Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-10-21
State Aid for Warehouses
Would SolUe Big Problem,
Writer In 'Ruralist' Says
BY a. z. LEVER
In the Southern Ruralist"

cotton problem where 1t Is now con-
coded that the most important sim
gle factor in the distribution of cot
ton is a system of warehousing ade-
Quate to accommodate at least 35
per cent of the total annual produce
tion.
What we are striving to do is to
enable the producer of~>cotton, the
man who takes all the risks from
the time of planting until the period
of harvesting, to get the real, gen.
uuine value of his product. This he
can never do under the present lack
of system of distribution.
system which will enable him
to bring about this result must as
first step bring to him such fl
pesition to resist artificial depres-
sfon in prices. To put it another
way, he must be in such position fl
nancially as to be able to market
demands. This at present he is not
aU;- to do because cotton, under the
present systam of marketing, lacks
szosor vaiua and the result is that
put OF d $4,000, 000-bale crop S,000.-
900 bales thereof are marketed usual
ly during the four months of Sep
TENDER, October, November and De-
Cember.
The ability upon the part of the
producer to market his cotton slowly,
and in keeping with the demand
therefore, is the key to the whole situa-
ton, and this is what is proposed to
be done through a system of ware
housing. Such a system will furnish
cotton for the first time with credit
value, which it can never have un-
warehoused, and without which it
can never be marketed to bring to
the producer it's real value.
The trainers of the federal reserve
act, especially those who, We're most
influential in fixing these, provisions
of it which have relationship to
producing states and did their think
Ing in terms of what was best for
cotton, which, of course, in It's broad
er aspects, meant likewise what was
this act represents their thinking
In this regard. That section In Ell
feet provides that the cotton farm
er may take his prom1ssory note,
with a maturity not exceeding SIX
months, with a warehouse receipt for
staple AGRICULTURAL products attacneo
thereto, to any member bank OF tne
federal reserve system and nave that
note discounted.
This means, in its practlcal oper;a a.
zion. that the cotton farmer, VINO IN
the snring has given his note TO the
local banker to fall due in OCTOBER
or November, and who heretofore un-
der the old system or banking vs.
forced to sell his cotton at tne i tien
nreyailing prices, is now In posltlon
70 sell or not sell as his Judgment
and the circumstances may oeclu9;;
with a system of warehouslng az
he has to do is take his bale Oh GG CO.
ton to the warehouse, have II Meis Nv
Al nv a licensed weigher, gradeo py
q licensed grader, taking recelp9
showing all the facts from llcenla;4 +a
and bonded warehouse man, We
his promissory note Tor the d1hu uore
it,
e aus' present it to the bank. who IN IN
a. the spirit Of this section OIL tne
law will honor his note ana IN luir4
send it, with the warehouse eeb bank
attached, to the federal resefne II Is
Of his district, where again 1t -
no Mos+ bankers who have discusseo
.xi Mo noathod of warehousing, and the
credit value of cotton tne = rnnld
have uniformly agreed co. ohf from 20 to
9e nar cent of the market Value u
~ cotton on the day in question uh-
dor such circumstances. e uara-
But the desirability OF
penuine system of marketing n1 IS with tn
sonear debatable among men VIZ
hrains enough to, engage IN ue shsIi
Tha main problem now is, now Sha ~
we raise the money WIN 49, tanei-
PIE, pr vbich viii provide the, funds,
since bricks and mortar, lumpea de- de-
labor cannot be had upon eie
mand of talk alone? me psS0i hetteT
The ~ IF farmers are fully persuaded IN
hehalf of warehousing; Iney af
now looking only for the meIn sSio VI
procuring warehouses;. Inc 1,. lil SEW .or,
tial thing now is. action to reap pea ens
TO build the warehouses. eor
Ali of the plans suggested Iof
bringing about the esta rbort
a system of warehouses througfnG1u1t
analvzed. and my conclusion: from
such an analysis, is about TINS:
Cooperative effort upon inc PAL
of farmers and, BUSINESS osl11d bn mGn ware
house such effort. if relied upon
solely NAV build warehouses, put
fha certainty of obtaining system
Of warehouses adequate to meet Tue
Of state aid to communities for TINS ms
purpose Such plan was proPostgo
and advocated by me a few weeks
ago in series of addresses Wn!cn I+h
was Invited to deliver In SCUM
Carolina in behalf of the grading
and warehouse campaign conducted
;nintlv bv Clemson college and the
South Carolina branch of the Amer
lean Cotton association, and tne
plan has the very earnest indorsee
the American Cotton association:
The thought involved in this loea
of state aid Is that as a maIter o.
broad principle and public. pollcy IN
behalf of the. general Wei1are' gym tI,s
south is vitality and directly con
cerned in seeing to it that the farm
er is assured for the cotton not "a
fair price, but it's actual, intrinsic
to the consumer of the finished prod
net. less the costs of transportation,
manufacture and distribution, both
wholesale and retail. with reason
able profit to each Of the handlers
The plan involves the application
first of all of the well-known prln-
clple that things in this world un-
striven for are usually not valued so
highly, and hence the community is
the extent of one-half the cost ana
to the other principle that all VINO
are interested in the problem should
be called upon to share in the SOU
ton of it, and hence the state is
ing, one-half the expense Moreover
the scheme is not without precedent.
On the contrary, it is following what
is beginning to be. the best legislative
precedent 1t follows the idea of the
federal aid road act, the Smith
Lever demonstration act and the
Smith Hughes vocational educational
act In fact, the strong tendency in
legislation is for the government,
state or national, to do things. big
things, only upon the communities
showing their interest by their
money
Warehouses should be located only
after very comprehensive and ac
curate survey Of the states has been
made in order to determine the
strategic distribution points at
which they may best serve their
purposes. It would be unfortunate,
indeed, to have warehouses indis-
criminately located here and there
without regard to the whole distri-
button problem, for it is not the
number of warehouses that is so
innnrtant as if is the nroper loca-