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■giiTíiiiiiiriiiTiiiMur«
FARM
CO-OPERATIVE
SELLING
By GLENN a HAY14
a*MM«»M«l<M<K4*Mb»fitt
( • . 1»«.
DaWaJ
How Organizatiott Baneflto
Cotton Grower*.
C LO U D LE S S Seffferober morning
The cottoa field* la y eti’i and
wblse, drenched la heavy flew. The
th ia white base that had wrapped tfte
valtay la «ha dartmeee st',wiy rasa to
be dissolved la sunshine.
A
Across the field» <-i»e aaatefcec of
aaag. a hit of conversation, tha lilting
aata of a whistler, I t was cottonpkk
I M aaaaaa la I «ulslana A blue-sycd
MMa girt wlto long black braids Of
hair tied togethar with a »boost ring
leaked np from her half-filled bag of
cettea.
Aba waa listening.
F ro «
»error tba valley rama the sUw even
tear's ef a school bell, ~^“ov three
yaara aba had listened to the t<'Bg—
tang—tong of the bell— bat acbool
wasat far tha poor w hite«; there waa
tha cotton.
Sha d “had her teamin'. Moat four
yaara of IL That was inore’^ moat
tba kid» got"—ao aba consoled herself
and turned again to her picking.
■ha la only one of a million children
that King Cotton has cheated out of
a * education—out of the Joys of child-
heed. On two million cotton planta
tions boys and girts, black and white,
are the slaves of cotton. Dixie is the
home of more than half of ell the
wsvld's cotton. Its average crop of
IK009.000 bales la doable the amount
grown In the remainder of the globe.
T a t despite this supremacy In world
production the South has kept poor.
Cotton Is king, but Ilia throne Is being
undermined by the poverty of his king
dom.
■Far sixty yaara the Southern states
hare lad with the highest percentage
of illiteracy In the t ’nlted States, with
the lowest percentage of landowners.
The standard of living among the cot
ton growers Is the lowest of any clasa
of farmers. For two hundred years
the Sooth has been trying to raise
Itself out of its poverty, Its Illiteracy.
The effort has been wasted.
Discovering the Defect.
In 1920 began the dawn of a now
day.
Agricultural leaders declared
that all that was wrong In the cotton
states waa their system of marketing.
By changing their marketing methods
the whole South could be put on s
higher economic plane. Up to thia
time the marketing to the producer
meant merely hauling the baled prod
net from the gin to tha merchant with
tha crop mortgage or to the public
square. where buyers offered cash.
That was marketing—dumping de lux«.
Three-fourths of the cotton Is grown
by tha tenants and small landowners,
who are always a year behind whan
It ceases to money matters. Thay live
■a credit extended by their home town
merchants, who take a Hen on the crop
as security.
At marketing time If
cotton prices are low tba producer Is
simply out of lack. Ha can’t afford
ta hold his crop tor batter prices for his
debtors are demanding. And very likely
I f ba did hold It prices wouldn't Im
prove. for prices on cotton exchanges
arc largely manipulated by speculators
sad trader»
These small growers
know nothing «bout the grades or rlas-
ffflcatlona of cotton. Thay leave that
ta tha Judgment of the buyers and
boyars are not always honest. The
whole system of marketing Is made to
beoefit the buyer.
Before the Civil war tba outstand
(ng r<wxore In tba marketing of cotton
was tha English factorage system.
The farter Invariably required the con
signment of tha entire crop for the
tale of which he charged a commis
sion. Tha planter's basis of credit
wsa usually fixed on baleage; on an
advance of so many thousand dollars
so many bales of cotton were re-
«wired to ba shipped. A penalty com
odM*on was charged for every hale
short of tha contract number
Tba
system had far reaching results
It
established one of the most vicious
circles poeslbls to any tndnsiry. Tt
was a business of unusual hsiards for
both the factor and tba planter, nut
the piloting end was fundamentally
nes-'uod
I t couldn't have stood up
many more years If there had been no
flv lt war.
Another result was the concentre
tie« ta a few Important cities and
towns af practically all of the fluid
wealth of the cotton growing South
Tbs interior country which was pvac
.«(tally the sole source of this wealth
was In s state of hopeless economic
dapaadanca on these urban centers
Thia condition was not relieved until
after the mortgage loan companlee
went Inta operation «bout thirty years
la te r
What Brought tbs Change.
Tar two and a half decades follow
•*g IM S there were some very definite
Ohangea tor the better la cotton mar
k in g
Lorn! factors still did a large
p e n of the business, hot under a modi
fied system. Local buyers eetsbllshed
themsalves In every small town. Local
beaks were organised local com-
preasas and warehouses were built
The market had mat the producer half
way. Next came country buying The
planter could sell his crop at his own
gin platform
This was • change In
th*
° t marketing but tha syn-
yl
r
•t*-
into TeanA «'here B par cant
tem Itself remained almost the earns (De stata'« ocraags
Tha one difference was that tha grows» tbeaaand of the PH
might ba present at every stage af tha of Oklahoma Joined the Ariaeoa
Cotton Growers' assortane». » » » o n
proceedings.
The change which mads tha trans alarti- heir the acreage of the sal.
action visible te tha aye of tha pro River valley was pledged During the
year tea a»a* tapped
ducer la responsible tor co-operative first marketing
__ i» . _#e»kPn-------------- -
marketing. It brought a psycholog
ical change
Hossr connection with cents per pound
In five ether states Cotton grower»
his crop after Its production made the
buyer think more of tha problems of begun marketing the Saplro » » T
There was North OareUBA with 27JXW
marketing.
