The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-12-25
Cotton Seed Situation
Mr.. e. w. Dabos Makes Report
Oh Results OF Price Fixing
BY War Industries Board.
To the Farmers OF the State:

er members Of the Cotton Seed Com
gnittee Of the South Carolina Food
Administration desire to make tae
following statement for your info
nation. Beginning with the confer
cree III May in Charlotte one or both
Of us have attended every meeting
held by the Food Administration 20
regulate ginning and cotton seed. We
! have from the first meeting in Char
lotte to the last meeting held in Co
lUmbia yesterday protested against
The iniquities Of the rules promulgat-
! ed by the Food Administration, AMI
have endeavored to secure absolutely
fair rules, or what we urged in the
| beginning, free trade in cotton seed
ard it's products. But as q war meas
ure we cheerfuily did all in our pow
el to enable the growers to cooper
ate in the paramount issue-the Win
ming Of the xar-and submitted as
gracefully as we could to rules that
we clearly showed to the Food Ad-
sninistration and the crushers were
unjust In some Of our contentious
Nh. Elliott and the crushers agreed
WIN Us, DuI l-iC QlcS NS1C LAVA -.
Mr. Hoover ard appeals did not do
any good. To begin with we con-
tended that if a scale Of prices was to
be fixed it should be a sliding one, be-
ginning with say $500 or $4,000 for
green seed IN August and advancing
five or three dollars per ton each
month as the seed dried out until a
maximum price of $4,000 was reached
in January, and on to the end Of the
season, starting at $500 for August
seed. Or starting at $4,000 for Aug
ust seed ard advancing three dollars
per month to $500 fer February, and
on TO the end of the season.
Either one of these scales would
have worked no injustice to any one
and would have prevented the conges-.
ton that has caused all the unrest
and more or less losses to both mills
and farmers. Losses to mills with
green seed at $G9 90 and $12.OO and
losses to the farmers and dealers who
have tried to cooperate by holding
back seed to keep from glutting the
mills. We have seen the price twice
changed by the Food Administration
against the farmers, once in lowering
seed S1.00 per ton and then in ad-
vancing meal two dollars per ton At
the meeting yesterday we were graft
fed to hear the mill representatives
state that all Of their difficulties were
due 70 shortage Of labor-that labor
conditions were improving-that they
want TO- crush our seed and that if
we are patient all the seed will be
,aNen. But they warned US that If
the government refused to take the
short linters they have made eXclu-
sively for munitions, there woulG be
no market for such linters and that
would entail a cut of 5000 per ton or
seed Ny opinion of this is that
such a cut would not be justifiable.
normal iinters that yield 90 to 10
pounds per ten of seed and are worth
for commercial purposes &c to i0c per
pound or about IA to 1-3 Of the price
of cotton So that the mills only
stand to lose on the munition llnterS
that the government may not take now
in their hands, which would be so
small a part of their years work thai
it could be absorbed in their profits.
And instead Of loss would simply show
that the mills did not make quite so
much profit as they would have other
wise made Eut we do not believe the
government can in good morals. con-
science. or equity threaten to close
down mills if they do not cut l49
pounds OF linters from each ton or
seed-thereby causing them to have
to add many expensive Gelinting gins
to their oUtfit-thereby causing them
to mapufacture a product that has
no commercial value eXccnt for pow
der making, and refuse TO take all
they had made up to the time they
are notified TO make no more.
Mr. j. J. Lawton stated that the
mills have had a committee m Wash
ington wrestling with this problem
for two weeks or more. That the
war industries board made them a
proposition to pay thei:, $500 per ton
for all seed on hand which would
have let chem out, but would have
left the holders Of unsold seed to
carry the bag-that crushers from
Olllei SldISS NSl = III lei'O " VI e]NNNPS
ing same, but the South Carolina
members CT the committee turned 1t
down fiat because Of the grave in
justice that it would do to the grow
ers who have not sold seed and to
the dealers who on the faith of the
fixed price by the government have
been unable to sell because Of The
congestion
The crushers deserve to be COM
mended for taking this loyal position
in the interest OF the growers. The
pity of the whole matter is that the
growers do not take enough interest
in their own wonderful crop, cotton
and cotton seed, to keep their repre-
sentatives on the job Of seeing that
justice is cone them. The small help
thai Col. ClafTey and I have been able
TO render has been made possible by
the food administration putting us on
the cotton seed committee, and pay
ing our expenses to attend these
-four or five meetings this fall. But
we have no means to make investiga-
/ nf 1T