davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Farm, Loans Urged

The major group Of producers have
put forward plan to supplement the
Federal Reserve system they have been
condemning so harshly of late. To
them it seems vitality necessary that
system of short term regional banks
operating through the local banks of
the country be established. By these
farm loans would be handled as a sep
arate and distinct financial system of
the nation, because. in their own words,
the present Federal Reserve banking
system :. has proven inadequate
in actual practice" Further Alabama
IS trying to overcome the restraints of
conservative banking practice by the
use of new form of so-called "ware-
house warrants" From whatever angle
1T is examined, the problems involved
are disconcerting. New and mostly
impossible proposals are launched with
when the previous crops had been mar
keted more deliberately than usual,
many thought that distressed cotton
In great volume was thing Of the
past. Instead perhaps the worst crisis
known is to be met this year. How
ever, if it results in the confession Of
the need of warehouse extension, better
handling and packing and all possible
economies IN marketing being given
practical effect, the trials of to-day
Will prove to be the blessings of to-
morrow.
Doubtless the growing branch OF the
cotton industry will desire greater
benefits from Cooperative marketing than
nave eeme out Of any Of their past eff
1orts, II the movement is properly or
ganized and managed For although
during the few years OF high prices
and general prosperity amazing sums
were wasted in needless extravaganza
and wildcat investments, the comfort
ing TACT remains that the resources and
deposits or Southern banks have great
~ increased. Besides, vast sums are
carried in the securities Of enterprises
operating outside of the cotton belt.
iurthering the interests of the North,
East and West. Who knows? Per-
haps the debacle would never have
come about If the greater part of these
outside Investments had been imme-
dlately available for carrying Southern
Derby fashion. Price recessions, while
pound to come, would not have been a
landslide. Funds for aelf-he!p are in
hand. a IN
In taking up cooperative marketing
the American Cotton Association is
following well-tried course. 1t has
been success in other divisions of
farm produce marketing in the United
States as it has been in other countries
Tor many years. If it turns out badly,
only eulpable indifference of the mem
bership permitting incompetent man
agement will be to blame. 1t is seri-
Gus undertaking. The conviction of
the modern farmer is that the success
or failure OF = farm depends largely
upon the ability with which the pTod-
ucts are marketed
Meredith's Vie,rs
Secretary of Agriculture Meredith
Put the matter in nutshell when he
wrote:
Market conditions are often such
that producers do not secure prodtsble
prices for agricultural products, and
hecnnse nf TIE zalatina Ill., lAA-=..-..
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Cuba Sr,gar Crop
Placed in Hands
Of Sales Gronp

HAVANA, Feb. 12.-Control of the
safe and shipment Of Cuba's 192O-'2l
sugar crop has been placed in the
hands of governmental organization
known as the Sugar Finance Commits
sion. This commission, appointed yes
terday by President Menocal, consists
of seven members, and will formulate
rules and regulations governing the
whole operation of marketing the
sugar crop of the island. Members of
the body will receive no compensation.
The decree appointing the commits
sion, which was published in The Off
ers or sellers to file before February 20
sworn statements covering all sales
contracts made with firms in foreign
countries. All details of these spn-
tracts must be given, and, in addition,
the agreements must stipulate shat the
product they cover is to be refined or
used by the buyer, and not sold or
offered for sale as crude sugar. In
fractions Of rules laid down will result
in the commission refusing to issue
permits for further shipments by of
Tending individuals.
Provisions of the decree were ex-
plained here last night by r. 3. Hawley,
president of the American Sugar Com
commission. After pointing out the
serious economic conditions prevailing
in Cuba, which, he said, were largely
due to the "artifcinl depression of
sugar" Mr.. Hawley declared that the
Cuban government had adopted the plan
of creating commission to "save the
sugar industry Of the island"
"The Cuban government" he con-
tinued, seeks, not only to defend its
own industry, but also to defend the
conditions. BY the method adopted the
government undertakes to normalizo
and stabilize the price at which Cuban
sugar may be delivered in the United
States and other countries depending
upon Cuba for their supplies of sugar.
It is not the purpose to hold or hoard
the product, but at all times to offer it
freely wherever it is needed at the low
est prevailing price in the world mar
ket."
WASHINGTON, Feb 12.-Repare-
sentation of the consuming public and
the Cuban government on the sugar
financing commission to be organized in
Cuba has been recommended by the
State Department. 1t was explained
to-day that o1scials here hoped such
representation would minimize the
possibility of the commission yesorting
to high price fixing. The plan as re-
ported to the department by Major
General Crowder, President Wilson's
personal representative in Cuba, pro-
vided for representation only by bank
ers, planters and others directly inter
ested in the marketing of the crop.
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Blame Not One-Sided

