Evening star., 1939-05-22
Cotton Week Opens,
Backed by $4,000
Retail Firms
Growers, Manufacturers
And Professors Also
Support Promotions
BY ]. G. DONLEY.

NEW YORK, May % &C. P. A. -
The greatest promotional drive In
the history of American merchan.'
dising begins today, with the open
ing of cotton week.
When the idea of promoting cot
ton nationally in an effective man
ner was first broached several years
ago, many said that it couldn't be
done. But here it is-spread out
through bigger and better co-opera-
ton to gigantic undertaking
which this year will bring to the
eyes or ears of nearly every one
in the land the story of COM
modify that may be down, but is
far from licked.
Some idea of the size of this un-
dertaking may be had from the fact
that it is backed by more than rs 900
retail establishments, which are the
outlets of such distributing groups
as the National Retail Dry Goods
Association, the Wholesale Dry
Goods Institute, the Institute OF
Distribution, the National Associa-
tion of Food Chains and the Ns-
tional Association of Chain Drug
Stores.
Sponsored Jointly.
The initial push represents the
united efforts of all cotton inter-
ests, beginning with the grower and
embracing in turn the professors
and manufacturers. 1t is given life
and purpose through the JOINT
sponsorship of the Cotton-text.le
Institute, representing the textile
manufacturers, and the National
Cotton Council, newly-formed
group representing The five major
raw cotton interests.
Charles K. Everett of the Cotton
Textile Institute says that backing
up these promotions of the retail
merchants and, indeed, just as i'm
portant as selling cotton, in the
broad sense, is the far-f1ung interest
the newspapers and magazines are
this year revealing in cotton week :"
And there will be salutes to cot
ton week" he says, "in great many
popular coast-to-coaSt broadcasts,
as we'll as in scores of spot programs
1t will be in the movie news reels.
And it will be impressively recog-
nized with special events at both
the San Francisco Golden Gate In
ternational Exposition and the New
York Worlds Fair"
~ Related Industries Help.
Mention should also be made, Mr.
Everett says, of the generous sup
port from related industries, such as
soap manufacturers, the pattern
companies. the laundries. and wash
ing machine manufacturers. And,
in scores of cities and towns through
out the cotton belt, there will be
gala cotton festivals to mark the
observance of the week. And so it
goes in other directions, whose de-
tails of which would fill a book.
1t is an old story, but one that
bears retelling each year, that
practically one out of every ten
persons in the United States is de-
pendent for his livelihood on the
growing and manufacturing of cot
ton.
According to Mr.. Everett, it is also
an accepted fact that cotton gives
wages to far more farm and factory
workers than any substitute ma
terials, That is why cotton week,
while designed to stimulate cotton
consumption and make a dent in
our surplus cotton-now nearly H.
900, 900 bales-is also a formidable
opponent of unemployment.
Cotton week is timed to what
should be the advent of warm
weather, for in apparel uses it is
pre-eminently fabric for keeping
the whole family cool.