The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1916-02-16
TIE WORK OF TEE WAREHOUSE SYSTEM

$ SIO-4@oSS
j Arthur Banks, of Calhoun
County, took occasion to give to
the State Senate review OF the
State Warehouse System, and
graphically pictured the Won
derfal results which had been
accomplished not only in South
Carolina but throughout the en-
tire South, ''the bene6cent in
auence Of the system, he said,
shaving radiated to every farm
IN the South.
Senator Banks supported the
State Warehouse idea when it
was first advanced by Senator
McLaurin, he lent his efforts to
the passage OF the bill, and he
has consistently and ably be-
friended the system since its es-
tsblishment. 1t was he who &C.
compapied Senator McLaurin to
the money centres to make ar
eangements fo1 financing the
State receipts and establishing
their character, his own Ware
house had been placed in the
system at the beginning, and in
his address to the senate he
spoke not only with a clear con-
ception of the general scope OF
the warehouse ideas, hns With
a>a intimate ana perso2s! knowi-
sage OF the details u operation,
os,she struggles aga5ns1 5a2 IN,
surance trust and corporation
iasarests, &ys4 Ok The s'o&,> sals
steps towards low insurance
rates and low interest charges.
Th smost striking thing about
she State Warehouse System to
him, he said, was the revelation
Of the possibilities of work for
the common good by an individ-
ual who gave Of his gifts of mind
{ and heart. John L. McLaurln,
he said, had that rare comolna-
ton of the brilliant imagination
with the ability to put his
dreams into practical operation,
and with a singular devotion to
the common good.
He showed how one of the
most serious obstacles to the
organization of the system was
the unreasonable rates of insur
ance imposed upon country cot
ton by insurance companies in a
hide- bound com bination, with a
rate Of three and one half per
cent prevailing, and with no pos
sibiiity of breaking into the com
bination oy individual effort.
But the genius OF the State
Warehouse Commissioner finally
succeeded in securing Sl.5S
rate, with pro rata cancellation,
which made it possible for US
TO carry our. cotton through the
State Warehouse System, in our
own warehouses, on our own
farms, at one-third of the cost
of carrying the cotton under the
old system of public warehouses
lin other words, one dollar a
bale a year, instead of three dol
lars a bale a year.
After the insurance feature
vas worked out, be continued, the
problem to be solved was to get
money at reasonable rates to
finance the cotton. 'sMoney was
very scarce in the South at that
time, and even those of US who
were best situated were unable
to turn our cotton into a liquid
asset By reason of the fact that
we could not secure the money
needed even if we paid as high
as eight per cent for it. The
State Warehouse Commissioner,
who had made a careful study Of
the Federal Reserve Law, con-
eeiVed the idea OF that law
which seemed to guarantee
every citizen of the United States
q sufficient amount of money,
upon reasonable rates, to con-
Duct a legitimate business, and
he made an appeal to the Fed
eral Government for relief upon
that plan. He and I together,
ia his Office, went over the situa-
tion, and decided to write a let
ter to Mr.. W. P. C. Harding, of
the Federal Reserve Board, ask
ing his assistance.
Senator Banks paid a tribute
70 MIR. Harding as an official who
had proved his devotion to the