The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-09-15
FARMERS, MERCHANTS AND BANKERS
SHOULD FIGHT FOR 12CENT COTTON
"Twelve-Cen nj Prices are Justified by the Worlds
Demands, by the Crop Outlook, by the Financial
Condition of the Country and by the OPportunl-
ties Now Afforded by the Federal Reserve Sys-
tem"-A Campaign to Save $25O,OOO,O0o to
Southern Growers.

! might have added the further testi-
riony that the South cut its fertl-
lizer consumption this year from
4.431,OQO tons to 2,636,00o tons
almost in half-and the effect of
this Gu twill probably make itself
most evident from now on as closer
scrutiny 81 given the fruiting of the
crop.
The reader can easily see for him
self therefore, that if we have only
g. 100000 bale crop, the factories
If the world would utterly drain
the market dry, leaving it subject
to such conditions as occurred a few
years ago when spectators carried
prices to II and 20 cents a pound.
And now having pointed out thai
twelve-cent prices are justified be-
cause the 1915 crop is certainly
10000 0O and possibly 100000
bales short of the worlds demands,
meaning that factories and munition
factories will consume all the present
yield with the greater part if not
all of the worlds visible surplus / also
wish to call attention to the fact
that
III.-American Prosperity Justifes
Twelve Cents.
The American Bankers Associa-
ton has just been meeting in Seat
tie, Washington, and what was the
message that the President of this
greatest organization of inancers
brought the country? He predicted,
says a press dispatch, that IAN al
most unbelievable prosperity is
rushing on the nation" or to quote
his exact words:
"When bank reserves, which n
greater now than they have yer
been in the history of the coun-
try, are distributed, the nation will
enjoy almost unbelievable prosperity.
The volume of money on hand is so
great that it cannot find a natural
outlet. The movement of the ire,
mendous crops, with the attendant
financial activity, will still further
increase the bank reserves"
And manufacturers are no less op-
timistic than bankers. The Factory
Magazine of Chicago recently took a
poll of 1853 Eastern and Middle
Western manufacturers as to the
prospects for business in the fall.
Forty, or practically on%e-fourth of
the total number, declared condi-
tions Exceptional" % "fne", or
"above normal" 60 "good," 10
"fair" and "fairly good" only seven
"dull and poor" and only one much
below normal and very poor"
Another point not to be overlooked
is
IV-The New Federal Reserve Act
Insures Better Price.
President Hirsch of the Texas
Bankers Association told the big
Cotton States Conference of South
ern Bankers in Galveston: "For the
first time in the history of the South,
gentlemen, the Southern bankers
have the financial ability to market
gradually this crop. 1t would almost
appear as if the Federal Reserve Act
had been drafted for the benefit of
Southern producers" Just because
the reserve act doesn't give the farm
ers all the help they need-just be-
cause it doesn't take the place, nor
profess to take the place, of the
much-needed rural credit legislation
is no reason for denying or mini
MIXING the great advantages it does
offer.
The Federal reserve system does
enable the banks in the South where
money is needed, to draw upon the
great reserves in other sections for
making loans on the cotton crop; or
az Mr.. w. P. G Harding of the Fed
e2al Reserve Board officially says:
Banks have now ample ia
c~ilities which they have never
before enjoyed for r~ediscouhting
the notes taken against such
loans, and it is fer them more
than for any other agency, to
determine the policy of the
South in regard to the market
ing of the present cotton crop"
And President Woodrow Wilson
in a letter to Mr.. Harding writes:
ut is evident from what you tell
me, that the. country banks with
whom the farmer and other pro-
ducers directly deal a get money at
from four to four and a half per