The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-12-06

has been injured times unnumbered by the half
truth. Therefore, I rather welcomed the in
qury which Mr.. Baruch felt it necessary, in the
discharge Of his responsibility for the conserva-
ton of all material, to institute. Develop
ments since then have confirmed my impression.
After the first tiurry-due mostly to the persistent
suspicious or unwarranted apprehensons of a few
overzealous spokesman for the cotton producers
the situation became more stable, more normal,
and meanwhile, the report of the bureau of crop
estimates exhibits slightly larger supply of cot
ton 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 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 are 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 dlstort, anu
even to falsfy facts for speculative advantage.
For instance, Secretary Houston was represented
as saying that 25 cents pound was fair price
for cotton 1t was utterly false. He had never
said anything of the sort How the story orig
mated I have not the slightest idea. 1t was a
piece of market gossip invented for purpose
like many another concocted and circulated from
time immemorial.
"As to market influences, nothing has been SO
hurtful of late as the attitude of few men from
the South who insisted, in spite Of Chairman
Baruch's statements of purpose, that the cohtem-
plation of the war industries board was to cause
a price to be fixed, and who assumed that II a
price were fixed it would be lower than the mar
ket price. Market gossipers naturally have made
the most of such a state of mind. Another huft-
full influence has been the effort in some quarters
to magnify the cost of producing cotton. In
this connection, there are those who remember
that when the fixing of wheat price was under
consideration some professed spokesman OF the
producers sought to have the cotton price fixed
at % cents, though the market at that time was
considerably below % cents. These men have
created the impression that the South desired
price-fxing upward. but was unwilling to have
the facts as to real value ascertaned. 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 not, Governor
Corners article in the New York Journal OF Com
merce misrepresents 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
on contracts, and these portions are enforced by
the treasury department. The department OF ag-
ricuture however, does not establish differen
tails for grades Of cotton other than mddling as
one might infer from reading Governors Corners
article. The section contract which is the con-
tract used on the two exchanges, is basis
middling 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
"Ths 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 mar