The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-12-16
STRENGTH OF
COOPERATIVE
MARKETING
The Farmers Organi-
zation Has the Pow
er to Combat and
Defeat Price Manip-
ulation by Manufac-
tUrers at Home and
Abroad

The Atlanta Journal has been
printing q series of articles on the
theory and practice Of the Geor-
pia Cotton Growers Cooperative
Association and the cooperative
marketing ,sof cotton in general.
These articles are being written
by Edwin Camp. a member Of the
editorial staff of The Journal. Be
low is printed one of these ar
ticles:
fBy Edwin Camp.
In Sundays Journal was discuss
ed the Hotpoint decline in seven
days in the price Of cotton, and it
was shown that such temporary
crashes in prices have little effect
on farmers who are members of
the cooperative selling organ
izations though they are disastrous
to the so-cal1ed and mis-called
! independent" producers
Here is something in the nature
of a great white light on the
causes behind such temporary
declines. the quotation being from
the London Times of October 81:
.eThe European cotton trade is
faced with the question of whether
it would not be wise to close
down the spinning of American
cotton altogether for brief period,
say a month. That would tend to
bring down the price of American
cotton. The rise in cotton this
week. however. reassuring to those
who have bought yarn, orF'to hold
ers OF stocks Of yarn. is certainly
! not favorable to business in cloth
lat present. >
Most persons know that the
London Times is perhaps the
greatest newspaper in the world;
that it's exceptionally careful and
conservative in what it prints, es-
peeially concerning financial and
trade matters. You may be sure,
then, that this quotation is an
anderstatement rather than an ex-
laggeration of the tempers and
acts OF the British spinners.
Has Happened Before
The thing limited by The Times
newspaper has happened often be-
fore When cotton has got higher
than the British spinners care to
have it they have ceased buying
temporarily. if necessary throwing
ftheir mills On part time or shut
ting down completely for such pc
RODS as We're necessary to break
the. price.
Enorganized farmers are unable
to combat such tactics They have
not the trade information. at hand:
they have not the credit necessary
Ninety per cent of them must sell
the fruit of. their years labor as
soon as it lis ginned. regardless of
the state Of the market. The other
ten per cent are like nothing 50
much as children in the dark If.
after holding, they sell at good
prices it's good luck; if they sell
at poor prices, it is hard luck.
Blind luck in either event. But
the co-operatives, having the fin
ancial backing of the great banks
which see ideal security in loans to
them, having further the financial
backing of the United States gov
ernment, which sees them as great
agencies for the betterment of the
farmer and. therefore, of the whole
nation. and further having the
guidance OF the best minds in the
cotton trade, are ideally able to
meet such actions by the spinners.
The temporary cessation of spin
ming in order to break the price Of
cotton is nothing immoral There
is no use to rail against it. as un-
fair, even though it is an attempt
to get cotton for less than it is
worth by thwarting temporarily
the justly-famous and little under
stood law of supply and demand, It
! is just business True. in it's work
ings it has many a time meant
poverty for the farmers forced to
sell when the price has been beat
en- down for the moment. ONLY to