Paragould soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1918-1950, 1921-06-01
tation conference of American col
ton growers yesterday.

|
1 This shortage is largely due, he
said, to the successful cotton acre.
age reduction campaign of the asso-
4 citation in it's effort to create a mar
ket and prevent further deflation in
prices. He quoted statistics to show
the acreage had been reduced 3O.73
per cent. He said there must be
united effort on the part of govern
ment and business if the cotton
Industry is to regain it's feet and the
financial difficulties of the grow
ers, due to an artificial deflation in
values, is to be overcome.
! 'The channels of commerce" said
Mr.. Wannamaker (which have been
stagnated for the past 10 months,
must be opened and normal trade
relations re-established. The forces
which had the power to stagnate
commerce and restrict world cred
its must also have the power to re-
open commerce and establish cred
! its.
| Exports of raw cotton must be
stimulated and the resumption of
consumption must be revived, in or
der that markets may be opened and
the way of the farmer made pos
Isible." In giving his statistics the
speaker said:
Enforced deflation in values, re-
lstrictions of credits and exports,
have thrown back the machinery of
cotton production on limited scale
of 25 years ago. This will ulti-
mately result in an intense short
age of supplies to meet the oncom-
ing revival of the world spindle ca
pacity.
In addition to the acreage re-
duction of 1921, we find that on &C
lcounu OF the inability of farmers to
secure credits for either moneys or
supplies for the cultivation of their
lcrops, the cotton acreage abandon
ed after planting will break all rec
iords of the past, there being now an
average abandonment of 4.95 per
cent, and this will be largely in
creased"
Defending the action of the as
ociation in its acreage reduction
campaign, Mr.. Wannamaker said
that because Of existing conditions
1T would have been nothing short
lof suicidal to produce more than
half crop of cotton in 1921. The
people of the South realized that
their commercial life was in jeop-
Iardy and practically the entire
business life of the South joined us
in this campaign"
The speaker said that until cot
ton Is seeognized as one of the ma
tons greatest assets and until it
brings a profitable price to the
Igrower, every southern industry will
be retarded.
eve produced in 1920 only 49,
.197,775 bales of cotton he said.
still today We are without mar
kats, except at a price OF approx
mately one-third the cost of pro-
auction. and then only in a limited
way, The farmer is being smoth-
cred with his own production. Bust
ness stagnation and paralysis result
ing from the destruction of the plr-
chasing power of the farmer is cost
ing more every month than the
total values of his production"
Declaring financing of cotton pro-
duction a national problem, he con-
|tinued: when safe system of is
Suing short term certificates of in
|debtedness or debentures against
cotton, properly stored, has been
put in operation, ii will present
new national field for investment by
the whole people which will be safe
land as attractive to the investor as
government bonds"
The government recognizes that
the industry faces critical sit
uation, President Harding said in
la telephone message to the confer