Evening star., 1920-10-21
HESTER FORESEES
: COTTON PANIC END
New Orleans Expert States
Producers Experienced
! Unreasoning Scare.

NEW ORLEANS. La. october 21 (by
the Associated Press).-1n state
ment prepared at the instance of the
New Orleans Cotton. Exchange d.
rectors and made public last night.
Henry G.. Hester, secretary of the ex-
change and for fifty years regarded
Is an international authority on mat
tiers pertaining to cotton marketing,
declared there is mo reason for rush
ing for federal fina ncial aid" and as
serted there was nothing the mat
ter with the south beyond an un-
reasoning scare in cotton
In the course of the statement. pre-
pared for the benefit and encourage
ment of those who are not fully In
formed he said:
The drastic decline that has oc-
CURED in cotton since the first of Au-
kust amounting to nearly $40 bale.
or about 48 per cent has been mainly
due TO the pressure to sell on a
shrinkage market. undermining con-
hdence of both sellers and consumers.
accentuating the fears of the former
and increasing the reluctance of the
latter until they practically aban-
doned the market except at constant
concessions which, in the aggregate.
probably constitute the greatest drop
that has ever taken place in the sta
pie in any like period In the past
ten weeks more than million bales
of spot cotton have literally been
thrown overheard without rhyme or
reason. Nearly three-fourths OF the
Texas ginnings to September 25 have
been rushed to market, and while
other sections have sold more spar
ingly. the reported sales at three
leading Texas centers having amount
ed to more than 500, 900 bales. Futures
have per force followed spots. the
pressure having been accentuated by
sales to hedge spot.
No Reason for Panic.
I Various theories have been ad-
vanced for the scare mainly the
question of financing, unfavorable at
tiude of the federal reserve bank. and
tight money. Neither of these, how
ever, should reasonably have precipi-
tated a practical panic.
The upset. due, in large part, to
the scares of holders, which have re-
acted upon consumers, unsettling ootn
ends Of the line, cannot be otherwise
than temporary, and will hardly af
feet the years consumption as
whole"
A movement has been inauguFated
here involving the closing of every
cotton gin in the south for a period of
thirty days, beginning November l. as
a means to revive confidence in the
demoraliZed cotton market.
War Finance Requests.
MEMPHIS. Tenn, October al
Resolutions urging the Secretary of
the Treasury to revive the War FL
nance Corporation were adopted by
the executive board of the Cotton
States Merchants Association, the
Memphis Cotton Exchange, Merchants
Exchange, the Memphis Chamber of
Commerce. the Memphis Clearing
House Association and the Lumber
mems Club of this city.
ATLANTA. Ga, October 21.-Plans
for forming a large export corpora
tion. in which Americans of German
birth or descent would buy stock for
the purpose of financing purchase by
German interests Of 100000 bales of
American cotton, were made public
here by United States Senator Hoke
Smith of Georgia.
: Senator Smith telegraphed approval
Of the plan as outlined in a letter to
him by Heinrich Charles Of New York.