Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-07-26
Dial Explains Future Act
Amendments.

Amendments.
Washington, July 21.-Senator
N. B. Dial of South Carolina believes
that if the congress enacts his pro-
posed amendments to the cotton fu-
lures law, the South will be greatly
enriched, and the exchanges done no
serious injury.
There is no question but that
something is wrong. For the South
has a world monopoly in the pro
duction of cotton, and yet it is COM
paratively poor. Other Southern Sen
ators are not as sanguine as Senator
Dial. At any rate, even those on the
committee on agriculture have shown
no enthusiasm in the amendments
behalf. At the same time, none save
Senator Ransdell of Louisiana has
publicly stated his opposition. And
in this matter the Louisiana senator
moves openly in behalf of the cotton
exchanges of New Orleans.
The amendments are little under
stood. For that reason, Senator Dial,
speaking in the senate, has endeavor-
ed thoroughly to explain them. In
that effort he spoke in part as fol-
lows:
SIT is generally believed that there
is something radically wrong-and
has always been wrong IN the
method of marketing the cotton crop.
The question is to find the defect
and to apply the remedy; both are
apparent. The wrong is the indef-
~initeness in the contract and the
remedy is. to correct this.
ssThe interest Of the grower or
owner of spot cotton and the interest
of the buyer of a contract is identl-
cal until the time when the buyer OF
a contract disposes of it, both want
the price to advance. The seller OF
the contract desires the price to de-
cline and when this takes place, the
price of spot cotton falls. There are
only ten grades of cotton tenderable
under the law. I have no objection to
increasing the number. The seller
has the right to select whichever OF
these ten grades he desires.
Contracts Must Be Fair.
"The future market controls the
price of spot cotton, therefore, it IS
absolutely essential that such a con-
tract be fair, equal, mutual, equit-
able and just.
"The contracts are bought and
sold on the basis of middling, and in
case that grade is not delivered and
some other grade is rendered, the
secretary of agriculture has the right
under the law to fix the price of the
other grades at the average price in
ten spot markets.
"When maturity day is approach
ing, the purchaser, not knowing with
in ten grades of the quality of the
cotton that will be rendered him nat
urally sells out, hence the market is
top heavy. True it can be said that
there is a purchaser for every con-
tract, but the fallscy of this argu-
ment is that he is not a purchaser at
value when. he does not know the
quality or the grade he will receive,
and he will only buy at a deprecated
price. This might be unobjectionable
between the purchaser and the seller
because each acts with his eyes open.
My unending complaint is that such
a system depresses and depreciates
the price of the actual cotton and
that the farmer has the brunt to
bear. There is no similar custom Of
law in the world. This reverses the
usages, laws, and customs of all bus
mess and is an abrogation of the
principles of common sense.
SIN 1920 there were grown in the
United States 13,340,000 bales Of
cotton, and there were contracts
sold on the New York and New Or
leans exchanges alone for 128,907,-
500 bales, and during that time the
actual number of bales delivered
were 267,7O0 in New York and 1867
600 bales in New Orleans. This is
outside of the exchanges at Liver
pool, Bremen, Havre and other
places. 1t is probable that every bale
grown in the United States was sold
on an average Of 25 times owe be-
fore it reached the consumer.
nenresses fhe Price.