The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1921-05-19
CONCERNING COOPERATIVE
MARKETING
6.The How and the Why of Pool;,.

6.The How and the Why of POOLING
To an individual grower the pool
ing of his crop of cotton under the
cooperative marketing plan means
swapping the specific bales grown by
nm for proportional interests in
much larger lots of cotton. The num-
ber of lots in which he owns inter-
est Will be determined by the rumher
OF different kinds Of grades of cot
ton produced by him. For example if
the growers belonging to the assOcia-
ton produce ten thousand bales of
good middling and one of the mem
)ers, John Doe, produces one hundred
bales of that ten thousand, then John
Doe in pooling trades in his hundred
bales and receives one per cent. in
| terest in the entire pool of ten thou
sand bales. The pools are made up of
cotton belonging only to growers who
are members of the association. Pool
'ng gives each grower certain advan-
tages which are explained below.
Advantages of Pooling
l. Pooling gives the grower tho adj
vantage of accurate grading.
=. Pooling gives the grower the adj
'antages to be gained from selling
cotton in large over-running lots. The
work of assembling in such lots IS
now done by middlemen, but the as
soclation would do it through pooling
middlcmen.
.. Pooling gives the grower the av-
erage price received for cotton, less
costs OF operating the association.
his may be regarded by some as an
advantage and by others as a disad
vantage, depending on whether the
particular grower fears that he will
own cotton on the lowest market of
the year or is confident that he will
be able to pick the time of highest
prices. 1t must be generally conceded,
however, that growers cannot deter
mine beforehand the best time 10 sell.
and that by averaging the price Il cer-
tam amount of gambling is taken out
Of the selling operation.
!. Pooling makes it possible for
growers to market their cotton in an
orderly way over longer period of
time and thus saves the losses incurred
IN dumping most Of the crop in four
months.
.. Pooling enables the growers to
eliminate competition among them
selves in the selling of the crop. This
means that competition will be limited
10 the economical production of the
crop and this is the only fair field
for competition among growers.
Without pooling some growers. be-
cause of their individual circur1
stances, will always sell cotton for
less than it has cost them to produce
1t. This is manifcstly unfair to the
industry as a whole, and growers
nave this for many years.
Length Of Pooling Period
IL crop is nonpcrishable, is pro-
ducod only once year, and is i'm
talrly regular demand over a period
OF twelve months, the fair pooling Pc
rod would be one entire season. or
course IN the case of crops, such as
truck, the value Of which is fixed
partly by their earliness, the pooling
period should he made shorter,pe
"dS as short as one day being used in
some eases. The fairest pooling period
Tor cotton would be one year. Any
shorter period would leave the field
open for speculation, which in the
long run does not benefit the grower.
When pooled cotton is put on the
market II i sold with the single idea
OF benetitting the pool as a whole,
and no advantage can be granted to
one grower over another in the same
poor. All pay 4 pro rate of the neccs-
sary expenses and all receive the
same net price per pound for cotton
IN the same pool. rhc fact tha: n
grower may happen to be one az the
directors would not give him aav ad-
Vantages which would not applv +,
every other grower in exactly the
same way.
y farmers cooperative asso"ia-
ton handling as much as 100000
bales of cotton in South Carolina
would truly be large enterprise, and
the only plan that would be absolute
Iy tair, square and above board. with
no possibility of favoritism. would be
pooling Clemson College.
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