OCR Text |
Show whole system of marketing is made to benefit the buyer. Before the Civil war the outstanding outstand-ing feature In the marketing of cotton was the English factorage system. The factor invariably required the consignment con-signment of the entire crop for the sale of which he charged' a commission. commis-sion. The planter's basis of credit was usually fixed on baleage ; on an advance of so many thousand dollars so many bales of cotton were required re-quired to be shipped. A penalty commission com-mission was charged for every bale short of the contract number. The system had far-reaching results. It established one of the most vicious circles possible to aDy industry. It was a business of unusual hazards for both the factor and the planter. But the planting end was fundamentally unsound. It couldn't have stood up many more years if there had been no Civil war. Another result was the concentration concentra-tion In a few Important cities and towns of practically all of the fluid wealth of the cotton-growing South. The interior country which was practically prac-tically the sole source of this wealth was In a state of hopeless economic dependence on these urban centers. This condition was not relieved until after the mortgage loan companies went Into operation about thirty years later. What Brouoht v.he Chang For two and a half decades following follow-ing 1883 there were some very definite changes for the better in cotton marketing. mar-keting. Local factors still did a large part of the business, but under a modi-fled modi-fled system. Local buyers established themselves in every small town. Local banks were orgnnlzed, local compresses com-presses and warehouses were built. The market had met the producer half way. Next came country buying. The planter could sell his crop at his own gin platform. This was a change In the method of marketing, but the system sys-tem Itself remained almost the same. The one difference was that the grower might he present at every stage of the proceedings. |