Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-10-16
SPINNERS WOULD DEAL DIRECTLY
 WITH GROWERS
English Consumers and Ameri- can Planters Discuss Elimin-
 atiOn of Middlemen.
REDUCE COST, ADVANCE
 PRICE AT SAME TIME
Action Aimed at Those Who Profit Though They Have No Interest sn the Growing, Spinning or
 Manufacturing.

Manufacturing. 1 New Orleans, Oct. 15.--British cot l ton spinners were urged today by growers to send representatives to the fields of the south, buy cotton from the farmer, bale the staple as they see fit, eliminating all middle , men and thereby reducing the cost of the raw material to the spinner and at the same time increasing the price paid the producer. This proposal, along the lines of the systems used by British tobacco manufacturing in- terests in Kentucky, was made at meeting late today of a special com mittee of world cotton conference delegates, composed of 10 foreign spinners, 10 American spinners and |20 American cotton growers. 1 It was the first time in 50 years, it was stated, that American cot- 1 ton producers and British spinners had met in special conference.
 The farmer who raises 20 bales of cotton for the first time in this gem eration talked over his problems with the British spinner who buys thou sand times his yearly output. The British spinner also told of his prob- lems, relayed machinery shipments, strikes, fluctuating market and labor scarcity.
 Speakers agreed that no arbitrary price could be fixed for any given period for cotton owing mainly to the tremendous fluctuations in the amounts of cotton picked in rela- tion to the amount planted in differ ent years. Conditions of weather and of insect depredations made it Impossible, it was stated, to set an advance price on the staple as the tgrowing costs cannot be estimated until the crop has been gathered and ginned.
 1t was agreed by speakers, howev- CT, that profits were ping made by middlemen who had no direct inter- /; est in the growing, spinning or manufacturing branches of the in- dustry, the consumer having to pay higher prices for the finished article than would be necessary under strict regulation of the industry. Eliminate Waste.
 C. F. Shackelford, who stated he had 14.000 acres of cotton under cultivation in Georgia, declared he believed it was time for spinners share in the profits of cotton as we'll as the losses.
 "Waste on the farm, at the gin, in be eliminated," he said. Much 1 ly spent in handling and rehandling ha s, tual loss of $11.50 per bale between gin and loom. and there is not an in dustry in the world where such wastfulness would be permitted. We must trade directly with the spin ners, eliminate the middlemen."
 J. A. Davis, banker, cotton buyer and planter of Waycross, Ga, said:
 "The spinners should send repre- sentatives to the growers to buy cotton direct just as do the big for eign tobacco manufacturers. Half the reason for the high cost of every thing these days is because the par tial control which gambling specu- lators have secured on necessities of life"
 Closer utilization of grower and spinner was ordered as a solution to the problem of the cotton nlanter and the spinner by Governor Bickett of North Carolina. in private life cotton planter. The planter. he said. is onerating on a narrow margin ot profit. even at very high prices. William Polk. Louisiana planter, declared the spinner interests were capable of fixing the price of the manufactured cotton article. eff no basis of assured prices can 1 be arrived at whereby the Ameri- can cotton grower can get more mon- ey for his raw cotton, then the gov ernment should set price for the spinner to pay or else put tariff on foreign cotton which would assure the grower sufficient price hv American spinncrs." Mir. Polk said. His expressions, however. met with objections from many of the grow CTS. who voiced conviction that complete harmony with the spinners was the only spirit which would make for better conditions and high CT prices.
 Use White Labor. l J. s. Wannamaker of St. Mat thews. S. C., president of the Amer ican Cotton Association. said there never was time when it was more necessary for thorough harmony and understanding between grower and simmer than the present. "Co- operation between grower and spin- ner" he said. twill do much toward lenualizing spunlv and demand. give the spinner information on which tn proceed instead of e,,ess work. and advise the grower fully of what the