Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-11-18


cause it is impossible to make the
necessary arrangements and connec-
tions for lesser period of time than
five years.
How Handled.
A farmer who joins the association
first has his cotton graded by an ex-
pert grader employed by the associa-
ton. That cotton is placed in a pool
with cotton of the same grade furnish
ed By other members, the United
States government grading system of
course being the standard. Then the
cotton is sold to spinhers who desire
that particular grade.
Whenever any member delivers a
bale of cotton to the association he
may Immediately borrow 60 per cent.
of it's value. Then as the cotton is
sold the pro rata part Of each member
is sent him in the form of check.
Inauguration of this system Col. Jor-
dan said, will sound the death knell of
the cotton exchange. Cotton today is
not passing into the hands Of the
spinner but into the hands of the large
cotton merchants or spectators. Cot
ton speculation has cost the southern
farmers as you all know, millions ana
millions of dollars. There is no specn-
lation in yarn or the finished fabric.
We have no speculative exchanges ex-
cept those that deal with the raw
values of the farmer. l do not know
of any way that the cotton gamblers
can be put out of business except by
cooperative marketing among the
farmers.
Losses to Farmers.
Turning to a further discussion OF
the matter of farmers losses. through
grading and fixed charges, Col. Jordan
CELEBRATED his statement that not one
local buyer in 200 knows anything about
cotton grades. Some time ago, he said
in illustrating his point, the Federal
government desired aAcotton grader for
Atlanta, Ca, where a cotton grading
office Of the government was being
established They offered $4,000 year
salary for grader and Of course there
were many applicants. Some 200
samples of cotton were paced in a
room and each applicant was bidden
classify those samples. Only one man,
a cotton expert of New Orleans who
had been in the business twenty FIVE
years was able to classify the cotton.
The local buyer not knowing cotton
grades himself is naturally going to
your cotton in order to
protect himself.
The United States government has
stated that there is not q single bale
Of cotton sold In tie south that is not
undergraded from 81 to $50 bale. At
50 a bale that would mean $4,000, 900
year loss to the farmers.
Fixed Charges.
When YOU sell q bale of cotton that
is not the asst of it so far as the
farmer is concerned, the speaker said.
The Liverpool cotton exchange fixes
the selling rules and regulations. They
take off about so pounds for your
bagging and ties. You pay the first
compress fee Of rs cents and then
when the cotton is placed on the wharf
for export it goes through the COM
press again and you pay that dollar
also. You pay the domestic and ma
rine insurance and because farmers
are 50 careless in taking proper care
of their cotton and prefer to throw 1t
in the yard or IN ditch or elsewhere
rather than warehouse it. the loss in
this country damage" as it is known
is no less than $7O,OOO,OOO a year.
Freight Rates.
The spinner buys by net weight. If
tie bale is damaged the damaged cot
ton is taken off. Another great item
that you pay is the freight rate. The
rate on cotton is from 800 to 400 per
cent. higher than the freight rate as
sessed any other staple by the rail-
roads. In order to reduce that charge
we must change our system of baling,
1t. is only possible to put about thirty
bales of cotton in q freight car that
can carry $4,000 pounds. The weight
is not there III IL car of cotton but the
bulk is. The space is taken. There
fore the farmer must pay.
But all these problems will be solved
BY the cooperative marketing asso-
Citations. They will also take care of
the surplus production by refusing to
place additional or new cotton on The
market until the surplus is exhausted
Southern farmers have a, monopoly
on the cotton growing industry. The
Rritis! government has spent thous-
ands ard thousands of dollars trying to
cultivate cotton on competitive basis
with American cotton. 1t cannot be
done. The Indian crop is not more
than one half inch staple. 1t is there
fore no competitor with our 3-4 and
one inch staple and better.
| want every farmer to take the
literature of the South Carolina Asso-
citation and study it carefully. Then
sign up and get out of the rut.
Divcrting his remarks to the sub