Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-28

died a considerable quantity OF
etorily.
Seeing Is Believing
: Some days ago certain mem
bers Of the association, living in
the vicinity of McCloud, OKLA.
decided to dispose of about zoo
bales of old cotton-the residue
of their 1920 crop. Street
buyers at McCloud were willing
enough to buy the cotton. They
offered 10 cents, IL cents ana
Is cents a pound for the lot, de-
pending upon the grade-the
grading to be done and the
grade arbitrarily fixed by the
buyers.
The prices were so ridicu-
louslN low that the McCloud
farmers declined to sell. They
requested the Oklahoma Cotton
association to seM the lot for
them. Samples Of the cotton
were~ pulled and forwarded to
Headquarters in Oklahoma City,
where they were graded and
classed according to grade and
staple, by~the best cotton class.
ers in the state.
The representative of an ex-
porter, and a prospective buyer
entered the associations sample
rooms while I was engaged in
conversation with Walter G.
Sparks, general sales manager
Of the association. I
The buyer liked the cotton,
and he bought the entire lot ON
the strength of the~samples SUBJ
mitted for his, examination. But
he paid a premium for the two
hundred bales above what had
been offered by the street buy
ers. Fo: one lot he paid Is IL
cents, for another, is ga cents,
and for the third, 10 IL cents
pound.
In a word, Sales Manager
Sparks, in my presence, sold for
the McCloud members OF the
cooperative association, zoo
bales of cotton at a premium OF
from 2 10 to 8 3.4 cents pound
above the best figure the mem
bers could have obtained had
they~s sold their cotton under the
old method.
The incident is only one of
hundreds that have happened in
4 oklahoma City. Such occur
rem IS are not rare, and this has
been especially true with the
neIi crop Of cotton. Barring
only the big bull movement in
September and October, when
street buyers were bidding and
buying recklessly, the cotton
sold through the cooperative as
ISOLATION has commanded a
steady premium over cotton sold
to "stem winders, and +. o.. b.
me-" in Oklahoma.
( Mention is made of the incl
dent, not because Of the pre-
MUM received for the old cot.
ton, but because seeing is be-.
lieving," and I personally wit.
messed a transaction that con.
firmed in part some OF the
things that I had heard pre-.
viously.
If my readers will bear with
me in patience throughout the
series Of articles on cooperative
marketing in the west. count
less incidents no less convincing
than the one just mentioned
will be recited. Moreover, every
fact that I have been able to
obtain that relates to the cot
ton cooperative movement in
In - 1n
with the utmost frankness.
System Not Perfect
1t is both pertinent and i'm.
portant right here to state that
while the cooperative marketing
of cotton has made rapid strides
and satisfactory progress, the
system is not wholly perfect and
it's perfection in the last analy-
sis depends almost as much
upon a coordination of inter
ests that should be, mutual as
it does upon cooperation among
the farmers themselves. By this
is meant a readjustment or re-
arrangement OF country credits
that will enable the farmers to
liquidate their obligations over
a period of months, instead Of
having all farm paper bear the
same date Of maturity-usually
October /.
It is also pertinent and impor-
tant at this point to remark that
cooperative marketing of cot
ton this last year has worked
some hardships upon country
banks and country merchants in
Oklahoma "a fact admitted
frankly by officers of the Okla
hona Cotton Growers associ-
alton and by them very proper
ly attributed to the fact that
farm credits all have the same
maturity date.
T Further, it is only fair in these
predatory observations to state
that the cooperative cotton
movement is not without its en-
emies and critics in Oklahoma.
among all classes of people
farmers, bankers, merchants,
members and non-members of the
association. In most cases, hqT~
ever, Z am constrained TO Bt%
lieve that much of the enmity
and criticism arises from either
a misconception of cooperative
marketing or from selfish mo-
tives.
Z That progress has been made
in Oklahoma in the cooperative
marketing of cotton cannot be
denied. I was informed in At
lanta and my information was
corroborated here, that progress
also has been made in Arizona,
Mississippi and Texas. / hope to
ascertain the extent and charac-
ter Of this progress before I
leave this country.
came to Oklahoma first be-
cause 1t was here, in Oklahoma
City, that the cooperative mar
keting of cotton had it's birth
here in the Office of Carl Will
liams, editor of the Oklahoma
Farmer-Stockman. one of the
great agricultural papers of the
Southwest. To Mr.. Williams
belongs the glory of having set
the movement going-a move