The Glacier Melts

Having narrowly escaped permanent freezing by the vetoed Fulmer bill (TIME, Aug.11), the vast U.S. cotton surplus last week began to melt, sent a glacial trickle towards a potentially vast war market. The Department of Agriculture announced that 1,500,000 bales of Government-owned, 1937-crop cotton are now available for export at 13 1/4 a lb., 4-c- below the current market price.

At season's beginning (Aug.1), Commodity Credit Corp. was the world's biggest cotton owner ever. Of its 6,126,482 bales, 4,778,321 are from the 1937 crop, have now cost the Government (including carrying charges) 12.2-c- a Ib. Now CCC can swap part of these holdings for hard cash. Besides a small profit, the corporation will also get the last laugh on the experts who in 1940 predicted the U.S. would end by burning its cotton hoard.

The export program helps the Allies, is immediately aimed at Canada. Although Dominion textilites have always liked U.S. cotton, they switched to Brazilian cotton this year because it was 6-c- a Ib. cheaper (normal discount: less than 1-c-) than the U.S. product. The new subsidy makes up most of this difference. Soon U.S. cotton will move out of warehouses to be manufactured in Canada (uniforms, bandages, guncotton), shipped to active duty overseas.

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