Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-23
BY EDWIN CAMP
n Sundays Journal was dis

cussed the Hotpoint decline
in seven days in the price Of
cotton, and it was shown that
such temporary crashes in prices
have little effect on farmers who
are members of the cooperative
selling organizations though they
are disastrous to the so-called
and mis-called independent"
producers.
Here is something in the ma
ture of a great white light on
the causes behind such tenn
porary declines, the quotation
being from the London Times of
October q:
'The European cotton trade
is faced with the question of
whether It would not be wise to
close down the spinning Of
American cotton altogether for
brief period, say month. That
would tend to bring down the
price of American cotton. The
rise in cotton this week, how
ever reassuring to those who
have bought yarn, or to holders
of stocks of yarn, is certainly
not favorable to business in
cloth at present"
Most persons know that the
London Times is perhaps the
greatest newspaper in the world;
that it is exceptionally careful
and conservative in what it
prints, especially concerning
financial and trade matters. You
may be sure, then, that this
quotation is an understatement
rather than an eXaggeration of
the temper and acts of the Brit
ish spinners.
--..- Has Happened Before
The thing limited by the Times
newspaper has happened often
before. When cotton has got
higher than the British spinners
care to have it, they have ceased
buying temporarily, if necessary,
throwing their mills on part time
or shutting down completely for
such periods as were necessary
to break the price.
Cnorganized farmers are I'M
able to combat such tactics.
They have not the trade infor
nation at hand; they have not
the selling knowledge; they have
not the credit necessary. Nine
~ per cent of them must sell the
fruit of their years labor as
soon as it is ginned, regardless
Of the state of the m. rket. The
other ten per cent are like moth
ing so much as children in .he
dark. If, after holding, they
sell at good prices, it is good
luck; if they sell at poor prices,
it is hard luck. Blind luck in
either event. But the co-opera-
tlves, having the financial back
ing OF the great banks which see
ideal security in loans to them,
having further the financial
backing Of the United States
government, which sees them
as great agencies for the better
ment of the farmer and, there
fore. of the whole nation. and
further having the guidance of
the best minds in the cotton
trade, are ideally able to meet
such actions by the spinners
The temporary cessation of
spinning in order to break the
price of cotton is nothing i'm
moral. There is no use to rail
against it az unfair, even
though it is an attempt to get
cotton for less than it is worth
by thwarting temporarily the
justly-famous and little under
stood law of supply and demand
It is just business. True, in
its workings it has many
time meant poverty for the
farmers forced to sell when the
price has been beaten down for
the moment, only to soar again
when the mills had got what
they wanted at the bottom.
Individuals Helpless
Unorganized farmers, 1 re-
peat, are helpless against such
tactics.
But the great co-operatives
are not.
They have their agents in
textile centers. They know the
state of the trade. They know
as much as anyone can know
about the world demand for the
year and the world supply for
the year. They can carry their
cotton indefinitely.
SO they can meet the spinner
at his own game, and BEAT
him.
When mills are not running,
they are losing money. Fixed
expenses do not cease; dcprecia-
ton keeps up it's gnaWing at
the very heart of the enterprise;
the capital invested is yielding
no return save the bitter fruit
of loss
When spinners throw their
mills on part time or shut them
down for the sole purpose of
breaking the price Of the raw
material, they are playing a
desperate and costly game. They
can win at it, as they have
often won at it, when they have
only the individual farmers to
deal with.
But they cannot win against
financially strong organizations
controlling a considerable pro-
portion of the world croD and