But the blame is not all one-sided.
The railways have charged that the
fight for the national agreement is but
q step toward the realization of the
Plumb plan of railway control, govern
ment ownership and employee opera
ton, and they have shrewdly figured
that by ringing the changes on the
Plumb plan, which the public has un-
equivocally rejected, they can imbue
the national agreement with the same
unpopularity. Doubtless the Plumb
plan leaders are behind the national
agreements. Doubles the continua-
tion of the national agreements will
aid the Plumb plan campaign But the
advocacy of the national agreements
by labor in general can be reasonably
explained without charging labor with
Interior motives. This can be made
clear by tracing the history of these
agreements.
Previous to the war there were no
such contracts as national agreements
in existence. Even in the case of train
service employees, while there had been
arbitration covering large territories
and while there had been national leg
islation in the form of the Adamson
act, prescribing the length of their day,
the agreements or schedules had been
signed by each road with its own en-
ployees, and interpretations and adjust
ments to meet local conditions were
effected by conference between repre-
sentatives of the road and its men.
Oftentimes adjustments or modifica-
tions were made on single division
of railway that did not apply on
other divisions of the same railway.
Nearly all carriers had agreements
with its train service employees. Some
had schedules with other classes. Some
had no other schedules at all. But
there were no national agreements.
With the coming of Federal opera
tion during the war the whole labor
situation was handled on orders from
Washington. The Administration in
sisted that this was necessary as war
measure and that loyal and efficient
service could not otherwise have been
secured. This is probably true, but it
worked in the end to reduce efficiency
and morale on the individual railway,
and the position taken by the Admin
stration does not explain why it was
necessary year after the war was over
to sign national agreement with the
shop crafts and why this practice was
followed with four other organizations,
the last of the five agreements being
signed few days before the roads
vent back into private hands.
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Reserve System, Blamed

Petulance at being caught in the net
OF general deHation has caused the
farmer TO damn the Federal Reserve
system, although he we'll knows that
when it opened the credit resources
of the general discount market to
properly stored cotton and made 1t ac~
ceptable collateral away frotn the
locality in which it was grown, freeing
it from local credit limitations, his
status was made better than it had
ever been before. 1t has also served
1920 nearly $2,000,00O,000 worth of
paper based on the production and
sales of farm products was rediscount-
ed, as compared with only $719,266,000
during 1919.
For complete understanding Of the
situation as it now stands a few of
the salient points brought out during
the discussion over the revival of the
War Finance Corporation should be
mentioned. 1t was asserted in Con-
gresS that the corporation could eX-
tend loans up to three billion dollars,
and that the strain on agriculture
would thus be relieved. It was curious,
too, while the cotton Democrat was on
the band wagon, how often he sub
stituted agriculture" for "cotton" in
his remarks, being very diplomatic
when occasion requires.
Mr.. Meyer, Of the United States
Grain Corporation, who was one Of the
chief supporters of the measure, was
quoted in the Senate as advancing COM
parative export statistics as his strong
est argument. He pointed out that the
farmer does not produce dollar ex-
ports, but bales of cotton, etc. And
that exports of cotton from Septem-
Der to November 2, 1920, were
1881, ,450 bales-about the same as the
previous year, up to date. This num-
Der, he said, compares with the last
pre-war year, 1918, for the same period.
when the amount was 3,837,139 bales,
and the year before that, when it was
S,808,429 bales, and the year before
that, when it was 3,710,514 bales.
Other arguments advanced by the
South in favor of revival were that
nothing could be done without the aid
of the corporation. And that when the
activities Of the corporation were sus-
pended, its directors had before them
applications involving the export of
cotton to the value Of $69,00O,000 to
Czecho-Slovakia and Italy. The reso-
luton was also backed by the Farm
Mortgage Bankers Association. Yet de-
spite opposition, veto, and the haste
with which the matter was carried
through as a means of salvation, and
although the corporation was ready to
resume business on January 5. it had
received no applications for advances
on exports, up to January Is.
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13

