Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-14
MILLION BALES HELD OFF
MARKET BY CO-OPERATEVES
AVERTED BIG PRICE SLIJMPS

high interest charges and the
profits that have gone to from
three to six middlemen!
So far in this article there has
been no loud and proud claim
that the cooperative selling
movement is responsible in any
degree for 26 cents cotton. You
will find that Manager Ed Con-
well, Of the Georgia association,
and Chessley B. Howard, sales
manager of the American Cotton
Growers exchange, have too
much sense to make claims
which are not susceptible Of
mathematical proof. You will
find further that they are not
specially interested in the hold
ing of cotton for the purpose
of Withholding supply.
But let's look for a few mo-
ments at some of the facts and
some of the logic of the situa-
ton, and see what's what.
Middling cotton in Atlanta
Gaking the figures at hand;
they maintain a plane in all the
Al1clAA VI I4AS NOu4ANA ~ was
22.75 cents on August 1. Then
the unorganized farmers of the
south began dumping the early
cotton on the market. And,
behold, on August Is Atlanta Of
fered only 20S0 for middling.
There had been no crop improve
ment during those two weeks;
en- the contrary there had been
deterioration, if anything. The
mills faced a need of no less
cotton; on the contrary they
needed more if anything. Yet
cotton had dropped 1915 points,
or 1915. a bale.
Why did cotton lose 1915 a
bale in value in two weeks?
will tell you. 1t was solely be-
cause-though the world faced
a cotton famine-the poor I'M
organized farmers of the south
were all taking their early cotton
to market and were Cutting that
market TEMPORARILY. They
had created what is commercial
ly known as a buyers market,
one in which the purchaser, not
the seller, has the upper hand.
But it Didn't
But there are more IMAM one
million bales of 1922 cotton
pledged for cooperative sale, and
not one bale of this went onto
the temporarily glutted market.
Suppose half of this million
bales to have been early cotton,
as probably it was. How much
lower would cotton have been
on August Is if on top of that
surfeit of distress cotton" there
had been dumped an additional
half million bales which, for
tunately not only for owners,
but for the other producers, was
held for pooling in association
warehouses? You may write
your own guess. But it would
have been nearer to Is cents
than 20D
Facing q cotton famine, as the
world is. the dumping of ely
cotton largely was absorbed by
September l, on which date you
will find that middling in Atlanta
was bringing % cents. Bear the
figures in mind, pray They are
enough to turn farmers into Boil
sheviks. Within 80 consecutive
days, and with the world facing
cotton famine, as everybody
knew, the same grade of cotton
was worth 22.75 cents on August
l, only 20.S0 on August Is, and
then was worth % cents on Sep
taember /.
Then, on September 2, late cot
ton began to come in. And on
September Is cotton, which had
been worth $113.75 a bale on
August l, and only $104 on Au-
gust IS, and then $110 on Sep
TENDER 1, was worth only S1O6.25.
By the time the late cotton had
flooded the market, that is on
September 80, it was worth a
mere $102.25.
That ended the annual "Iate
dumping" The poor farmers
had succeeded in beating them
selves out of all they could in
this year of a world cotton fam
inc
But suppose the other haIf-mil-
lion bales of comparatively held
cotton had been dumped on the
top Of that distress cotton
thrown in by the so-called and
foolishly-called Independent"
Continued on Page 6, Column 81