The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-22
BANKERS ID FORM
 S12,000,Q90 COTTON EXPORT COMP ANY
Capital Subscriptions to Be Based on Assessments of S1 a Bale In the Various
 States
By Associated Press


 cling corporation were adopted at n
 meeting late today of bankers and
 representatives of cotton interests
 attending the convention of the
 American Bankers Association.
 Tentative arrangements provide for the payment of half the capital stock, or an initial working fund of s5,O00, 900 capital and s1,0oo,o00 surplus
 Capital subscriptions, the plan sug- gest will be based on an assessm ent of $l bale on cotton raised in the e. spectiye state, thereby making the or ganization one of influnece throug a5ut all the territory which has had diff1- culty in financing the movement of the cotton crops. The decision to call for the initial payment of only half of the total capital means, therefore that the subscriptions viii be pro rated among the purchasers of stock on the basis of 50 cents per bale.
 It was made clear by speakers at the meeting that the purposes of the cor poration, which will be organized un~ dar the Edge act amending the fedefai reserve act, is not to hold the cotton crop, but to insure that the commodity be moved "at time when the market is stag nant."
 Under provisions of the Edge act the corporation is enabled to handle trade acceptanceS--agreem of the pur- chasers-to the amount of ten times its capital and surplus, or in the case of the proposed corporation, the ability to handle acceptances of cotton pur> chases to the amount of $50, GOO, 00o Although there was no specific men, tion made, there were indications that formation of the cOrnoration uoI1d med1af5ly open the way for the sale oi cotton In Europe, where the demand is estimated at 3,Go0,0oo to 1000, 900 bales
 NO REMEDY FOR ILLS
 The committee informed those in att tendance at the meeting that it would make .'no extravagant promises" but that 1t hoped the plan would be of Tremendous benefit" to the south. The meeting was told also that the coroor. auon would not prove a remedy 10. all ills although 1t would make Ios- sible the provision of markets in time or emergency such as the cotton rro- ducers arc passing through.
 Although the corporation may .n--he future extend it's opera tion to other commodities, those in attendance lrged that 1t etrNote its efforts frat to tho s.ntfpH crop alone The way was left open, however, so that enlargement and suggested extensions can be made as needed, speakers declared
 me report of the special comfni.tes Wnicn made the preliminary arrange menus ana led the way in the prelimi- nary steps follow in part:
 On Tuesday October 19 1920, a spe- cal conference was called. of some ot the southern bankers present at this convention and the general subject ot the difficulty of financing exports of our agrlcuituIal products and other com ncdities was discussed. As a result of this discussion, you instructed your Chairman to appoint committee to lay before you some concrete recommenda- tions as to what might be done to inn prove the situation; and accordingly the undersigned committee was appointed representing most of the southern states, and this committee is to be increased by having representatives from Mis- souri, Virginia, Oklahoma and Florida
 Your committee feels that the time IS past for oratory, special appeals to gov ernmental or other authorities. and that ! 1t is time that we of the south take hold of this situation and help ourselves, as we undoubtedly can, if we win CO., operate in the manner hereafter sug- gested.
 TO PROVIDE FINANCES
 Your committee first of all discussed the question as to whether we should in-
 
 would look after -he actual marketing ot our products confine our efforts 70 providing the necessary financial means to take care of the credits tfesulting from the sale of such products It was the unanimous conclusion thaEa~~s>S. 1t is possibly advisable to organize ,nurn- Der of trading corporations undzT the Webb act or otherwise, it would hardly be practicable to have organization which would attempt the actual selling of goods for the entire south. Your com mittee therefore recommends that the question of trading corporations be left entirely to the judgment of the bankers and business men in each state or dis trict, and we are of the belief that espe- cially so far as cotton is concerned taere are already in existence many largSfand responsible export houses which wifi ffpuy the cotton from the planters and factors for export purposes, if we can provide the finances necessary to help them.
 Your committee does not believe that we should attempt anything on too large Y a scale, but recommends that we start N finance corporation under the Edge Sssct with capital and surplus of. say, xs2 000,000 Twelve per cent of the SUD- seribed capital would provide an imme- elate fund of s6,000,000, of which would Se $5O00,oo0 and $l,0o00o0 surplus That would be enough to handle consid- Asrable volume of business.
 y 9"Your committee feels that it should not be difficult to secure subscriptions for $12,000,00e of stock in such corpora fion, of which only half would be ex- yected to be paid in for at least lons time to come but we feel that even this arnall amount cannot be raised unless we have the fullest cooperation Of every southern state represented here today
 EACH STATE TO AID
 Tt is not at all intended to have this export banking corporation limit itself 10 the financing of cotton exports. but xor the immediate present. that proves to be the greatest need, and as cotton 5s the principal product of the south, #% 1tate should contribute toward this &nroposed capitalization on the basis of x xay, sl per bale of the amount of cot Ion raised in the respective state and X ssay in 50 cents per bale. As the total 1#Notton crop is estimated at 100000 Aales at the time, this would provide just exactly the amount above re- ferred to.
 #K If this meeting approves the above #Du ggestions the undersigned commit rec is wiling to serve as an organiza- 1@asion committee, if desired, with the ad- Edition of representatives from each one s,f the southern states named. but in %s3rder to make success of this enter #3rise. it will then become necessaf Y le8 &aApoiat a camaaign committee of les0- < Ing bankers in each of the sou{nern. states so that we can be reason@hiyl