612 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



192. WAREHOUSING HELPS THE FARMER TO GET BETTER 



PRICES 1 



BY EDWIN HOBBY 



The bankers' warehouse campaign in Texas has largely increased 

 the permanent and dependable facilities for the storage of cotton in 

 Texas. When this campaign began (June, 1915) there were 400 ware- 

 houses in Texas, having a total storage capacity of approximately 

 800,000 bales. Today (December 7, 1915) there are completed or in 

 course of construction in Texas, 628 warehouses, having an aggregate 

 storage capacity of 1,500,000 bales. Thus it may be truthfully said 

 that one result of the. bankers' warehouse campaign in Texas has been 

 to increase the number of cotton warehouses in the state by 228, and 

 to increase the permanent dependable storage capacity of the cotton 

 warehouses of the state by 700,000 bales. 



It is safe to say that as a result of the added warehouse facilities 

 which the bankers' campaign has produced there are stored in Texas 

 warehouses at this moment 800,000 bales of cotton, including that 

 in storage at Texas ports, and that this amount exceeds by 300,000 

 bales the aggregate number stored in warehouses within the state at 

 the same period of any previous year. But for the warehouse facilities 

 brought into existence by the bankers' campaign, it is safe to say that 

 500,000 bales of cotton which are now held in storage would have been 

 sold near the beginning of the cotton season. This cotton, if sold at 

 that time, would have brought at the then market price approximately 

 $20,000,000. Today it is worth at the present market price $30,000,- 

 ooo, so that it would seem logical to say that as a result of the bankers' 

 campaign in Texas $10,000,000 has been saved to the producers of 

 the cotton now stored in warehouses, by enabling them to hold it 

 until this tune, to say nothing of the million bales of cotton held by 

 farmers and merchants which are in open yards and in private 

 storage. 



But this is only a part of the money-saving that has resulted to the 

 cotton-producers and the people generally. The facilities which have 

 enabled the people to store and hold 800,000 bales of cotton have at 

 the same time increased the price of every pound of cotton that has 

 been sold since the effects of this campaign began to operate, and it is 

 safe to estimate that $45,000,000 have been saved as a result of this 



1 Adapted from an address at the Conference of Cotton States Bankers, New 

 Orleans, December 6-7, 1915. Stenographic report of proceedings loaned by the 

 secretary, Mr. Moorhead Wright. 



