Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-04-27


statement that may have been made
to a price for cotton, if any was to
be fixed, was utterly without founda-
ton, for he had expressed no opin-
ion as to price for cotton.
The Cotton Committee on Cotton
Distribution were appointed by Mr..
Baruch-as have said under direc-
ton of the President-on Septemb
err %. The chief duty of the Cot
ton Committee was to investigate
and determine whether it was deem
ed necessary to- fix fair price for
cotton. and if SO to recommend basic
prices. Vt RI.
After careful Investigation cover
ing2a period of from six to seven
weeks, during which all interests in
the cotton industry were given an
opportunity to be heard, the commit
tee on November IS recommended
to the President "That no price be
fixed on raw cotton by the Govern
ment." This was in accord with the
freely expressed wishes of practical
ly every producer who appeared be-
fore the committee, and was approx
ed by the President on November 16.
Glasses Of Action.
The work of the committee on
Cotton Distribution fell broadly in
to four classes which may be brief
ly characterized as follows
First. Cooperation with the Cot
ton Committee in it's investigation
and consideration of the question of
price fixing.
Second.-Groadenin the channels
of distribution and use of the grades
of cotton below Middling.
Immediately after it's appointment
the committee COMMENCED negotiations
with representatives of foreign gov
ernments for the purpose of conclud-
ing agreements respecting the dis
tribution of grades of cotton below
Middling At the signing of the ar
mistice satisfactory arrangements
had been made with all interested
countries, and in most cases they had
actually begun to purchase agreed
portions of the lower grades which
have hung so heavily on the market
during the past year.
The purchasing departments of our
own Government had both by contract
and and through rigid system of
inspection unwittingly enforced the
use of much higher grades ard quail
ties in the production of goods for
Government requirements than was
necessary from the standpoint of
strength, serviceability and suita-
October Is the distributions commit
tee secured an agreement with all
of the purchasing agencies of the
Government which was announced on
November A to correct his condition
andto bring more normal request
for the prodccer's low grades.
Third.-On November Is, Mr..
Brand; as Chairman of the Commit
tee on Cotton Distribution, prohibit
ed, short selling of contracts for both
foreign and speculative account on
the New Orleans and the New York
Cotton Exchanges during the per-
! iod of transition from war to peace
conditions.
Nov. IL Holiday.
Armistice day, Nov II, was de-
lclared a holiday on both Exchanges,
On November IL the market opened
higher, advancing to 1890 for Dec
ember., Immediately there set in a
wave of selling which produced a
decline of two cents pound. A
greater decline would have occurred,
but upon the recommendation of the
| two committees both Exchanges had
instituted rules limiting the daily
| fluctuations to that amount. The mark
would have gone lower beyond
doubt. In view of all the facts the
prohibition of short selling was
made. and it is generally believed by
those who are best informed that
this action of the committee saved
cotton from disaster.
1t seems to me that all of these
activities were in the distinct inter-
est of the producer, nor have they
doubt Observation-Disclosures far m
ceased wholly to the present day.
do not believe that any government
has sought "to force down the price
of twenty-five cents fran radw:m
of cotton to twenty five cents"
has not. On the contrary, the De-
partment of Agriculture, through the
Office of the Chief Of Extension for
the South and through other field
agencies in the South, has consist
emily warned farmers against an in
creased production of cotton, has call
cd their attention to the fact that the
acreage of 1918, under normal con-
ditions will probably produce two or
three million bales more in 1919 than
in 1918, because of the 1913 drought
in Texas and Oklamoa, and has urg
ed them to increase their food and
feed supplies with the full knowledge
that such increase of food and feed
supplies would be at the expense of
cotton acreage. Bearing in mind the
carry over of more than three million
bales in the last season, observing
throughout the winter and spring,
the poor prospect for pre-war con-
sumption by Central Europe for some
time to come, the Department has
been soliciting lest d normal acreage
and normal yield of cotton in 1919
increase the carry-over to the point
of constituting burdensome sur
plus which might cause cotton to
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