Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-02
4 Notable Achievement IN Co.
o6erntiue Cotton Selling

n VOtG0Ie Acn7eOeTIeHC IT. w.
oberat;ve Cotton Selling
IN the second article of his highly inter-
esting series on cooperative cotton mar
keting in the Southwest, Ralph Smith
relates how the Oklahoma Cotton Growers
Association has handled for it's members
some ninety-one thousand bales with notable
success and all-round satisfaction, notwith-
standing circumstances so adverse that an
enterprise less soundly buttressed by princ1-
pie could hardly have survived.
Interests opposed to cooperative market
ing because it trenches upon their special
privileges and profits, set out to hinder ana
harry the Associations work. 1t is said that
they would Ibid in" cotton in reckless disre-
gard Of true and current values, would seize
upon trifes to discredit the experiment in
the eyes of farmers, bankers and merchants,
and would spare no pains or propaganda TO
make it failure before its possibilities could
be fairly demonstrated. Moreover, there were
holders of mortgages on cotton under con-
tract for delivery to the Association VINO
would not cooperate; that is, they would
not consent for the cotton covered by their
liens to be pooled and sold in orderly fash
ion, albeit they would have Jared far better
had they done So instead of sticking for
their pound of flesh the moment the cotton
was picked and ginned. Further, the Okla
homa cotton crop began moving last season
much earlier than was expected, so that the
Association was unprepared to handle the
first hundreds of bales that came rolling in.
Besides all this, few members ''sold OUT at
the earliest temptation; but the great rank
and file, it is proudly recorded, stood I'M
swervingly loyal.
Despite these manifold difficulties, the
Association has proved beyond peradventure
that cooperative cotton marketing is feas-
ible and is profitable to the grower. Such, at
least, is Mr.. Smiths observation in the ter
ritory he is now studying with critical thor
oughness and for the sole purpose of ascer-
tanning the facts that will serve as basis
for sound conclusions. Organized in April,
1921, the Association has handled for some
thirty-four thousand members, up to January,
1922, products aggregatfng about ten mil
lion dollars in value. How has this been &C
complished? Mr.. Smith answers succinctly:
It is the simplest thing in the world
the keystone of the arch upon which
the whole structure Of cooperative cot
ton marketing rests-an abundance of
ready cash the best collateral in
Christendom.
An association member takes his cot
ton from the gin to the railroad station,
il there is no convenient compress.
It makes no difference whether he has
one, one dozen or one hundred bales, the
same procedure applies. The cotton is
consigned to the nearest compress. The
farmer takes the bill of 'lading to his
local bank, and the bank advances to
him $50 for every bale of cotton he has
shipped. The bill of lading amply forth
flies the bank against loss On last years
crop, the banks that made the original
advance of $50 bale had margin of
about $40 bale in their security.
When the cotton reaches the COM
press, receipts are forwarded to the Ok
lahoma Cotton Growers Association, in
Oklahoma City. These receipts are hy-
with fin2nPA
ration. Of the larger city banks,
for credits which protect the drafts of
country banks for their original advance
of $50 bale.
The compress also forwards to the cot
q ton association, in Oklahoma City, a
&le of every bale of cotton it re-
sceives from association members. The
bales, Of course, are properly tagged SO
that they may be readily identified
The cotton classers of the association
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.
Something Of the extent to which this thor
ough method Of grading by his own repre-
sentatives profits the farmer may be inferred
from the fact that the Oklahoma Associa-
tion has probably fifty different pools Of
even running lots of cotton, and that each
of the fifty has a different value" That is
to say, the grower is paid according to the
true quality of his product, instead of by
rough and rambling estimates made by those
who are in no wise responsible to him.
Accurate grading is but one of the numer-
Gus and important services which the coop
erative association renders the farmer. These
others will be fully discussed by Mr.. Smith
in his daily articles in The Journal and as
the evidence he is gathering is given to the
public, readers will be enabled to form their
own opinions of the merits of cooperative
Innd ~ ,nr1rof nntfn