COTTON 65 



CONSERVATISM IN COTTON ASSOCIATION DEMANDS 



On the whole, the cotton farmers' organization 

 does not seem inclined to be unreasonable in its 

 demands. . Attending its meetings, we have been 

 most impressed by the marked conservatism of its 

 members generally. President Harvie Jordan is 

 on record as saying: 



"It will be the part of wisdom for all cotton 

 producers to discourage speculative interests that 

 would tend to drive the price of spot cotton above 

 twelve cents a pound, just as it is imperative that 

 no farmer should ever again sell a pound of 

 middling cotton under ten cents per pound. Let 

 us not encourage inflated prices that will hamper 

 the mills, curtail consumption of cotton, and en- 

 courage the growth of this staple in foreign fields. 

 We hold a complete monopoly of the cotton indus- 

 try of the world up to twelve cents a pound, and at 

 that price good profits to the producer can be 

 realized." 



This quotation may seem to be at a variance 

 with Mr. Jordan's advice late in 1905, urging 

 farmers to hold the remainder of their crop for 

 fifteen cents, but Mr. Jordan declares that he was 

 consistent in that the average price for the entire 

 crop would still have been less than twelve cents, 

 and this on a short crop. 



REDUCING PRODUCTION OR INCREASING DEMAND ? 



Another way in which the South's cotton growers 

 may accomplish much good for themselves through 

 organization, is by working together to develop our 

 foreign markets. Civilization demands, as we 

 have seen, that the world consume 42,000,000 bales 



