Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-04-04


useless transactions or destroy their
power to affect the price of acsual
cotton.
In spite Of all that has been said
and written for years upon the sub.
lects, there are some people who still
cannot see that speculation means
loss to both producer and consumer
They think that 1t is just case Of
one gambler winning money from
another.
These people forget that the gam
blers are professional gamblers. who
conduct their own houses" or eN.
changes, in which the Operatives.
or brokers, have 70 be pald fat i'm
comes; and that. under the present
system Of distribution. all legitimate
parts of the cotton Industry are COM
PEELED to sit in at their game.
These professional spectators
take untold millions GU. of cotton. a.
1t passes from grower to mill, every
year, no matter what the state of
| the market. Moreover, they induce
the existence of a horde of cotton
buyers bo,h in the south and else
where, who perform absolutely nv
service in cotton distribution, and
who enter the market and take out
several millions more just because
they are wiser than the ignorant
grower in following the lead of the
big operators.
The SpeCu ators are able to do all
this for just one reason: they are
able to manipulate the balance Of
their paper transactions, and The
balance of their paper transactions j.
watched for the price of actual cot
ton simply because there is no out
standing unit Of real cotton in ex.
lstence equipped with the voice and
the authority to tell the world what
1t is worth. This situation ought to
be and can be exactly reversed
Every paper transaction is based |
and can be made only, upon the
theoretical assumption that the &C
tual cotton could be produced TO fl. |
it. Today, the assumption is made |
and accepted gratis. The actual cot |
ton has no say upon the subject in !
the world. 1t is voiceless. When the |
Saplro unit comes into existence, the |
actual cotton will talk, and the cx- |
changes will have to listen, not com. |
mand.
There is only one class of buyers |
in the present elaborate cot on mar |
ket to whom the cotton grower can |
not eventually dictate the price he !
will have for his cotton if he is only |
compactly organized for the purpose |
and knows how to handle himself
and that class is his only real CON |
sumner, the cotton manufacturer. To |
that class, he cannot and does not |
wish to dictate. He only wishes to |
deal with him direct-to agree with |
him upon a fair price for raw cot !
ton and stick, with him, to the agree
ment, to the infinite advantage Of |
both and the consumer of cotton
goods. For when the only two right
parties to the bargain in raw cot
ton once get together, the exchanges,
and the untold millions in annual
economic loss which they represent.
can go whistle. The spectators can
bet each other on the price of cottoo
till certain well-known warm spot
freezes over if they wish, but the
price of cotton will determine who
wins the bets, and not the balance
of the bets the price of cotton.
That ideal form of direct dealing
would have existed long ago and the
exchanges would never have been
established if the grower had had re-
liable representation to bargain for
him--for all of him-with the spin
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