EEPOET OF THE SECEETAEY OF AGRICULTURE. 33 



there have been negotiations on the subject with the exchange at 

 Havre and a proposed exchange in Eotterdam. 



It has not been possible, largely because of the lack of suitable type 

 material, to establish standards for tinged and stained cotton. How- 

 ever, for conv^enience in passing on disputes, and in order to fa- 

 cilitate the work of classification of cotton proposed for tender on 

 contract on the exchanges, the department has prepared tentative 

 types for Low Middling yellow tinged, Low Middling blue tinged, 

 and Middling yellow stained cotton. Duplicates of these have been 

 distributed to the various exchanges for use pending the promulga- 

 tion of the official standards. 



Determination of disputes. — As an incident to the settlement of 

 contracts made in the form prescribed by section 5 of the act, and 

 as a means of bringing about uniformity in methods of grading and 

 classification, the act imposed upon the department the duty of 

 determining disputes involving grade, length of staple, and quality 

 of cotton offered for delivery referred to it by the parties to such 

 contracts. To the close of November 10, 1915, 1,002 disputes, involv- 

 ing 65,654 bales of cotton, had been submitted for determination. 

 The costs of the 988 disputes decided amounted to $22,773.75. These 

 were paid by the parties. 



Spot markets. — The statute requires the department to designate 

 the bona fide spot markets. It prescribes also that the averages of 

 spot values in such of these as may be selected for the purpose shall, 

 in the settlement of contracts made in compliance with the act, be 

 the basis for determining actual commercial differences in the values 

 of grades in future markets which are not themselves spot markets. 

 Of the spot markets accepting the official standards, 13 have been 

 designated as bona fide spot markets. Of these, 11 were selected 

 for use in determining differences in values between grades of cotton 

 delivered on contracts made on the exchanges subject to the act in 

 places which are not spot markets. The latter furnish the depart- 

 ment by wire daily quotations based on sales of cotton according to 

 the official standards. 



It is gratifying to note that a large majority of the people affected 

 by the act, after having had an opportunity to observe its workings 

 for the past eight months, are in sympathy with its general purposes 

 and indorse what has been accomplished. 

 22814°— AGE 1915 3 



