The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1921-10-27
HANDLING OF COTTON.
Clarence Poe Tells How Dumping and
Careless Selling Affects Price.

ttThe selling and dumping Of cot
ton by individual growers, under pres
ent conditions, is one of the great
est conceivable bear forces on the
cotton market. 1t is one of the
strongest possible forces for breaking
prices every fall on every pound of
cotton we SELL
So writes Clarence Poe, member of
the organization committee of the N.
G.. Cotton Growers Cooperative as
sociation. In further developing his
idea, he says:
Suppose a farmer has good mid
ding cotton that is really worth at
the time it is offered 21 cents a
pound. Suppose buyer says to him,
Il will give you II cents for your cot
ton Suppose the farmer finally gets
19 cents. Then when another farmer
comes along with good middling, Mr..
Buyer says: well, I have just bought
a bale as good as yours for 19 cents,
or We are paying 19 cents for this
grade today The result is that the
second farmer is likely to take 10
cents also. And so on with other
farmers who come to the market. And
the same depression in prices is fore
ed by all other buyers of the less
scrupulous sort. (Of course there are
many buyers who want only a fair
profit, but the farmer cannot discrimi-
nate.)
sNow, what happens further? The
average price paid for cotton on that
market that day is reported. Then
the average for all grades is seen to
be considerably lower than standard
market prices. Consequently, word
goes out that farmers are letting
cotton go at such and such price;
why pay more? And on a thousond
markets over the south, every day,
there is more or less this tendency to
bear prices The average price paid
for cotton basis middling' in each
market is reported and the cumula-
tive result is highly important. For
New York, New Orleans and Liver
pool betting is simply betting on the
price at which the farmer will turn
loose his cotton, and when he is
known to turn it loose at less than the
standard figure, all prices drop &C
cordingly.
ssIn other words, the cotton mar
keting business today is dominated
by buyers. and it is to the average
buyers interest to get cotton as
cheaply as he can. In actual practice,
therefore, a very great proportion of
our cotton buyers become bear in
fuences, beating down prices in the
ways just suggested.
"On the other hand the strong cap
able, highly efficient selling agencies
for cooperative marketing assocda-
tions, would become one Of the most
powerful 'bulP Influences, an infiu-
ence for maintaining and boosting
cotton prices. 1t will be to the inter
est of these cooperative marketing
to see that cotton sells
not as low as possible, but as nigh as
possible, for they will be hired by the
and responsible to the farmer,
and the higher the prices they get
for the farmer, the more certain will
they be of continued employment and
good salaries.
Eat a risk of a little repetition,
let's sum up the whole matter this
way:
Under the present system the
main. voice in naming cotton prices is
that of the cotton buyers. They are
the keenest, best informed, best f.
nanced and most resourceful group
in the cotton marketing game. And
it is to the interest of the average
buyer to get cotton cheaply as he can.
Consequently he becomes naturally
and inevita bly, bear influence, and
the cotton prices suffer accordingly.
''Under the cooperative marketing
system on the other hand an equally
conspicuous factor in the markets
will be the selling agent, employed
by the farmers cooperative selling
selling agents who will
be just as keen, just as well-inform-
ed, just as resourceful, and just as
well financed as cotton buyers are
now. It will be to the interest of
these selling agents to sell cotton as
high as they can, and by knowing the
full market price for every pound of
high grade that is offered, the CO.
operative marketing association will
become the most permanent 'bull' in
f7nance tho cotton market has ever