Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-02
HOW OKLAHOMA FARMERS
FINANCE COTTON SALES
Continued from page u

IL makes no Jill WA0Ih-
err he has one, one dozen or one
hundred bales. the same pro-
cedure applies. The cotton is
consigned to- the nearest COM
press. The farmer takes the bill
of fading to his local bank, and
the, bank advances to him $50.
for every bale Of cotton he has
shipped. The bill of lading amply
fortifies the bank against. loss.>
On last years crop, the banks
that made the original advance
of $50 a bale had a margin of
about 40 a bale in their Sc
curity.
When the cotton reaches the
compress, receipts are forward
ed to the Oklahoma Cotton
4 Growers association, in Oklaho-
ma City, These receipts are
Hypothetical with the war fl
nance corporation, or one of the
larger city banks, for credits
which protect the drafts of
country banks for Il cir original
advance Of SO a bale.
The compress also forwards to
the cotton association, in Okla
homa City, a sample OF every
bale of cotton it receives from
association members. The bales,
of course, are properly tagged so
that they may be readily iden-
titled.
Grading the Cotton
The cotton classers of the as
sociAion-the best in the state
Of Oklahoma-from the samples
received, grade and class the
cotton according to grade and
length and strength Of staple.
AS it is graded and classed, from
the sample, the cotton is pooled
according to grade and staple
in even running lots.
Some idea may be gathered as
to the many varieties and the
wide discrepancies in the grade
and staple of cotton when it is
understood that the Oklahoma
association has probably ffty
different pools Of even running
lots of cotton-and each Of the
fifty has a different value.
1t is TO be doubted If one
farmer in a hundred ever enter
tanned the notion that there
were so many varieties, grades
or classes of the product hecul
tivates. The fact is the average
farmer has engaged for years
in the cultivation and sale of a
product concerning which he
had practically e, no TECHNICAL
kno-ledge and even less con-
'erning the relative value of diff
ferent staples.
Cotton is sold, usually, on
basis middling; that is to say.
the quotations have ruled UP
and down from basis middling--
usually, if not always down
when the farmer was selling in
dividually under the old method.
If the cotton offered by the pro.
Queer graded middling in the
judgment of the street buyer.
he farmer was offert and usu-
ally accepted the ruling price of
the day for middling cotton.
If the cotton graded strict
middling or good middling, both
of which are at a premium, the
street buyer, as a usual thing.
still paid the producer for mid
ding cotton. But if the cotton .
was off color or for any one of
many reasons graded under mid
ding, the buyer never failed to
make deductions from, The mid
ding quotation.
Street Buying
~ The fact of the matter is
street buyers, generally, figure
their profits on their ability to
buy cott@l from the producer at
a price s hat will enable them
to sell it, f, o. b, men at an adj
vance over what they paid for it.
despite market fluctuations.
Under the cooperative system
Of selling cotton. however, the
producer gets for his cotton all
that it is worth, grade and sta
pie considered. For such of his
cotton as grades better than
middling he receives the IRE
MUM actually paid, and for such
Of his product as grades under
middling his product is penaliZed
in exact accordance with the de-
auctions that are made in its
sale. In neither case are the
premiums and deductions arbi-
trary.
It nov becomes obvious that
Farmer Jones, for instance, may
j produce and deliver to the CO.
operative association ten bales
of cotton, of which no two are
of the same grade and staple.
Ergo, no two bales have the
same value in dollars, and cents,
but , if Farmer Jones is a non
member of the association he
must accept the valuation placed
on his ten bales by an independ-
ent buyer, whose bread al but
ter, so to speak, comes out of
the value of the cotton which
Farmer Jones fails to realize in
its sale
Wherein and why does the CO.
operative selling help Farmer
Jones? That's. a pertinent ques-
ton. The answer to it is one Of
the strong points in favor of the
cooperative system of cotton
marketing, and in the next
issue of The Journal this phase
of the practice of the Okla
homa Cotton Growers associa-
ton will be handled.
There and Back Again
II