In 1ST3 the Alabama Grange put a growers and fiO pet cent of its sere
sales representative in New York. The ags signed by Neveosher, 1921. Theo
Mlselaslppt Grange seat a man to rep i followed the Arkansas Cotton Grow
resent them In Liverpool. Other state er«' Co-operative aasortstloa ; tke
Grange organisations hired a man to Georgia Cotton Growers' O e p e re tlv e
represent them on the various cotton association: the South Carolina Cotton
markets. In some instances ware Growers’ Co-operative tseociaGon and
houses were leased where the pro the Alabama Farm Bureau Cotton as-
ducers sent their cotton for grading sorts tlon.
Tha last big step la the formation
and sometimes for actual soiling Cot
ton marketed In thia way did bring of the cotton marketing machine was
higher prlcee, but tha market as a the organisation of the American Cat
ton Growers' exchange. This Je an
whole waa unaffected.
F ro m 1000 on producers made nu overhead agency which Is attempting
merous attempts to market cotton co to bring together on a romsoon has»
operatively.
In 1902 tha Tanners' the Interests of all American cotton
growers. It was created by the Ari-
Educational Co-operative was organ
Ized In Taxes. Its first <ork was tha xona, Texas end Oklahoma aseocle
staging of a campaign for maintaining tlon« In 1921. It alma to standardise
tha price of cotton by fiat. Many local tbe marketing of cotton on a natlesial
associations were established, usually cooperative basis by eo-ordlnating the
centered around a warehouse. These operations of Me eight member state
associations did eliminate some dis association* Eat® state ossoristlen
honest grading and buying, they pro retains full control of Its Own sales
vided good storage, but they offered acttvltlen hut It is exported to fim-
no real solution to the marketing Ploy tb» exchange whenever possible
The cooperative movsnoent has been
problem.
During tha World war the South blessed with two favorable seasons tov
had a taste of prosperity. There was Its developmonL But It Is still In in
real money in cotton. With the dose embryonic stage. K has had Mttle In
of the war they feared a backset In fluence on prices, but a great service
tlielr market. They determined to do has been rendered growers by selling
what they could to stabilise their cotton on a grade basis and by »til
prlcee. With this In mind the Ameri ing direct to the consuming trade.
can Cotton association waa formed In
1918. In 1919 prices rose 66 per cent,
or the dignity
due to an Intensive acreage reduction.
But the high prices brought a heavy
1920 crop. This, along with the gen
eral conditions, crashed cotton prices.
Colton producers discovered that the
conditions under which they were at
tempting to handle their business in
1920 were almost as unsound as the
system under which their fathers had
operated In 1860.
Aaron Saplro met with the associa
tion In Montgomery and aroused Inter
est by telling them the story of Cali
fornia’s plan of co-operative market
ing. Tbe plan didn't meet with gen
eral approval. The association set to
work to make a marketing plan of Its
own.
When It was completed the
growers couldn't be Interested. Slowly
the American Cotton association began
to fade Into the background.
In Oklahoma, Mlselselppi. Texas and
North Carolina the Saplro plan had
found fertile sofl.
The Oklahoma Cotton Growers' as
sociation waa organised under the Optometrists. Manufacturing Opticians
Albany, Oregou
leadership of Carl Wllllama.
The
Sapiro plan Is a simple piece of me
chlnery. It la composed entirely of
bona fide growers of cotton who sign « a » » « » * * » * * * * * * * * * * * » » * * * *
*
contracts under which they pledge to a
deliver their cotton to tho ssooclstlon
for a certain number of years. Tbe
organisation must acquire no cottoa
by purchase or trade and It la allowed
to make no profits. T itle to the cot
ton la vested In the association which
agrees to resell the cotton and to pay
the resale price legs .the cost of han
dling. The receipts are pooled by
grade and staple regardless of the time
of delivery or sale. Thia equalises the
returns to the growers.
<2. Albany, Oregon
»
The Oklahoma organisation made e
Its start In June. 1921. By April, 1922, * * * * * - » * * » * * 0 « « * » « * » * * * * » * *
24,900 contracts had been signed, one-
third of the Oklahoma crop acreage.
In less than a year the association
bad completely replaced cotton brokers
and secured directly for the gflowtrs
the spinner and export price. The
average price for the y A r was around
»7 29.
of
F
the professional man
or woman the Shelltex
Shuron is dependable.
Available in c h e rry ,
c ry sta l, brown-mottled,
demi-amber and black.
Meade & Aibro,
♦
Just arrived!
J
J Large shipment of J
• pabcolin :
i
R ugs I
« All new patterns
* E. L. STIFF Furniture J
Why suffer from
headache?
Have your eyes
examined
Results of Organlxstlen.
Growers In the Mississippi delta
were next to organise. The Staple
Cotton Growers' Co-oporttlve aasoda-
tlon was formed, which signed 2,200
producers of long-staple cotton.
In
1021 they marketed 108.000 bale*, get
ting an average of more than six cents
a pound more than outside growers
The Oklahoma plan moved over the
8. T . FR EN C H
Optometrist, with
F. M. french
a S o ns
J E W E L E R S — O P T IC IA N S
Albany, Oregon
Confectionery for
the Affection-ary
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bonbont.
Of ceurse only the
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candy box, there tbe heart un
locks.”
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There’s a sure cure tor
hunger at the’
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w. S. DUNCAN
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