Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-03-16
Tho Value In tho Use.

The most anQ practical
piece Of constructive legislation that
has been put on the statute books OF
this state for many years Is that which
is embodied in the cotton warehouse
law; but as practicable and valuable
as is this piece Of legislation unless
those who stand to secure the greatest
benefit from 1t, undertake to make use
Of it, it will not be worth two cents.
When the warehouse idea first began
to attract the serious attention Of the
general assembly, there were those
who undertook to advance all kinds Of
fatal objections to it. For n thing
farmers were told that the plan con-
templated the erection Of a big ware
house at Columbia, and that the indi-
vidual cotton producer, especially the
little 5-bale fellow, could get no bene-
fit from it. They were told also that
there would be NJ way under which the
patron of the warehouse could get back
his own cotton after it had once been
stored, and that under no possible con-
ditions could the state arrange for safe,
economical and helpful service as was
being furnished by corporate and pri-
vate warehouses.
Some Of the arguments against the
proposed warehouse system were in
good faith, and some were not; but all
were wrong.
1t is a lamentable fact, we'll under
stood by the cotton trade, and the cot
ton producers, that there is a loss Of
hardly less than 10 per cent to the cot
ton crop because Of the Indifferent con-
Germ accorded to it from the time it
comes from the gin until it goes to the
buyer.
According to the state warehouse,
plan as it now stands in systematic de-
tail, the farmers Of the state would
realize profits aggregating thousands
of dollars, If they would only go in to.
gether in the matter Of building COM
munity warehouses to hold five hum
bred bales or more each, even If there
was no other consideration in view
than keeping the crop out Of the
weather and in good condition for
market.
Important, however, as is the cOnsid-
Grafton Of keeping the crop out Of the
weather, it is only the beginning Of the
benefits that can now be made to at
tach to the warehouse system, OF for
that matter to a single neighborhood
warehouse.
In the first place cotton stored in one
of these small, inexpensive warehouses
located out in the country ten or fifteen
miles from the nearest town can be in
sured as cheaply as in a great brick
warehouse located in a large city, and
just as safely.
In the second place the negotiability
Of a receipt Of such a warehouse Is SUI
or corporate warehouse. To all intents
and purposes such a receipt Is as good
as a bank acceptance, because it does
not need either personal influence or
pei VI ioNoi " iiiouiS " panty ~
the best commercial paper to be had.
It's position Is already guaranteed by
all the safeguards known to the high
est development Of business.
There is no possibility of either loss
or inconvenience to the patrons Of a
state warehouse; but there is an abso-
Lutte certainty hat the custodian or the
directors Of each and every such ware
house will become a unit of financial
and commercial Importance in proper
ton to the number Of bales of cotton
held or controlled and every patron will
figure in the arrangement in the same
ratio.
Although there are so far thirty or
more warehouses in the state, most Of
them large ones, it ought to be reason
ably clear to those who think that the
new system is merely in its infancy
and that 1t must develop to tremend-
Gus proportions unless the cotton pro-
ducers just simply refuse to avail
themselves Of the splendid opportunity
that has been laid out before them.
But as has been said before, the
whole thing is now up to the farmers.