1ueFe nave Deen many red nerringSN
dragged across the trail by both sides
70 the controversy-charges which,
however much real weight they have
behind them, and most of them have
little, have only served to divert public
attention from the real issue. Just on
the eve Of the hearings before the
Labor Board in Chicago the employees
denounced the railways for wasting the
public's money by making repairs of
equipment in outside shops at exces. :.
slve prices, and followed up their pub
&c denunciation with charges formally
fled with the Interstate Commerce
Commission,
One must, of course, await the result
OF the commissions investigation now
ander way before passing judgment
finally on this charge, but one may at
least prophesy that the RAILWAYS will
emerge from the Investigation without
damage, and that this outcome will not
&c a great surprise to the labor lead
ers. Their purpose has already been
accomplished. Again the railways have
been charged with a deliberate con-
splracy to destroy the unions and
establish the open shop. There are un-
doubtedly some railway executives who
ere hostile to unionismit would be
surprising if there were not few
such among so many men who deal with
organized labor.
There are more who believe in
the open shop in the better sense of
the term, that is, in non discrimination
between organized and unerganized
labor. But that there is any organized
movement for breaking up the unions
and establishing the open shop in the
sense of dealing individually with en-
ployees there isfnot shred of evidence
1t is another battle-cry, emitted for
ito effect nn the nnhIic
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
By William Whittam

Department Representative England
Nv WHENEVER the cotton farmer trouband by his tell
wv he Doctor Jekyll
the of the suppican while
fourshng the bugeon the highwaman SubsdZe
public ske they Not
public which provide the the
the
The banker and peclatGf
the costly
Economic law has nothing
do with bringing about to-day conditions
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Rail Labor Agreements
Called Waste Producer.
Standardization of Conditions for Work
ers Necessary i'm Opinion of
Professor Dixon
By Frank Haigh Dixon

Professor of Economics, Princeton University
ME national railway
fundamental significance This agreement the Rail-
Labor Board last
evidence being submied 1t spite
sion that spite of and mud
singing that being resorted to by both sides
shall the conditions under which performed
so standardized by national there opportunity
individual modification
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13

True, the grower is beginning to
realize that in highly technical busi-
ness like the marketing of cotton he is
helpless when acting as an individual
Therefore, he turns to cooperation. H.
points out that the mills have paid
something like $200,00O,000 more for a
crop than reached his pocket. This fig
IRE may we'll be near the mark. But
the planter has to discover that NOV
ing 12,000,000 bales from field TO fac
tory and carrying half of them for q
year is costly job, even if all profit
on the operation is eliminated.
Obviously, the immediate problem is
for the farmer to get back the money
he has spent in raising the crop just
picked, and as it was planted when
high costs prevailed he will be fortu-
nate if he succeeds.
This can be accomplished only by
having at command sufficient credit to
become his own warehouseman. He
knows that selling all his crop now is,
as he puts it, "like trying to get more
corn down foundered horse" All
sorts Of remedies are being offered
some sound, others mere quackery. It
is proposed that in the future leach
bale will be sold Oh the intrinsic merits
of it's true value" When it reaches the
spinner it is sold on that basis, 1t is
quite true that some one, between
planter and spinner, season after sea-
son, collects millions of dollars right
fully belonging to the producer, be-
cause COTTON does not leave the farm
on the basis of its spinning value.
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Exchanges FIXED Up

