Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1921-09-05
Big Bank To Lead
Money On Cotton
Fourth National OF Atlanta Announ-
ces Plan To Aid Planters


mary interest in banking and cotton
circles of Georgia and the South is
the announcement of the Fourth Ma
tional Bank of Atlanta, which has
Just been made here, that it is pre-
pared to lend IS per cent of the mar
ket value of cotton when properly
warehused and insured under certain
conditions.
The prompt and broad service Of
fered and outlined by the bank. per-
haps the most comprehensive yet
made public in the South, is as foil
owS
No cotton will be accepted as
collateral that grades below low
mlddling, the owest tenderabe grade
on the New York Cotton Exchange.
The amount of the original advance
shall not exceed IS per cent of the
market value of the commodity at
the time the loan is negotiated. The
customer must agree to maintain rs
per cent margin at all times. The rate
on these loans will be I per cent.
Warehouse receipts must be issued
by warehouse whose financial stand
ing, management and method of op-
Grafton are satisfactory to the bank
in Atlanta an d to the Inspector of
the 'eFderal Reserve Bank. Prefer
ence will be given TO warehouses orr
gained and bonded under the U. S.
Warehouse Act.
Warehouse receipts must be in ne
gotiable form, reciting that cotton
will be delivered only upon the SURF
ender of the receipt properly endorsed
If however the receipts states the
commodity is deliverable to the hold
YER of the receipt, no endorsement is
necessary. Receipts must plainly in
dictate the identity of each bale of
cotton, and must also state specifi-
cally the amount of advances made
against the cotton, or recite that no
advances have been made by the ware
house man.
All cotton must be fully covered
by specific insurance policies in ac-
ceptable companies, with loss clause.
either payable to the bank in Atlanta
or the customary clause, payable to
any bank whom advances have been
made on the commodity. In the last
instance the policy must be endorsed
in blank by the person in whose favor
it is issued.
A certificate of grade issued by an
agent of the bank in Atlanta, prefer
ably the Cotton Certificating and In
spection Company must be furnished
with each loan. The service for this
information is to be paid by the Dor
1ower. The inspection service also
includes the pulling and shipping to
Atlanta of samples of the cotton in
spected. This expediates the adjust
ment OF. fire losses, should they oc-
cur and also provides an Atlanta mar
ket for the cotton pledged at the op-
ton of the owner.
The purpose of this loan being to
assist in the harvesting and orderly
marketing of the Crop, no loan will
be made for a longer period than 4
months.
1t is the concensus' of opinion of
those. who have studied the cotton
situation, and it has been given care
full consideration by the eFderal Re-
serve Bank and by Governmental ag-
encies, according to officials Of the
Atlanta Bank, that the dumping of
the crop this year during the ginning
season would be injurious, not only
to the cotton planter, but to the entire
southern section The lack of expert
demand and the conservative "hand
to mouth" buying of the American
mills, state the bank officials. could
have no other effect on the market
than to depress it, unless some assist
ance is offered to the producer, where
by his cotton may be marketed in an
orderly manner over a period of the
months to correspond with the de-
mands of the buyers. p
Officials of the Fourth National
Bank of Atlanta candidly believe that
The plan they have outlined will if
utilized, assist in doing two things;