Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-07
Sound Business Methods for
Successful Cotton Marketing

Successful Cotton Marketing
-HE cooperative plan of marketing cot
ton is not only sound in principle but
also, when directed by men of bust
ness ability, is eminently successful IN prac-
tice. 1t is the only way whereby the major
ity Of cotton growers can sell their crop as
need and demand for it develop, instead OF
dumping it upon market for the time being
Over-supplied 1t is the only metnod thaI
can be either efficient or fair from stand
noint of the farmers interests and that will
youchsafe the South a due return from her
chief agricultural product All this 1t VIII!
do, il its direction is in competent hands; all
this it has done and is doing, as the record
of the Oklahoma Cotton Growers Assocla-
ton bears witness
Readers of Ralph Smiths Illuminating
series of articles on the subject have been
impressed, we dare say, by the steady force
with which the Oklahoma association mas
cleaved its way to unden1able success
through all manner of difficulties Ihe times
were truly tout OIL joint when that great
experiment was launched, and they grew
more unsettled as it proceeded. Selfish in
terests fought it; many for whose good II
was undertaken distrusted 1t; many more
misunderstood it, and multitudes were 1ndlf-
ferent and inert. Yet in spite of all ADVERSE
ties. it has handled some ninety-one thousand
bales of cotton and has conducted transac-
lions involving millions OF dollars, with re-
suits that not only satisfy the rank and ME
of its thirty-fve thousand members, but also
+ command the admiration of business and
banking leaders. This, be it remembered, is
not hearsay, but the facts as ascertalned
through a first-hand and thoroughly critical
investigation.
Obviously. then. there is sound method be-
hind the enterprise-and capable manage
ment. Without the one it could hardly nave
+ weathered the first winds of opposition; with
out the other it probably would have sprung
hove
it survived and functions today with ever
waxing promise is q tribute not alone to the
intrinsic merit of the cooperative cotton
marketing plan, but as well to the business
talent and integrity of the men administer
ing it. The Oklahoma institution, like SINH
lar ones now thriving in the Southwest, is
an organization of the farmer, for the farm
: er and by the farmer. But it is purely an
4 economic organza ion, in no wise political
one It is designed for the sole purpose OF
marketing cotton in the interest of the grow
ers, not of promoting individual fortunes or
flatterinC any ambitions. Thus its direc-
\ tors had the good judgment to place the adj
administrative duties of the association In the
hands of the most experienced and accom-
plished cotton experts to be procured, men
who are masters of the millionfold, intricate
details involved in cotton marketing.
So it was that Ralph Smith found the
headquarters of the Association at Oklahoma
City model of business adequacy and vigor.
81 had had Visions, he writes, "of disorder
ed office with one or two clerks propped back
in easy chairs reading newspapers" What
he really saw, however, was carefully Or
ganized base of business operations that
mount into millions of dollars executive Of
fees where brains are ever busy; large &C
counting room where the status OF every
member and the course of every transaction
from the largest to the least may be instant
rsly ascertained; stenographers room; and a
spacious sample ON, with row upon row OF
shelves where specimens of the cotton on the
different pools are kept Especially impor-
tant are the duties of the general sales man
ager, which position is filled by Walter G..
Sparks who went to the Oklahoma assocla-
ton from the Houston office of George H.
McFadden one Of the worlds largest spot
cotton dealers. The employing of this far
known specialist was chara, teristic Of the
policies which have made the Oklahoma en-
terprise % marked success.
To The Journals representative Mr.. Sparks
declared his utmost confidence in the cooper
alive plan of marketing cotton. Said he, Il
studied it's every detail before 1 left McFad-
den. L satisfied myself that it was feasible
and my experience has strengthened that con-
viction. 1t is the only plan that will assure
the producer an equitable price. AS a rule
he does not receive true value for his cotton
grade and staple considered. But when cot
ton is pooled in even running lots and sold
as the market demands, it not only brings
its true value-basis nIiddling and staple also
considered-but it usually brings a premium
premium for standardized, uniform product
in commercial quantities. This is worth
something to them, and it is worth some
thing more to them to know that in buying
from our samples they are absolutely assured
OF getting the cotton they have contracted
for
To the grower most Of all is it worth
something to have the marketing of his cot
ton in skilled and trustworthy hands. Only
superman, as The Journal has formerly re-
marked, could combine within himself the
functions of producer, salesman, merchant
and inancier. Yet, under the old method Of
crop disposal, all these responsibilities have
been shouldered upon the farmer; and wher
he has failed to carry them with success he
has been called inefficient. The cooperative
or pooling system, as exemplifed in the Okla
homa association, relieves the producer Of
these burdens and distractions so that he is
free for the important duties that prop
/, erly his-the business and the art of farm
ing. The sales end Of his interests is thus
in charge of specialists who give it their
whole time and talent. No wonder the re-