Cotton exchanges and those who
work in and with them have been the
pet theme of cotton orators for many
years. Smith & Lever had their rem
edy compounded by Congress. II was
to put stop for all time to every OBJ
Jectionable practice of the exchanges.
1t has been reinforced from time to
time. These institutions were suppos-
edly put in such order that their
power for evil" was destroyed for all
time, when up comes Senator Capper,
whose hobby is wool. He would abol-
ish them.
Typical fulminations against the cot
ton trading system are:
We have sit idly by and let the
spectators, stock gamblers and Euro
pean countries have it for less than
cost of production"
Then, wonderful to relate, that spe-
clalist in exchange doctoring, Senator
Ellison D. Smith, after the expert at
tention he has paid to- the exchanges
tor many years, paid this sorry COM
pliment to his own ability as a regu.
!ator on the floor If the United States
Senate last December:
They sit down and take the product
of the farmer as the dice in a box, and
gamble at their sweet will upon the
These are fair samples of the logic
(sic) of those opposed to an institution
absolutely essential to the safe conduct
Of the worlds cotton industry.
What of the other side? There is no
more jealous guardian of the rights Of
the American cotton producer than the
editor Of Cotton and Cotton Oil News,
who recently wrote:
I'VE note that Senator Capper. of
Kansas, is riding the old wornout hobby
horse the exchange gamblers God
help the grain and cotton growers when
the New York and New Orleans cotton
exchanges and the Chicago Board of
Trade are closed to spectators in grain
and cotton! In the mean time
we say that Senator Capper is sorely
in need of information on the subject"
am inclined to think that w. Collier
Estes voiced the real Southern opinion
when he said, Sentiment in the South
is too intelligent to support Senator
Capper's measure. They learned too
severe lesson in 1914 on what closing
OF the exchanges means. Political
demagogues have little chance to with
stand the lesson that was then learned.
New York is the highest market in the
world, and If it were not for this specu-
latlve market cotton would be selling
for 715 cents pound in the South to,
day, and perhaps cheaper. The sus-
tanning factor of the market now is the
New York futures contract"
Some Of the larger planters are said
TO be planning to use the exchanges
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Self Help Cotton Farmers Best Aid
Nothing Heard About Protecting Public
i'm Talk of Substituting Planters Says
Whittam Discussing Trade Problems

such prices and the maintenance Of
adequate production this situation is
unfortunate from the standpoint of
the consumer as we'll as Of the pro-
ducer. The marketing of agricultural
products through cooperative associa-
tions has often resulted, through the
Improvement OF marketing methods
and elimination Of unnecessary costs,
in increasing the returns to the pro
ducers without, on the other land, in
creasing the cost. to the ultimate con-
SumerS."
1t must be admitted that the Ameri-
can Cotton Association has ambition.
The vital center of every cooperative
marketing unit must be the warehouse.
1t Is the only way to preserve the life
Ct the movement. And it will be a
giants task to provide every cotton
center, big and little, with ware
house. Many millions will have to be
enticed out of many pockets to build
them, to compete with others already
IN operation, with no prospect of OBJ
tanning other commodities to take the
place of baled cotton diverted to the
ones it is proposed to build. Fierce
competition will follow, where, as al
ways, the longest purse will most like
ly win. The proposed multitude of
small warehouses, scattered over a
cotton growing area of continental
dimensions, will require n central
with almost autocratic
authority over tie product of nearer
two than one million farmers,
The management must be master Of
such subjects as world supply and de-
mand, crop movements, prices at all
spot and future markets and at the
hundreds of country markets; the
course of legislation and court rulings
in many Jurisdictions, national, state
and municipal as it affects the staple;
domestic money markets and foreign
exchange, the fluctuations of silver and
many other changeabie factors Of
lesser import. Some progress is being
made; what the final outcome will be
cannot be foretold, because, as the
promoters will no doubt have discov-
cred by now, getting the unanimous
approval Of mass meeting is easy.
while obtaining signed checks by the
tens Of thousands is very lard. Cot
ton growers have long been favorite
sons OF Legislatures. Banks, ex-
changes and fertilizer makers have
been regulated to suit them, and land
laws and trading regulations are ad-
Justed and amended at the nod of cot
ton organizations. But good wishes are
more plentiful and hearty now that self
helm is being robi1ized into car,,;c,
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13

