National Cotton Council of America;

              A client of our Memphis office since 1955 .
There are listings and indexes in which the inclusion
of an organization's name brings prestige, but the inclu­sion
of its story in an encyclopedia attests to its perma­nency
and accomplishment. The Encyclopedia Americana,
after describing the sick state of the cotton industry in
the thirties and its improvement thereafter, states that
"many agencies and individuals have made efforts to im­prove
the cotton situation and conditions among southern
farmers" but it names only one. It reads, "Outstanding
among the various groups is the National Cotton Council
of America, an organization representing producers,
ginners, warehouse men, merchants, crushers and spin­ners.
Since its organization in 1938 it has spent thousands
of dollars annually in research, in the collection and dis­semination
of information and in promotional activities
designed to make the production and distribution of cot­ton
and cotton seed more efficient and to expand the con­sumption
of cotton and cotton seed products."
To bring the Encyclopedia's account up to date, it
should be added that the Council's relatively shoestring
budget of around $100,000 in 1939 has expanded to over
$3 million dollars for the year 1965, and that millions
more are available for research and promotion through its
allies in government and industry and through other or­ganizations
it has inspired and with which it cooperates.
The council was founded by Oscar Johnson, of Scott,
Mississippi, in 1938 when prices received by United
States cotton growers were distressingly low and indi­vidual
acreage distressingly small, when synthetic fibres
threatened rivalry and exports were cut down by the
increased competition of cotton growers in other countries.
"The industry must unite behind cotton for its very
JUNE, 1965 23