Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1918-12-07

has been injured times unnumbered by the half
truth. Therefore, I rather welcomed the in
quiry which Mr. Baruch felt 1t necessary, in the
discharge of his responsibility for the conserva-
ton Of all war material, to institute. Develop
ments since then have confirmed my impression
After the first furry-due mostly to the persistent
suspicious unwarranted apprehensons Of few
OverzeaOus spokesman for the cotton producers
thai stll&ten became He~k- stables, more nof4ns
and meanwhile, the report of the bureau of crop
estimates exhibits slightly larger supply of cot
toi. than was reckOned upon the condition of the
plant month earlier My information is that the
commissions representing the allies the legitimate
traders and the more thoughtful farmers recog
nize the wisdom of the undertaking and have full
confidence that these instrumentalities of gov
eminent exercised under war emergency will do
no injustice. The chief DIRECTORS are few short
sighted spinners who unwilling to take any
chance upon reduction of the handsome profits
they have been making for three years and more
"No doubt there has been recently as there has
been always, more or less sharp practice by GER
tain class Of cotton traders have never seen
the time when some men did not take advantage
Of any situation to exaggerate, to distort, and
even to falsify facts for speculative advantage.
For instance, Secretary Houston represented
as saying that 25 cents pound fair price
for cotton 1t was utterly false. He had never
said anything of the sort. How the story orig
mated / have not the slightest idea. 1t
like many another concocted and circulated from
time immemOrial.
"As to market influences, nothing has been so
hurtfu of late the attitude of few men from
the South who insisted in spite OF Chairman
Baruch's statements of purpose, that the contem-
plation of the war Industries board was to cause
a price to be fixed, and who assumed that If
price fixed it would be lower than the mar
ket price. Market gossipers naturally have made
the most of such state of mind. Another hurt
full influence has been the effort in some quarters
to magnify the cost of producing cotton In
this connection, there those who remember
that when the fixing of wheat price was under
consideration professed spokesman of the
producers sought to have the cotton price liked
at rs cents, though the market at that time was
considerably below 25 cents These men have
created the impression that the South desired
prce-fxing upward, but unwilling to have
the facts as to real value ascertained AS has
often been the case, much harm has been done
by the overzealous the suspicious and the selfish.
All such factors must be discounted in truly APP
praising the situation.
Whether Intentionally or not Governor
Corners article in the New York Journal of Com
merce msrepresents the departments relation to
this whole problem The United States depart
ment Of agriculture enforces the provisions of the
United States cotton futures act, except those
portions which relate to the collection of taxes
contracts, and these portions are enforced by
the treasury department The department OF ag-
riculture. however does not establish dfferen-
tails for grades of cotton other than middlng, as
one might infer from reading Governors Corners
article The section contract, which is the con-
tract used on the two exchanges, is basis
mddling contract. Cotton Of grades other than
middling may be delivered, and the differences
on or Off middling at which such grades are de-
nvered are determined by the difference prevail
Ing in spot markets designated for that purpose
by the secretary Of agriculture under the terms
of the act.
'.This department has no authority to say what
differences shall be quoted by the spot markets In
fact the New York and New Orleans exchanges
get their quotations direct from the spot