Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-04
COLLECTIVE SALES BOOST
OKLAHOMA COTTON PRICES
Standard Grading Is Also Big
Factor in Earning Prer1l-'
UNI on Cotton Pooled Co
operativeIy
RY RALPH SMITH

homa Cotton Growers assocla-
tion,. bankers who have helped
them with their finances and ex-
porters with whom they have
dealt, attribute the success OF
the, cooperative movement very
largely OF collective selling.
In effect, collective selling,
which is a cardinal principal OF
the association, is nothing more
. nor less than marketing aSstan'
dardized commodity in CONNER
cial quantities. 1t, is feature
of the operation of the ter
prise that helps to explain and
account fer the premium in
price of co-operatively-sold cot
ton over street-sold cotton.
From the fact that the Okla
homa association is today en-
gagged in marketing forty differs
ent pools CT cotton--each rep
resenting a different grade and
staple--it becomes apparent
that cotton is not different from
other products of the farm. 1t
not infrequently happens that a
farmer delivering ten bales of
cotton TO the association, will
have his product entered in ten
different pools, because no two
bales are of the same grade and
staple.
The big cotton buyers--the ex-
porter or the spinner--of course
prefers to buy a uniform grade
and staple of cotton, and usual
ly is willing to pay a premium
to- get exactly what he wants,
knowing that he is purchasing q
product that is fully guaran-
teed. 1t is just as if a grain
dealer is buying corn. He
doesn't care fer mixed corn, and
if he is forced to take it he does
so at a discountA The same is
true of hogs,-and every other
commodity.
StdAAuUA OtLohtAOh = OJ .
The lack of uniformity in the
agricultural products Of Geor-
gia, as I found in my recent
Survey of the state, is account
able in no small measure for
much of the difficulty the farm
ers have experienced in selling
their products at a profit. Buy
ers pay a premium ungrudging-
lyJ for standardized product.
Mixed corn, mixed hogs, mixed
syrup, mixed fruit, mixed any,
thing is penalized when it is
offered for sale.
In the collective selling OF
cotton, the various grades and
staples are assembled in pools,
as heretofore remarked, and
these pools are sold out as the
market demands the class of
cotton of which each is COM
posed. That is why the pools
continue throughout a season,
and that is why the Oklahoma
association has not yet wound
up the seasons business.
Collective selling means also
selling in commercial Iquanti-
ties. Nobody, excepting only q
street buyer, wants one, two Or
five bales Of cotton. Exporters
prefer to buy in wholesaler
quantities, and mills certainly,
when they are in the market,
rarely buy one or two, or five
bales. : AS rule they buy in
hundred-bale lots, frequently in
even larger lots.
One of the difficulties Of the
average farmer is that he does
( not produce in commercial guam
titles. This is as true of sweet
potatoes as it is Of cotton, or
corn, or any other farm com.
modify. The average farmer,
whether he be q tenant OF q
landowner, rarely makes a car
load of any particular product.
Here again he is at a disadvah-
tage.
In discussing this feature. Of
the cotton associations work
out here, a prominent banker
directed to me this question:
who in the hill wants to
buy five bales Of cotton, any
how" p
And then, he proceeded OF ex-
plain the advantages accruing
to- the cotton producer through
the ability of the cooperative
association to pool cotton in
even-running lots and in COM
mercial quantities.
i1o+a
required to see the advantage
Of being able to. market cotton
in commercial quantities and in
even-running lots as to grade
and staple" he continued.
The Pools ~
The Oklahoma association has
experienced some annoyance, il
not difficulty, as result of the,
even-running pools of cotton,
however. This is due to the fact
that relatively few farmers UNI
derstand about the pools, and
some of the bankers in the
country are not clearly in.
formed.
Some association members
and some country bankers have
anIidea that their cotton, or the
cotton that was theirs before
they contracted to deliver and
did deliver it to the association,
is being held-in Oklahoma City,
or elsewhere in the state, to be
sold in bulk at such time as the
association officers see fit to sell
it. Indeed, some of them believe
that their cotton or the cotton
that was theirs, has been tagged
and is being held intact.
Occasionally, the association
will receive letter from a farm
er suggesting that his cotton hadN
better be sold on the next rise in
the price, and the proceeds for.
warded forthwith to him. Such
men haven't the remotest idea
that their cotton may be scat
tered in a dozen different pools
Of even running grades and sta
pie, and that the final settle
ment cannot be made until the
pools have been finally closed
out.
The association hasn't had
much trouble along this line, and
its officers are not seriously dis
t~bed over this development.
1.-THE cooperative marketing OF
cotton iC n ht-a n n nouy thine -