Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-16
A Farm, Specialists V'ew OF
Co-o6erat;ve Cotton Selling

-HAT cooperative marketing of cotton
is sound in principle; that it will
prove successful in practice If COM
petently managed, Loyalty supported, and
kept free from political entanglements; that
sales by this method will net the grower
price substantially better than that which Is
usually received in unorganized selling; ana
that never so long as he is under necessity
of disposing of his entire crop and meeting
all his business obligations within one short,
crowded period of the year will the grower
come into his own, or the manifold inter-
ests which are interviewer with his duly
preparedness are among the noteworthy
conclusions of Mr.. T. o. Walton, director OF
the extension division of the Texas Agricul-
tural and Mechanical College, an authority
Of far-known distinction.
For the benefit of Georgians interested in
the subject Mr.. Walton kindly answered an
exhaustive list of questions submitted by
Ralph Smith as a part OF The Journals Ell
fort to ascertain with just what success CO.
operative cotton mar citing has worked in
regions where it has been fairly tested, and
in lust what regard it Is held by the bank
ers and educational specialists, as well as
the farmers, who have closely observed 1t.
Particularly worth bordering is his COM
ment on the advantages of gradual and
orderly marketing, such as the new system
makes possible Under the old SYSTEM, -
Mr.. Walton points out, cotton was picked
one week and sold the next; and when 1T
was all picked it was all sold, so that some
body had to carry the burden of the cotton
crop of the South for eight months. On the
basis of our banking system and system OF
credits generally, this cotton Is handled"
Now note the consequences:
It is understood by the men who spin
cotton, that the farmer has got to sell
It within that period because the bank
ylo hoV nrf-
cages on the cotton have to meet their
debts and regardless of the price, it has
to move within four months time. One
of the primary benefits of better sys-
tenn for marketing cotton will be to
feed it to the mills gradually and not
force the mills to buy it all at once,
and carry it the full twelve months. If
you own farm in Georgia, and the
land all around it is worth and will sell
for fifty dollars an acre and you had
an acreage right in the middle Of this
land just as good as any around it, but
you had to sell it next week, they
would perhaps buy it, but they would
not give you fifty dollars if they knew
you had to sell it within a weeks time.
Cooperative marketing will relieve the
producer of this wasteful necessity, will
give him the benefit of free operation Of the
law of supply and demand, will safeguard
him against all manner OF losses which are
inevitable when he has no skilled repre-
sentative of his own at the sales end of
cotton dealing. At the same time, the large
consumer and indeed all concerned, with
the exception of adventurous spectators,
will benefit by a system that makes cotton
Of guaranteed grade and staple easily
available in large lots. An economically
sound plan will work to the advantage of
all rightful interests; and it is thus that CO.
operative cotton marketing works, in eff
cient hands and free from politics.