and abroad. In other words, capital
charges, insurance and all carrying
charges must match or better those
already available or the new warehouse
space will remain empty. And it Is a
question not yet definitely decided
whethes scattered Southern warehouses
can meet competition. There is, of
course, the alternative, that many
Southern communities will build to
carry cotton until it can be sold to ad-
vantage, without being particularly
concerned with the "rcnt" income of
the building. The experience of the
spinner tends to the conviction that
such an arrangement would be profit
able. For the warehouse adjunct to
every we'll designed cotton spinning
factory earns its iull share of the total
profits Of the mill it serves.
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
HOLIDAYS This Week

Monday-In the United States;
Zona.
Tuesday--In Siberia, Ukraina.
Wednesday~In Newfoundlasd.
Friday-Tn Malta.
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Seif-Help Effective

Enemy property in this country
might be turned to the cotton produc-
ers' account. The War Finance Cor
poration has been revived. Govern
ment loans to Germany and Austria
are recommended. A special discount
system for farm staples: and 80 on.
Self-help is rarely mentioned, though
it lies nearest at hand and could be
made effective. AS the cashier of a
farmers savings bank puts it: "Our
whole trouble is that we have made
money SO easily in the last four years,
that we have spent it like drunken
sailors, and now when the reaction and
readjustment come we are unprepared
to accept g. loss on the cost of the
former years of extra prosperity" AS
farm paper says: "This will sound
like treason to the horny handed sons
Of rhetorical toll in Congress-. Farm
ers are not such poor creatures as to
be driven to despair by one bad year"
Congress appeared in the breach. as
had plan to use the surplus earnings
of the Federal Reserve as basis for
farm paper, in the hope that from this
source $100000,000 would be made
available. Another urged that farm
loan bonds be allowed to sell short
term debentures based on warehouse
receipts and fathred by Lever, of
South Carolina while a bill was
rushed through to exempt farmers CO.
operative marketing associations from
the provisions OF the Sherman anti
trust law. At the same time the Gov
ernors Of many states convened at
Harrisburg, Pa, and urged the Federal
government to Great some sort of
finance corporation to sell farm prod
ucts in foreign lands, while the Legis-
iature of South Carolina brought up s
measurelto enable county organizations
to relieve the money stringency in the
state.
Then the farmers, too, are working
to set up their own export associa~
tions. In Texas, one of these has al
ready made shipment of cotton to
Germany. The American Products Ex-
port and Import Corporation, a South
Carolina affair with an authorized cap
ital of $10,000,000, is another claiming
several millions already subscribed. In
order to put this organization on its
feet Southern banks have been asked
to release cotton pledged with them as
collateral, to be used by the borrowers
in payment of subscriptions to its
stock.
Another scheme involves the collec-
tion of enough bales to load shin, to
be financed by local banks and ac-
companied to Germany or Central
Europe by representative Of the
growers, who will sell the cotton on
the spot and arrange the best terms
ne can for payment in the future;
while yet another plan consists of
holding corporation and the pooling of
100000 bales Of long stapled cotton
to be sold through q central marketing
committee by Mississippi Delta
planters
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13

imposed shop crafts agreement con-
taining 182 rules enforceable without
variation or shadow of turning. These
rules apply to all employees of par
ticular craft without regard to the de-
partment in which they are employed,
which leads frequently to conflict in
working rules applicable to men en-
gagged on the same job. The railways
maintain that the decrease in efficiency
resulting from abolition of piece work
amounts to from 10 to so per cent on
different roads
New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Meredith's $ Hie,rs

Secretary of Agriculture Meredith
Put the matter in a nutshell when he
wrote:
Market conditions are often such
that producers do not secure proatsble
prices for agricultural products, and
because OF the relationship hetMrnr1