The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-09-02
TO HOLD PRODUCT
EIGHT CENTS FIXED AS BASIS
OF VALUE.

Cotton Congress Committee Approves
Secretary McAdoo's Plan to Save
the Situation.
Secretary McAdoo's plan to accept
as a basis for currency notes secured
by warehouse receipts for cotton,
tobacco and naval stores at Is per
cent. of their face value was approved
Friday night in report by the spe-
cialy committee appointed by the
conference of representative planters,
bankers, manufacturers and dealers
held in Washington August "a and
25.
The committee recommended that
every effort be made to assist pro-
ducers in holding their cotto nfor a
price that will minimize their losses
until the channels OF foreign trade
are reopened. Eight cents pound
was suggested as fair basis for
loans on cotton. The report, which
was submitted to Secretary MsAdoo,
follows:
81. That the committee entirely
approve of and congratulate you on
the announcement made by you yes
terday afternoon that notes secured
by warehouse receipts for cotton and
tobacco and naval stores, and having
not more than four months to run,
will be accepted as a basis for the
issue of currency to the members OF
the national currency associations at
IS per cent. of the face value of said
notes.
''2. That it is the sense Of the
committee that cotton, tobacco and
naval stores should be marketed as
deliberately as possible until they
can again be exported in normal
quantity and that when properly con-
ditioned, should be warehoused with
responsible concerns, that they
should be protected against weather
damage and properly insured against
loss or damage by fire.
"3. That warehouse receipts fol
those commodities are proper collat-
eral for loans by banks, and should
be accepted with such limitations as
to margin, inspection and valuation
as conservative bankers may each in
their discretion see fit to impose.
~. That the average market value
of middling cotton for the past six
years has been in excess of IL cents
per pound, and the committee is in
formed that the cost of producing
cotton averages throughout the Unit
ed States about 9 1-2 cents a pound
that it is rule of economy that the
production Of staple commodities
will decrease if they continue un-
salable at less than the cost Of pro-
duction plus a reasonable profit. That
erly warehoused, and is as good ~
cotton does not deteriorate when
properly warehoursed, and is as good
90 years after it is picked as when
it is first gathered; that it can there
fore be carried over until the restora'
ton of normal business condition:
enables the worlds consumption tc
absorb it. The committee is there
lore of the opinion that every effort
should be made to assist the pro-
ducers to hold their cotton for
price that will minimize their loss as
far as possible until such time as the
channels of foreign trade shall bs
reopened. That loans upon cotton
made upon a basis of eigh ctents pei
pound for middling less such margin
as the lender shall consider neces'
sary, will afford reasonable ,protec
ton to bankers and will greatly facil'
itate the financing of our most i'm
portant export crop in the present
emergency.
as. That in suggesting eight cents
per pound for middling cotton as
basis for loans, it is not the purpose
of the committee to convey the idea
that that figure represents in their
opinion the intrinsic value of cotton
but that it is sufficient in their judg'
ment to meet the requirements of the
situation, and enable to farmer tc
market his cotton in an orderly and
deliberate manner"