September 20), In which you quoted some one as saying that the sooner the farmer go. government aid out of his head and went to work for himself the better for him. Now I would like to say here that this is not intended as a crit icism of anyone who advocates that means, for no doubt they have what is to them good reasons for their advocacy, but only that it seems to me. a remote gid for a pressing present need. Again. if we ask and accept this aid for our cotton. to be consistent, we must sup port the same plan for, say wheat. should occasion demand
 The ideal is for the producer to hold his produce for the right price, and any plan that will approximate this will be the most natural as well as the best. If the individual Is not able to do this, then perhaps the community may, and that IS my plan. So let there be formed in units of the proper size regularly chartered, and so on, and it seems to me that coun- ty units are small enough, with possibly submits under that--what me might call cotton holding companies, the stock of which shall be subscribed by the citizens of the particular unit, and certificates of stock issued, bearing the legal rate of in- torest of the state in which they are is- sued. Let the banker be at the head of the company and its board of directors selected from the stockholders. As to the amount that would be necessary to be
 
 the proceeding years. and if not enough be subscribed then the cotton which shall be stored and insured in bonded ware houses may be used a collateral to bor- row other funds or the certificates of stock might be used as currency. With the proceeds thus procured I would ad- vance to tho producer specified amount, say, $30. less the fixed charges, as stor- age, insurance and the interest on his ak, ,~t lo-, $5 a year or less than 1 cent a pound to carry 1t a year. The denomination of the certificates should be small to interest the greatest number of small investors.
 It seems essential to me that some means be devised to curtail the coming cotton crop, when we take into consider ation the seeming remoteness of the end of the present disorder, and the depres- sion that must necessarily follow such a condition.
 Outside of whatever other means may be used to reach this end, suggest that one condition on which the company agree to advance the sum mentioned above be that the person to whom the advance be made agree to cut down his acreage. Now this he might do and then not live up to it. So it might be one of the conditions of the agreement between the producer to whom the advance is made and the company making the ad- vance that the percentage of increase in acreage over what he agreed to culti- vate add the same percent to the obliga- tion due the company before he may dis pose of the cotton he has in storag ge Now let us see whether this will tend to re- duce acreage. To have one and a frae- ton crops on the market at one time will tend to greatly reduce the price. To a certain extent the producer must be edu- cated to the result that will ensue if the | above is done. The safety of the certifi- cates of stock in the holding companies demand that the next crop at least be curtailed. By having these certificates distributed among the producers and those intimately associated with then, will create public sentiment for a re- duction and the holders of certificates themselves will see that above Is carried out, that is report in fraction of the orig inal agreement as to acreage, affecting those who have cotton that they are still holding. AS to the man who has none, only the public sentiment created will re- strain him. If none of his cotton is in store you will have no recourse,< but think that he will be negligible.
 In conclusion let me restate that wha: I have written is in the way of sugges- ton. and that realize that there will be necessary a certain amount of detail te be worked out to put such a plan int operation. and that even further therg will have to be cooperation to put ii through. Very truly yours. H. K. GooDLoE.
 C. hdfville September A 1914