The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-12
SPEAKERS TELL OF
 COTTON PROBLEMS
 AND OF TAXATION
Tri-State Conference of Credit Men Comes to a Close. Vital Question Dis
 cuSsed at Meet

of the National Credit Mems
 Association in attendance, the first tri-state conference was
 held yesterday in the audi torium of the Chamber of Commerce. Representatives of
 A l la b ma, Mississippi an d Louisiana were present.
 1 Senator Oscar Underwood addressed l the conference on taxation in its re- llation to commercial credits. He de- clared that taxation in its final ansfy-
 sis is a single problem, one or dissri-
 button. He referred to the relatio~ or taxation to present business and the questions Of taxation which must be faced by the next session of Congress. There is no way of escaping taxes ne declared, as they were essential to the government and must be paid. Meth- ods of applying taxes were discussed lby the speaker, who brought smiles to the faces of his hearers when he stated that no legislator ever drew up tax !bill without wincing when he tho { of what his constituents would have | to say on the matter.
 oscar Wells, president of the First National bank, spoke on the operation of the federal reserve system in com lnection with the cotton situation. All lluding to the recent movement sor re- Institution of the war finance corpora ltion. he stated in case that had teen done and help was sought to be ex- tended to cotton through it's agencies, every other commodity seeking aid in financing and marketing would have the same right to call on it's good of Ifices as cotton would
 FINANCE COTTON PRODUCER l The federal reserve system and the isouthern member banks were doing all Ithey could within legitimate banking limits to finance the cotton producers, The said and were doing great dt al lin that line The foreign finance ccr- operation which has been organized ly lsouthern bankers will materially aid lin financing the crop and finding a lmarket for it. he said.
 ! l.. NJ. Hooper of Selma read paper lbristling with live data under caption of Cotton: It's Relation to Credits in the South" The description of the uses lof the cotton plant from cloth to oils, Iautomobile tires in the explosives and manifold other avenues was almost be- Iwildering.
 Sixty per cent of this absolute world lneceSsity is produced in the southern istates of America. and it has formed flor years 2s per cent of the value of the exports from this country.
 Where wheat and corn may be stored land kept for possibly even years, tot- jton may be stored and kept for a life
 time It may be used all that time as T. sl. .1,1 1p<
 of the farm that is always serviceable
 las a collateral. A mans creditor can mot well handle carload of lumber in lliquidation of a debt or as collateral 1because it would be difficult to find a
 ready cash buyer. The man holding
 cotton as collateral has that which IS jalways convertible into cash.
 | RELIABLE COLLATERAL
 When properly stored and otherwise lsafeguarded, cotton is the most relabile land valuable collateral of any product
 on the face of the earth. The speaker jreferred to the government warehouse lbill adopted in the last Congress, and ldeclared that under it's operation a re- lceipt for cotton stored in one of these Licensed warehouses was as good as Jgold anywhere.
 He closed his remarks with brief reference to the necessity of organiza- tion. The paper was highly compli- lmented by the hearers, both for it's jscholarliness and the meatiness of It's Icontents.
 One of the delegates asked MT lion>- Ter if it were possible for the average lcotton producer to hold consider lble portion of his crop year in and year lout. MT. Hooper did not believe it was under present conditions, but he gave his own experience.
 He said that about 5000 bales of cot |ton had been handled by his firm this saeson. but that only 5000 to 5000 bales had been sold The remainder lis being held for better and higner market His summary of the situation lin this season was that only one-third lof the crop was being placed on the market and that the remainder is fe- ling held by the producer
 The next speaker was James Bowron, president of the Gulf States Steel com Ipany, whose address on the steel situa- Etion was accorded the undivided End lclose attention of his hearers through lout He predicted an early turn for the better in the steel business. More extended notice of his address is given lin another column.
 COOPERATION URGED
 "CO-OperatlOn' was discussed by lGeorge Grundman of New Orleans He ldeclared the word indicated working together. and he urged the cooperation tof the membership. An appeal to all lcredit men was made to give accurate lcredit informa ton when inquiries are tmade to their offices. This work is loften passed to the clerks. he decla ed, land in many eases the information de- iSired is not given.
 l W. F. Simpson of New Orleans spoke briefly on a study of the National As .lsociation of Credit Men and told of the lwork this organization was doing fer the credit men of the country. He gave la resume of the<growth of the associa- ttion and it's activities from few men lin Toledo, Ohio. to q membership of l34 900 now.
 Charles H. Hammer of New Orleans Ispoke on, the financial statement and the position it has taken in credit lgranting.
 The meeting was called to ordsr by President T. NJ. Nesbitt of the local icredit mems association. and the in lvocation was pronounced by Dr. T. F. IDillard, pastor of the Southside Baptist ichurch.
 The conference was concluded with la banquet last night at the Southern lclub. J. H. Tregoe. secretary and ltreasurer of the National Association of ICredit Men. was the principal speaker. He spoke of the splendid work of his