Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-16
j. s. ESTIMATES
ON COTTON CROP
SEVERELY SCORED

BLOWING ROCK, n. c., June IA.
The result Of the report on what
cotton growers intend to plant, is
sued by the United States depart
ment of agriculture, April 20, and
on the worlds unconsumed supply,
issued the next day by the same
government agency, was "disas-
trous," A. w. Mclean, Of Lumber
ton, N. c., former director of the
war finance corporation, declared in
an address here Thursday. ut now
seems clear" he added, that neither
of these reports thus issued was re.
liable or entitled to serious consid
Grafton"
Mr.. Mclean, who was speaking
before a joint convention Of the Cot
ton Seed Crushers' associations, of
North and South Carolina, delivered
an exhaustive address on the cot
ton situation. At the present time,
he asserted, ''the cotton industry
is perhaps the\most hazardous Of
all branches of agriculture.
Speculation in cotton, he declared,
adds to the hazard of the producer,
and he asserted that a very fruit
full source of speculative dealing has
been the lack of reliable information
as to the supply and demand"
unreliable, Misleading"
Referring in this connection to
the widely discussed reports of the
department of agriculture issued
this spring, Mr.. Mclean declared
that the report Of intention to
plant was unreliable and wholly
misleading and ought never to have
been issued"
THE department, of course, claims
that it obtained this information
from 100000 or more growers" he
continued, but 1 have been unable
to find any Of these. Dispatches
from Washington published in the
newspapers OF May 10 stated that
Officials of the department of agri-
culture have explained in the past
that while the statement of April
20 showed that it was the intention
oe cotton growers to plant II per
cent larger acreage in 1928 than they
had in 1922, the Interpretation OF
the world and domestic market con.
dition, was made by group of econ
omists, business men and bankers
! who were invited to come to Wash
ington for that purpose
Upon examination of the person
mel of the group referred to, it ap-
pears that there is not single south
ern man in the entire group and
only one cotton dealer, a member
Of the firm of George H. McFadden
& Brother, of Philadelphia. The
others are large bankers, political
economists and meat and grain pro-
ducers of the north and middle west,
who were mere theorists and with.
out practical knowledge sufficient
to make even good 'gueSSeS.
Mr.. Mclean then asserted that in
1921 and in 1922 it was estimated
that 100000 bales of cotton were
destroyed by the boil WeeVil. said
that the consensus of opinion is that
the recent mild winter may cause
the weevil to do even greater damage
this summer, and declared that Nthe
world is rapidly consuming stocks
of cotton on hand and that there
is "a growing danger of an acute
cotton shortage"
Industry DemOraliZed
The recent severe drop in the
price," caused, he said, largely by
the figures given out by the depart
ment of agriculture, has democrat
lied the whole industry" adding:
"It may have Injured to the bene-
fit of the New England mills, for
it seems that they have refused to
lay in a stock of cotton at the thirty
cent level, while southern mills, be-
lieving that there was a shortage
of cotton, purchased freely at the
higher price"
A number Of remedies for the con-
ditions he pictured were suggested
by the speaker. He said that the
farmers themselves must organize
and must have cooperation from
all classes of business meA. The
states, he continued, can aid by pro-
noting the education of the tenant
farmer class, and he suggested that
state land banks might be organized
along the lines of the federal farm
land banks and Joint stock land
banks, and reach the smaller tenant
by lending up to rs per cent of the
appraised value of lands.