Evening star., 1931-06-21
Continued from Third Page )

NOOhSasOSA VII 80 ~ . -0S.g
porters and merchants in the city
echoed much this same sentiment.
Clayton and cotton bracket together.
like Tiffany and diamonds. Any one
who suspects that Will Clayton's mete-
oric rise in this world trade is q matter
of blind luck need talk with the man
only five minutes to learn that he
knows his stuff-he knows cotton from
the seed to the loom.
About 80 years ago Clayton was q
young stenographer in Jackson. Tenn.
He had grown up there. in the heart
was natural to step into the cotton buy
ing business. Later he and q brother
in-law proSpected westward and estab-
lished themselves at Oklahoma City as
cotton merchants under the firm name
of Anderson. Clayton g. Co. In 1915
they decided to move headquarters to
Houston. Tex, because of its growing
importance as concentrating and
shipping point for cotton and since the
move there Mr.. Clayton has made his
firm the leading factor in the buying
and exporting of American cotton. In
a normal year their purchases are
about 100000 bales. And a bale of
cotton may represent anywhere from
$50 TO $3.50, according to the market.
Eight years ago cotton rose to $l75 a
bale. but today an exporter counts him.
self lucky II he gets $50, or an average
of 10 cents a pound.
Ten cents a pound in Liverpool
means how much to the farmer in Gen.
trail Texas?" 1 asked Mr.. Clayton. as
we sat talking in his Office. high up in
the Houston Cotton Exchange Build
ing.
THE freight, insurance. commission,
other charges and deduction for tare
average about 2 cents, so that 10 cents
in Liverpool means about 8 cents to the
farmer" answered Mr.. Clayton.
How much does 1t cost pound to
grow cotton?"
The cost varies greatly. depending
on the industry and efficiency of the
farmer. the richness Of his soil and the
state OF the weather. the boil weevil
nowhere in the United States can cot
ton be produced at its current selling
price.
THE typical cotton farmer" Mr.
Clayton went on, keeps no books. so
exact figures are unknown. He charges
against his crop nothing for his own
labor and that Of his wife and children,
who work with him in the fields, plant
ing, chopping and picking the cotton.
II they all manage to eat regularly, it
is rated a fairly successful year.
1T may fairly be said that the aver
age cost of raising cotton over any
given period Of time is represented by
the average price which farmers re-
ceived for their cotton during the same
period. This must be true, since the
cotton farmer, except for brief. post
war period, has only been able to pay
his taxes, interest on his mortgage and
maintain for himself and family a
standard Of living much below that of
the industrial workers Of this country.
Soil Has Lost Heavily.
ION this basis We find that the aver
age market price Of middling R-inch
cotton for the 10 years Immediately
the World War was 11.3 cents,
which may be accepted as the cost of
growing it, including taxes and rent of
land. The cost is certainly greater to-
day, because taxes are from two to
three times over the pre-war level, ag-
ricultural implements are considerably
higher and practically everything which
enters into the farmers cost OF living
and producing Is higher.
Then, too, the soil has lost heavily
in productivity, the yield per acre being
20 per cent below the pre-war figure.
even with the increased use Of fer
tilioers. Along with this development
has also come q distressing deprecia-
ton in quality Everything considered,
it seems hardly possible, under the
present one-crop system, to produce
cotton today at less than IS cents per
pound, on the average, covering taxes,
interest on capital. depreciation on tools
ana machinery and the maintenaIlcs OF
decent American standard OF living
for the workers and their families.
THE average standard Of living OF
the cotton farmer Is not only far infe-
rior to that of factory workers, but it is
even lower than that Of wheat farmers
and other agricultural workers. A re-.
cent Government survey Of represent
ative cotton county in Georgia showed
that the best years labor income Of 2S8
farmers averaged $267 per family Of
i've persons.
"Try to clothe a family of fve and
buy sugar. coffee, flour, kerosene and
other indispensables on $287 year, and
you get some idea OF the prosperity OF
the cotton farmer In his best yeArs-in
1924, for example, when this average
of S2e7 was attained, and when the
price Of cotton rose to 35 cents pound
What the living standard has dropped
to in 1881, with cotton below 10 cents
a pound. cannot even be imagined by
those outside the dilemma In which the
cotton farmer finds himself today"
But why does he flnd himself in
this dilemma?" I asked Mr.. Clayton.
OF course all commodities are affected
by the present crisis, which Is world
wide effect of the war, but why should
cotton be so peculiarly and disastrously
and chronically depressed?
about SIS per cent Of cur cotton pro