Deming graphic., 1920-09-21
FRENZIED FINANCE IN DEMING


After watching the ease with which
the high priests of finance Of Deming
got away with The fair funds In the
interest of the cotton gin, the Graphic
now knows why some of us must be
poor and some Of us rich. II is not
that the Graphic rcspnts having II cot
ton gin located in Deming. and IL is
not that the Graphic has less respect
for the ability shown by our financiers
to get the money. Far from It, Pom
ri and Wallingford are poor pikers in
comparison The Graphic takes off its
hat 10 any man or set of men who can
90 out and finance II private enterprise
from the funds of an organization
with which they had no connection,
Such methods aS were used to divert
not 10 say Subvert- the fair funds Is
a shining cample of the power of pri-
vute interests over II cooperative en-
terpriSc. The children Of Deming will
do well in the future to guard more
carefully their savings banks In the in
terest of sound finance.
Certain gentlemen decided that the
luIEt NNlilill lllAtlfNlN must HhN' 81 So ?
so they ordered one with the eXpecta-
tiun that the community would Kick ih
and pay for it. handing II over to them
with nothing In the world TO Indicate
that the contributors had any share
i'm anything connected with gin. except
a certain share in such losses as II
might suffer. The gin arrived with n
draft attached and the gentlemen who
had done the ordering had 10 90 out
and get the money They needed about
$4,000 and the fnanciers We're panic
stricken when they found out they
could raise but little more than half
the sum needed. "MgoSh,' they eN'
claimed. chow can we ever raise the
fabulous sum Of 800 bucks In bus
ted community like thisf II Is more
money than there is in the world II
was n critical moment and the tense.
set faces testified To the strain under
which they lnbOred. What the ell
was 10 he donei But those veterans
of big business remembered that they
had often before faced such situation
and raised aS much as 500 on gilt
edge collateral Their knowledge was
to stand them In good stead in this
crisis After what seemed an eternity
Of suspense the dean Of the worried
group flung his arms aloft and shouted
Eureka" or something like that And
he was right
He had thought of the fair money,
of course: funds pledged almost year
ago as a guarantee that Luna county
4 f..f ttsanpa fhn anuHTntt
evidences of progress in agriculture
in stock raising in mining. In educat'
ion. In the fine arts, and the household
crafts might he spread out for the in
spiration II would offer for future ac-
compishments and endeavors The
children of the schools for the past
wear had been conteSting with each
other to produce something worth eN'
hihiting at the fair; the girls and boys
clubs I'm the country had been working
all summer to fatten pigs and the raise
corn for the promised prizes. In the
city the women had been working for
twelfe months ON the fine arts and
textiles which were To demonstrate
their ability to make and adorn homes :;
the men had worked out c0rking
sports program that would have
brought visitors from all over south
western New Mexico. Everybody con
nected with the fair or having know
ledge of its activities was enthusiastic
and IL seemed that most successful
exhibition was imminent. But the en-
tire plan went fluey when the high
financiers decided that the money must
hc spent to buy Il cotton gin.
Of course, no onei his right mind
would he expected to listen to II coun-
try editor ON matters Of intricate fl
nacc. hut the Graphic has the nerve to
suggest that the money could have been
raised for the gin without the brutal
wrccking of the fair association. For
one thing. the gin machinery would
have easily carried a mortgage OF 30
per cent OF its value. Otherwise IL
would seem to he n pretty shaky bust
ness enterprise And the financiers
had never. apparently, considered the
possibility Of cooperative enterprise
whereby the cotton as II was ginned
might have been made to pay for the
machinery for ginning. Also, II would
seem. the possibilities OF joint stock
company has not been talked Of. But
IL is useless to suggest; the high priests
OF finance have spoken; the fiat has