New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-02-20

means to establish prices on an eauita-
bic and stable basis it would not be
surprising IL American and European
spinners took up the work, buying
large reserve stocks purchased at the
regular autumnal dip in prices. These
would be stored until needed in South
ern, Northern or foreign warehouses.
Those Offering the lowest total of carry
| ing costs would be used. Southern ware
houses would save interest charges on
transportation costs, etc. Indeed, one
one rather important Lancashire group
of spinners years ago organized its
own company to do something of this
sort, and has made money out of its
foresight year after year. Another
large British spinning concern. which
uses staple" cotton, has not only done
| its own buying in the cotton belt, but
is growing large quantities Of cotton
on its own plantations. The annual
reports of this spinning company show
that at times the profits on cotton
growing and purchasing operations are
| ing the fiber into yarn and thread in
its mills.
Spinners Study Problems
| Spinners have travelled across the
| ocean by the score to meet the growers,
study the latters' problems and in turn
tell their own difficulties and desires.
In spite of which the planter sticks to
| the conviction that the spinner wants
TO keep him poor, which is nonsense.
There does remain considerable
| element, interested in cotton and it's
handling, that holds to- the belief that
the producer is not following the
course best for himself and the COM
nlunity. So that the views of these
people, equally anxious to see the
! farmer prosperous, deserve a brief ex-
animation. The predominant opinion
Of "the other side" is plainly that the
rest of the country. It is crying pow
erty overmuch for the section whose
chief product was about the only
article of prime necessity uncontrolled
during the war. While the nation is
grooming under war taxation the farm
ers ask that all taxpayers be made to
| carry an added burden, so that the
farmer may push up the prices of farm
products, and thus although they keep
fd;iscreetly silent on this point1keep
living costs at a high level Rather
cool proposition. Attempting to cure
the aftermath of imitation with more
imitation and use the consemer as q
| paper-made prop for the producer
strikes one as something of a vote
holders panic. Senator Thomas puts it
pat in There is no royal road to pros
perlty. no legislative road certainly
through which these conditions can be
avoided. We must meet them and over
come them in the good old way, as we
did in 1887, in 1873 and in 1898"
Holding for higher prices does not
meet the approval of the National AS
ISOLATION of Credit Men, whose mem
bers were told CIT you'd be we'll for
creditors to know that accommodations
based upon the desirability of holding
cotton fog higher prices must be care
fully scrUtinized. When a commodity
lire cotton is held for higher prices
the immediate demands Of the debtor
will gradually absorb the value of the
commodity until at it's sale there is
nothing left for the older creditor"
Obstacles in Way of Recovery
Throughout the opposition to the re-
vival of the War Finance Board hold
| ing to force up prices was not merely
deplored as an unwise move, it was
denounced as blunder, which is worse
than mistake. 1t is simple repetition,
this placing legislative obstacles in the
way of recovery. Post Civil War gave
US the Imitation bill' and other vicious
legislation in such infinite variety that
American capital sought foreign out
lets. Low prices brought on the free sill
yer agitation of 1896 and started the still
resounding Nebraskan silver tongue.
And more recently, when war with
Germany was declared, Southern Sena-
tors tried to pick the National pocket
to the tune of $25O,O0O,000 Of bonds,
the proceeds from which were to be
invested in cotton, to be held until
the fiber reached 10 cents a pound 1t
was absolutely necessary to save the
South, they said 1t did not come off,
yet the South still lives.
| There are many who do not favor
| the exemption of cooperative associa-
!! tions of producers from the operation
! tempts by the Attorney General to en-
force its provisions against them have
Been futile. About the only reason
for exemption advanced by the friends
OF the privilege was that it had al
ready been granted to exporters. Price
fixing has been another fad of the cot
ton producers for many years. What
sound thinking Southerners hold on
this plan was ably expressed by Colo
mel Thompson, who forcibly comments:
Nov, | am no believer in nostrums and
efficacy Of legislative price fixing, or
convention price fixing. What we say
and do here (the World Cotton Con-
ference) or what we say and 90 in the
halls Of Congress cannot repeal the
immutable laws Of cause and effect"
The question Of acreage reduction
and its inevitable cost was thus
summed up by the National City Bank
from figures presented in a govern
ment report:
"The fixed investment in the land is
something to be considered by the
| farmers who are proposing to re-
| strict che production of farm products
as means of advancing prices. With
| the land charge so large a percentage
! of the cost of production, and the same
whether anything is grown on the land
or not, the idea of letting land lie idle
does not commend itself. Moreover, the
other items of cost as shown in the
government calculations consist for the
most part of charges for the labor of
the farmer and his family and the use
of equipment which he owns, and so
far as these are concerned he will not
gain much by curteiling his operations.
| The experience OF the past is against
the adoption of such policies"
The farmer must have money to pur-
chase the many necessaries he cannot
raise himself, and, cotton being about
the only means of his getting the need
full supply Of cash, will be grown in
somewhere near the usual quantity.
Increased Efficiency Needed
1t is not decreased production that
will solve the problem. Only increased
ia{Q ~,