Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1918-12-06

has been injured times unnumhcrrd by the half
truth Therefore | rather welcomed the in
qulry which llr Baruch fr i necessary ~ the
discharge of his responsibility for the ronSerra-
ton of an war material, 10 Institute. Develop
mont> since then have confirmed my impression
After IN, ir>t furry due mostly to the persistent
suspicious or unwarrantrd approximations Of few
ovcrzrnou, Spokesman for the cotton producers
The situation became more stable. more normal
and meanwhile Tie report of the hurenu Of crop
estimates exhibits slightly larger supply OF cot
fnf Than WAS rpckonrd upon The condition uf III"
plant "a month earlier Ny information is that the
commissions representing the allies, the Legitimate
'ru,Irts ma III, more thoughtful farmers recog
uze the wisdom n the undertaking and have full
confidence that these Observation-Disclosures Of GOV.
eminent exercised under war emergency Will do
no injustice The chief DIRECTORS arr few short
sighted ,pnnpr> who are unwilling Ia take any
chance upon u reduction of the handsome profits
thet have been making for three wears aud more
Ne doubt there has been recently, us there has
been always more or less sharp practice by u Ger
tain class Of cotton traders. have never seen
The time when some men lid not take advantage
Of any situation 10 exaggernte 10 distort, and
even 10 faSify facts for speculative advantage
For Instance Secretary Houston represented
rs saving that - cents pound was fair price
for cotton Il was utterly false. lie had never
said anything Of the sort. How the story orig
mated | have not the slightest Idea. Il was
piece Of market gossip invented for purpose
ike many another concocted and circulated from
time mmemorial
"As 10 market Influences nothing has been SO
hurttul of late as the attitude ~ few men from
the South who insisted In spite of Chairman
Baruch'S statements Of purpose, that the contein'
plation of the war industries board was TO cause
u price to he fixed. and who assumed that II
price we're fixed It would be lower than the mar
ket price. Market gosspers naturally have made
the most Of such state Of mind. Another hurt-
full Influence has been the effort In some quarters
70 magnify the cost OF producing cotton. In
this connection, there are those who remember
TINT when the fixing Of wheat price was under
consideration some profpssed spokesman Of the
producers sought to have the cotton price fixed
Mt % cents, though the market ut that time was
considerably below - cents. These men have
created the impression that the South desired
prce-fxing upward, but was 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 ap-
praislng the situation.
whether intentionally or not Governor
Corners article in the New York Journal of Com
merce mlSrepresentS the departments relation to
this whole problem. The United States depart
nent Of agriculture enforces the provisions OF the
United States cotton futures net. 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
ricature however does not establish diheren
tials for grades Of cotton other than middling, as
one might infer from reading Governors Corners
article, The section contract, which Is the CON
tract used on the two exchanges, Is basis
mddllng contract. Cotton Of grades other than
mddling may be delivered, and the differences
on or Off mlddllng at which such grades are de-
liyered are determined by the difference prevail
ing in spot markets designated for that purpose
by the secretary Of agriculture uader 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 mar