The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-18
HARDING ANALYZES COTTON
 SITUATION IN THE SOUTH

of warehouses whose receipts are good collateral
 That the money will be forthcoming IS assured by the present plethoric bank reserves"
 The warehouse capacity of the south
 IS now estimated at over s0oo,0o0 bales
 put In many southern states archaic laws impair the collateral value of warehouse receipts"
 In South Carolina and Texas this dif- hculty has been removed through the
 esta blshment of state warehouse sys- tems"
 Tn New Orleans there Is sufficient
 warehouse capacity to hold almost all the cotton produced in Louisiana. The legis- latures of Georgia and Alabama now in session are actively considering measures
 to meet the emergency, and the cotton producers of these states will no doubt be soon provided with modernized ware house laws"
 IT the facilities established are fully
 availed of a very large proportion of the crop can be carried almost indefinitely
 and meantime each day that passes brings the end of the war that much nearer" The outlook is not, therefore, as hope
 less as some profess to believe and we counsel those who are likely to need cot ton during the coming season to com
 menee buying whenever they can obtain a the south.
 Last season was a disappointment to the calamitous extremist and we have little doubt that history will repeat itself. Of course, it is desirable that as broad l a market as possible for cotton be estap- lished. That it is the earnest desire of the President, born in the south and a resident of that section during the period or life when ones tenderest ties and most enduring Friendships t, c.ct his native section in solving the pro now confronting It. cannot be doubted
 The souths cotton problem Is essentially
 national problem, and neither the Presi-
 dent nor any of his subordinates can be accused of sectionalism Tn seeking to aid
 the south in making proper disposition
 of it's great staple.
 But 1t should be remembered that the
 President owes higher duty to the south
 to the whole country and to mankind
 at this juncture than the establishment of cotton prices. Serious complications between this country and any great for
 egn power would certainly not enhance cotton values No man Is as familiar
 with the great world problems or today
 and the relationship of this country to them as is the President. and he may be
 trusted to do his duty as he sees it, re-
 gardless of private appeals or public
 clamor.
 Cotton unlike grain, is commodity
 the market value of which depreciates in time of war, and the south as a producer
 of that commodity has suffered. The sta
 tistical position of cotton, however is so
 much stronger than was the case year
 ago, and financial and other conditions
 are so very much more favorable that
 there can be no doubt that If the south
 will keep cool and will refrain from doing
 things that will merely weaken it's own
 position, the present nervousness regard
 ing the market for the growing crop will
 soon disappear. Even in the face of all
 the adverse conditions during the past F months, the average price of cotton has been about what might have been expected for a 17,000,000-bale crop had there been no war, and there Is every reason to believe that the averag ge price of cotton during the next 12 months will be higher. The real question is will southern bankers, and all others inter- ested in southern trade, cooperate in securing for the cotton producers the benefit of this average price, and will the cotton producers themselves do their part? My knowledge of southern char | acter and of southern business conditions justifies a confident belief that an af- firma tive answer will be given The cot 1 ton tragedy of 1914 will be succeeded in l 1915 by nothing more serious than a drama.