The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-09-27
WAREHOUSES; FOR
FARM PRODUCTS
Proposed Chain of Them in South
Atlantic States.
UNDER FEDERAL RESERVE ACT
Will Issue Negotiable Warehouse Re.
ceipts Which Can BE Discounted,
II Desired, at Federal Reserve Bank
at Atlsnts-Wih Conserve Immense
Crops Of South.

Crops OF South.
Plans have been made by Florida
concern for establishing a chain of
warehouses for farm products In the
South Atlantic states to be operated
under the Federal Reserve act.
If the farmer prefers to ship his
produce. or hold 1t for market, the
warehouses will standardize his prod
ucts as to grade, quality, weight and
package, store 1t, and give him n re-
ceipt, on which he can borrow 70 per
cent of the market value of his prod
uct at per cent, as the bank hold
Ing these receipts can discount them
at the Federal Reserve bank in Attain
Ia. A movement Is on foot by the agri-
cultural committee of the rural bureau
have one of these warehouses estab-
lished in Savannah and managed, IL
possible, by local capital.
Cotton has heretofore been the one
cash crop that the Southern farmer
could pin his faith to. No matter
what price 1t brought In the market he
could always convert 1t into cash. He
has had to plant cotton to get credit,
and that, too, at ruinous rate Of In
terest But there has been no encour-
agement to plant other staple crops.
Even live stock is just beginning to
be recognized as collateral by South
ern banks.
Crop Standardization.
The Southern farmer does not know
how to standardize his food crops SO
Us 70 make the most out OF them COM
nercially. 1t would take years. 1t is
believed, to educate the farmer TO do
this work for himself; and even If he
lad the experience he has not the ma
| chinery, and 1t would be an economic
waste to devote to Ii the time and la
bor that he might better give to crop
| production. The work can be more
economically and satisfactorily done
by the bonded warehouses, 1t is
claimed.
The South now has 100000 acres
| OF velvet beans that Ii does not know
what to do with. Ii has 100000 tons
| of cottonseed meal. Ii has perhaps
100000 acres of peanuts. 1t has in
prospect 125,000,O00 bushels more of
corn this year than last. There is a
big increase in the soy bean acreage,
more alfalfa and more cow peas. The
South Is the great storehouse and pro-
ducer of protein feeds. But the South
/ Is distressed about a market for Its
food products.
Would Mean Concentration.
Such system of warehouses will
South. much of which would other
wise go TO waste on the farm. 1t will
assemble them at points of vantage,
where they will be Immediately
available for use or held in reserve
for any emergency. This Is particu-
larry important In connection with the
establishment of military camps In the
South and in the economical movement
of freight in the way of food supplies
| from one section of the country to the
other.
With a cash market TO induce the
farmer to conserve all his products
there win be a constant stimulus to
grow more foodstuffs and thus In
crease the resources of the nation.
After the war the South can do an
immense business In the export OF
protein foods, and the proposed ware
house company would be able to de-
velop that business. 1t would also
give reliable information a. to stocks
on hand and other crop data, and
could aid the farmer In many ways.