The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-21
HESTER SEES NO
 REASON ID RUSH FOR FLORAL AID
Says There Is Nothing the Matter With the South Beyond Unreasoning
 Scare In Cotton
By Associased Press

and made public tonight. Henry G. Hes ter, secretary of the exchange. and for 50 years regarded as an international authority on matters pertaining to cot ton marketing, declared there is mo reason for rushing for federal financial aid,' and asserted there was nothing the matter with the south beyond all unreasoning scare in cotton
 The statement. prepared for the bsns- fit and encouragement of those who are not fully informed" follows:
 The drastic decline that has occurred in cotton since the first of August, amounting to nearly 80 bale, or about 4S per cent, has been mainly due to the pressure to sell on shrinking market. undermining confidence of both sellers and consumers accentuatlng the Tears of the former and increasing the reiuc7 trance of the latter until they practically abandoned the marESet except at con- stant concessions which in the aggregate probably constitute the greatest Grol that has ever taken place in the staple in any like period. in the past 10 weeks. more than 100000 bales of spot cotton have literally been thrown overheard without rhyme or reason. Nearly three fourths of the Texas ginningS to Sep tember 25 have been rushed to market and while other sections nave sold more sparingiy, the reported sales at three leading Texas centers having amountel to more than S00.000 bales. Futures nave per force followed spots, the pressure 2 having been accentuated by sales u hedge spots.
 MANY THEORIES ADVANCED
 .yarious theories have been advanced for the scare mainly the question or financing, unfavorable attitude of the federal reserve bank, and tight money Neither of these, however, should req sonably have precpitated practcai <l panic Calm thinkers consider there wss no more reason for rushing Tor ieoerai aid than during the buy bale pel'oo or ,oIA They argue, and justly so. that we marketed in part and earned over without outside aid the heavy remnant ' of the most stupendous crop proouceu that year in face of the inauguration oA worldwide war and at tune tnat lne sbueh was infinitely poorer than at pres eat ,IaEy NiIcw then not onty .nA. cotton xas selling many cents per pouhu below the cost of production, but Ina. i, was bringing less than its aclnai market value, even in face of aoverse El,ropean war conditions, and the 4'9om- ise of an abnormally large productloMn, M (which finally proved to be ii'op'Wo bales), and they knew that the pam
 
 war. the world needed our cotton anu mat if the channels of trade were iJocked for time, a way wouio oe found to open them in the near iului And what did we do? We marketed Una. wear more than was ever maIAeeeo .' any year in the history Of the uAue uA and if we did not get as much for our rs1a~ as we should have done, we iain inc foundation for an upward ueno that brought more money into the souti fairly earned, in the years that lof lowed than had ever before been oD tained in our history"
 WHY BALk NOW?
 .Why then should we after four sea sens in which our raw cotton IT e.uding the seed, has exceeded n ya,ue 7.910, ,ooo, ,000, balk at carrying
 faw million bales pending tenn rorarv Hull in demand? Has not that yary>lull been heightened by the sense less and unreasoning fears or pro ducers? Of course. everybody knows that the governmental efforts to reduce the high cost of living have exerciseo some influence, but that mas peen no means entirely responsible Tor the cotton panic Let us look at the gov ernment figures for the months or Au- aust and September, 1920. In face ot all the talk about reduction Of con unption, we find that the mills north and south consumed of American cot ion from August to Septepber 5V, sS4oo0 bales, against 943,000 for the same time last year, a decrease oI only 5900O bales. This then was not where the shoe pinched, as far as do- nestle consumption was concerned. When the mills became informed or the growing fears of the southern pro- ducers of a decline in values, they fell back on their supplies of raw cot ion and during the two months used In 4s6.o00 bales of their reserve stock. Thus on July S1. the census said mills north and south held 1,209.0o0 bales of American lint cotton. while on Octo- Ter 1 the same authority gave them total of only T73,000 bales. In Septen- Ter. in face of the panicky feeling that was spreading in the spot market, the southern mills consumed 2S1, 1,000 bales lin, cotton and they held remaining bur about 2S3,ooo bales. or about on. months supply.
 Comparing the situation now wItr stszsy sf, lhc showing in stocks al Amsrsran 1nials, north and south, oi hsae..cnn ssrs cotton July sl, 1920 tpei oHnsnA1. s,z0s 900 bales.
 .fsuvopean mill stocks July 3l, ls2'
 EAYopea1s xort stocks and afloat fol f>urape, July s1 1,2s2,ooo. Total JuiJ f4< 4s1 z&sVN4.
 An srican mill stocks. north an: scuth. of unk cotton. October l. 1920 7f3.964
 -Earcpear mill stocks. October l x tksa. approxi nate S50.00o.
 EaropeaE port stocks and afloat Oc t Der ]. .eet 900.
 '-Totala z.2J4.000.
 "'oscresse lint cotton since July sl b4les, 7T8 9ce
 xs ~rn ofter words there was a shrink X " ~e in naf!l stocks at home and abroa' < !sud1n the European supply of abou ES 1000 bales of lint cotton--a vacuum tHat snust and will be filled when th saarkat is permitted to settle down l. stsrr1al conditions.
 sIn considering these figures we ar Gexlinz zI<h the present. not with tn past. The satset, due in a large par { s5 the scar<s of holders which have re acted upon consumers, unsettling hot evtsis of the llne, cannot be otherwis tnan temporary, and will hardly afrec tie years consumption as a whol, The mills ara quite anxious as tn ysndueerS for the resumption of nor nal frnctions and while confdenc h2f sxXN xeN it t4 ac zlasaS fel ,1w E Ea4sisnpkicr es nafusa1 ss4,. ing s<s s@H nd aia ifse good mast S,s leax el>yen. yhs renedy 1se