Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-09-05
GOLDEN JUBILEE OF
COTTON EXCHANGE
September 9Th Completes Fifticth
Year OF Successful and Worthy
Existence.
NOTED OFFICIALS TO ATTEND
First Trading Room Was 23 by 100
Feet, and Soon Proved jnadc-
quato for the Rapidly Growing
Business.
Especial to The Timez-D!spa,ch.l

Business.
Especial to The Times D.spa;ch.l
NEW YORK, Sept. t-f:laborate
preparations are being made by tho
Sew York Cotton Exchange to cole
bratc on September T. it's hf.i.th an
hWersary. Among those VINO Will
5Sttend are Goxcrnor Smith. Of New
York: MAYOR Hylan ANA Il majority
OF the seventy-eight senators and
congressman from Now YORK, New
J.rsc. and Connecticut
representative cotton men here and
abroad have Jecn invited. and the
exchange will devote an entire after
noon TO su!tably honoring the occa-
SION with Speeches. a buffet lunch
served ON the floor and a band Of
music. After an address Of welcome
by the president. Leopold s. Each",
living charter members, Henry Eren,z
and James w. Murphy Samuel r,
Hubbard and Arthur L. Mash. cx-
presidents OF the Cotton Exchange.
VIII make addresses. Byrd ". Wen
man whose grandfather. James +.
Me- was charter member. will
ers, Will include David Hunter M!!ler
and Arthur Lehman.
The present officials o. the Cotton
ais George Lesnol: hs s H2 21ss
president: Leigh NJ. PcarsaIi. sccre-
iary; James +. Maury. treasurer.
Members Of Board OF Managers.
,o r ed y, < :, are members g tho
Thomas +. Gahiil' w!l iiam M L. hT cfa%.
ton. Edward x. Cone, J. Temple
r. Hubbard. Jr.. Edward +. Iutton.
Leon Il. Lowenstcin. William II. JUDD
s3n spencer Waters. Tom Is. owens.
Henry II: ROYCE,
honorable career. Back in the CO's
a group OF cotton dealers in New
York CITY decided that the methods
business were Anticipated and MOI
sufficiently elastic 20 serve the pur-
pose q moving crop, which was
but Increasing rapidly. Accordingly.
lion was formed at i12 Pearl Street.
e,I Tns , ncst ,, ";radinG reom:" only
the growing business of the new en-
change. and in May. s7e. il moved
80 me ouIi,dins facing Hanover
10 ne !ts home for thirteen years.
being abandoned on ApriI % 1855,
Tor the new and more modern build
of Beaver and William Streets. But
even this editice has been outgrown,
and plans for skyscraper. with
M, enor tFa s!hn floor on me nine5eenth
light and air, were about TO be put
into execution when the war stopped
Iprac,icaily all building operations.
These plans have since been revived,
however, and viii DO acted upon
soon. as thr increasing volume OF
business and the needs OF members
;or additional Office room can only
De met oy the erection OF a much
larger structure.
There were 100 charter members.
Of whom two are s,ll living. Henry
urS. president was stephen y. Har-
rison. who also served the longest
ioInl-'hree years. Since its organi-
cation the exchange has had thirty
presidents.
Cotton I'm the 70's.
~ tn" I'm, i!ms the Cotton Exchange
whole world thc total being g.
1890 bales: india raising .29l 900.
Egypt 3li.0o0 bales and other coun-
res sc ooG Saies! was not TO be
Of the United states alone The
United states in that year produced
3.iliO0e bales. Of tho cotton grown
mere. $1,000 bales went to supply
the sp!ndles that We're turning out
cotton goods in this country, and
about 2.I7s.o0o oales were exported.
from 1914 TO So cents per pound
IN the New York market. Then the
South produced most OF its cotton
on big plantations.
Truly cotton is king now It's do
minion includes the whole world In
isit the South produced a crop OF
iSlol 900 bales. which. because of
closing of the exchanges. sold as low
as asr, : - to, to : cents per pound in
creakish seasons. the crops proved
too small 10 supply the demands of
a world ciamorinG for cotton and
the price mounted to above 40 cents
per pound for contracts on the New
York Exchange, which was the high
est figure ever attained on any do
Cotton at 81 n Pound.
Long staple cotton in the South
sold at over dollar pound on
this rise, and the, ordinary upland
cents Naturally under these cir
cumsiances. the south foated on
wave Of prosperity. Morteages were
Eroes bought farms and paid for
them with the first crops. No longer
was the young man told to go West:
the South held the golden lure which
eniiced thousands from all parts Of
the country. Statistics show that in
proportion to population the South
today owns more automobiles than
bank deposits are greater; towns OF
a few thousand citizens have more
banks and larger deposits than many
Northern banks in towns having three
and four times the population.
Even the war was dependent to
a great extent upon this mighty
KING, Cotton clothed the armies;
the proceeds Of its sale helped f.
nance the great adventure; in one
form or another its seed went into
its possession by the ailies in the
torm Of guncoiton made possible
those tremendous weapons of de-
struction which annihilatcd tho sup
posedly impregnable "Hindcnburg
line" while the absence Of cottom
was perhaps one OF the greatest
causes for Germany's DOWNFALL: and
now a big concern is being formed
In Virginia to manufacture artificial
silk, largely from low grade OF
cotton!
Back in the early 70's the cot
ton seed. like tho gasoline from
petroleum. was regarded as a waste
product and one of tho necessary
evils that could not be avoided Now
the seed has become one of the i'm.
portant parts of the crop. and in re-
cent years has sold as high as $50
per ton. 1t fertilizes the ground;
II feeds the stock: it's oil enters into
other articles vital to human we'll
being that to cnumerate them would
require, many pages. Experiments
show that in the not distant future
even the stalks that now litter the
field after the cotton is picked may
be turned into tine delicate papsr
that muady uses for her fashionnbIe
correspondence. All OF these devel-
0pments have como into being in the
nifty years since the Cotton EXCHANGE
had its humble but sturdy beginning
in Hanover Square.
WHY Cotton ExchnnEcf