The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-12-12
COTTON MARKETING AGAIN

CndnDer OIL COInHeTCe DeCWeeH mr
Watkins, of Clemson College, ant
some of the bankers and bushes.
men of the city, to discuss. the mat
ter of cooperative marketing'as as ap
piled to cotton, and looking to the
formation of the cooperative mar
keting association in this state, one
of the gentlemen present expressed
the opinion that he did not think well
Of the organization for the reason
that he reserved the right to sell his
cotton, or to try to do so, when cot
. ton was at the top of the market.
For this reason, and inasmuch as
the proposed organization required
of its members that they sign up for
the sale of their cotton only through
the association, he doubted the ad-
visibility of going into the organiza-
tion.
It will be conceded that if the CO.
operative. marketing association pre-
vents cotton farmer from selling his
cotton at the highest price then the
association will not be good thing.
If by joining the association the
members shall be required to take
less for their cotton than they could
themselves sell it for, then the asso.
citation would be a bad organization
But it must be remembered that the
very foundation of the organization
is based on the fact that cotton far
mers are not getting at all times q
fair price for their product, and the
sole purpose of the organization is
to secure for them a proper market
and proper prices for their cotton.
Will the organization accomplish
the result? Well, it would be too
much to expect that the organiza-
ton would be able to sell at all times
at peak prices and always hold when
cotton was at the lowest prices. No
individual has ever yet been so lucky
as to do this and none ever will be.
If the ordinary every day man who
sells cotton will sit down to think
about it, he will be forced to admit
that while once or twice in his life
he has sold at prices around the top,
that more often than not he has be-
come disgusted and sold out at near
the bottom figures. The individual
cotton farmer, if he will think about
it and be fair with himself, will be
forced to admit that taken as
wi s|hole through a series of years he
has proved to be very poor market
ing association for the selling of his
cotton. He has failed in the series of
years taken as a whole to secure an
average price for his cotton as cot
ton has been sold. The cooperative
marketing association will not be
able to do more than raise the Chat
ting average" so to speak, we imag-
inc, in this respect. But there will be
this advantage: A few men will have
charge of the marketing of large
amounts of cotton and will be paid
1or their services. The charges a.
Ga-nst the individual seller will be
small, but OIL the whole these men
Will be well paid. 1t will be their
duty to find out the truth about the
markets, to know the conditions of
the markets in different countries, to
know financial conditions and to act
intelligently when they go to sell
rather than to bring the cotton to
town next Thursday to take what
Col. Williamson, or Brother Lyon
is willing to offer.
Again, if the number of bales of
cotton desired is signed up, the mar
keting associations in the different
states Of the South will not sell cot
ton for what is offered on the streets
of Abbeville, Greenwood and other
markets, but the buyers will take the
cotton at what the sellers are willing
to take. The parties to say the least
will deal with each other on equal
terms, each knowing market condi-
tions, and each being in position to
buy or to sell or the reverse, as they
view the offers made. A price then