The Mena weekly star., 1922-01-05
ARKANSAS COTTON
 GROWERS WIN OUT
crowers' Cooperative Association Has Signed Up 2ss.OOO Bales, More Than Fourth of Crop-What-
 It Means.
.or tho Arkansas Gazette.

operative Association is an assured fact.
 Between 5000 and 1000 farmers have signed iron-clad contracts tol market all their cotton, totaling more than 239.00 bales thru the associa- ffon next year and for four years Thereafter.
 Altho the association has main- Aimed an admirable publicity depart s1ent turnout it's sign up campaign, It fs doubtful if the average person real izes the immensity of the project that has just been completed. If It were fo be announced that some cotton con- Uern had acquired possession Of z59,- 3o0 bales-which is about one fourth ef the entire Arkansas crop-the whole state would sit up and grasp xith astonishment. But this is what has happened except that the grow CTS themselves will market the crop Instead of a private firm.
 Today, the Arkansas Farm Bureau Cotton Growers Cooperative Asso- ciation probably is the biggest busl- ness concern in Arkansas.
 Permanent organization of the Ar Kansas Farm Bureau Cotton Growers Association depended upon the sign {ng of contracts totaling 10000 bales. Unless that was accomplished, none af the contracts was effective. The coal was reached Friday and steps 66on will be taken to permanently or K4nize the association.
 How Association Will Organize.
 Summarized, the organization will b& effected as follows: Each member of the association is entitled to one v1Ee, no matter how many bales he h4s contributed to the pool. An elec- ton will be called by the temporary &Erectors and the state will be divided into 20 districts. Members in each dis trjet will elect one member of the Board of Directors. Governor Me Rae will appoint one director, Dr. Bradford Knapp, dean of the Univer- sI{v of Arkansas College of Agricul- t{xfe, will appoint one, and Jim G.. Fefguscn, state commissioner of ag- rianlture, will appoint third. These Ehree appointed directors will repre- se1t the public in the association.
 The directors, after their election, VII meet and organize. They will efdploy experts to look after the grad inr. classification, receiving, handling and selling of the immense lot of cot ton. It has been the rule in other states where associations have been organized and it doubtless will be fol- lowed in Arkansas, to employ high class cotton men only and to pay sal aries large enough to command the services of efficient men.
 Next fall, members of the assocla- Ei0ff will deliver their cotton to the ssssssciation and when they do so, they Hill receve a substantial sum as an advance payment on each bale deliv- red. The cotton, as fast as 1t IS yinned, will De pooled according to it's yrade and staple. It will be classified md graded by experts and will be old as rapidly as the market will ustify. In the past, about 75 per cent of he states cotton has been marketed September, October, November and 1eeember. As a result of this rapid hrowing of the cotton onto the mar let in a short space of time, the price Isually has been forced down. Most arnners are unable to hold their cot on any length of time because it is ,factically their only source of reve-- rue and they must have money at ince
 1o Market in Orderly Fashion.
 Finder the associations plan the o6<xpn will be marketed in an orderly fashion. It is maintained that this ~if stabilize the market. Also it is kAid that the members will profit by h&xihg their cotton graded by an ex- pert and thus they will get the full benefit of the grade and staple to Nhich their cotton entities them. It 8 Said that they have not received Ais benefit in the past. Other bene- itSNill be the elimination of damage q totton by exposure to weather, the aII1ng of many samples from each aIe and loss by fire and flood, because Hfotton of the association will be isufed as fast as it comes from the ID.
 It is said that the big buyers favor fe new plan because it enables them
 huy the exact quantity and staple
 eotton that they wish. This, it is 3d. will eliminate a big expense. Al fEsent the big buyers have to send Nn to all parts of the country to gel Hquantity and grade of cotton that =y want. Often, in order to get the @d of cotton they want, they arc 3Iged to buy large quantities that
 do not want. They have to hold
 cotton and often sell it at loss
 Associations similar to the Arkan.
 one already are in operation ir
 hs, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Ari
 By next season it is assured
 there will be similar associations
 eeorgia, Alabama, South Carolins
 North Carolina. thus including
 tho principal cotton producing
 Sck of the organization of the Ar
 |as Farm Bureau Cotton Growers
 Operative Association is an almost
 klieyable story of devoted self
 ffcs on tho part of few men
 have given their time and money
 neKlected their own interests fol
 association when 1t is organized
 nanently. Their only motive hAl
 to try to lift the Arkansas cot mfsrmer from his present deplor
 lot. where he has been offered al
 mercy of interruptions buyers
 4 any list of the men who hav'
 M the Arkansas Farm Bureas
 @xn Growers Cooperative Asso
 z@n possible. is is agreed by every
 runnected with the association
 the name of Hugh T. Brown Q.
 1 shoz1fd come ffzt.
 S<f since August z7 &f. Bro9i
 f.-z-< +1x zHf44.4 fzr4< +& fl.