1916] EDITORIAL. 307 



Exhibits by the Department are provided for at the International 

 Soil Products Exposition to be held at El Paso, Texas, October 17-26, 

 and at the National Dairy Show at Springfield, Massachusetts, Octo- 

 ber 12-21, with appropriations of $20,000 and $15,000, respectively. 

 The former exhibit is to be illustrative of farming methods in the 

 subhumid, arid, and semiarid regions of the country, and the latter 

 of the boys' and girls' club work and other features of the extension 

 work carried on in the North Atlantic States. The President is au- 

 thorized to extend invitations to other nations to participate in the 

 International Farm Congress and the International Irrigation Con- 

 gress, both of which are to be held at El Paso. 



Reference has already been made to the trio of noteworthy measures 

 appended to the main portion of the act and designated respectively 

 as the United States Cotton-Futures Act, the United States Grain- 

 Standards Act, and the United States Warehouse Act. These meas- 

 ures are all designed to alleviate some of the difficulties which have 

 frequently confronted farmers in the marketing of the staple agri- 

 cultural crops. 



The United States Cotton Futures Act, as reenacted, follows sub- 

 stantially the text of the act passed in 1914. That measure, it will 

 be recalled, was a taxing statute designed to regulate future trading 

 in cotton so that it would be fairly conducted and truly reflect the 

 values of spot cotton. It imposed a tax at the rate of two cents per 

 pound on all contracts of sale of cotton for future delivery entered 

 into on exchanges and like institutions, unless such contracts com- 

 plied with certain conditions which were calculated to eliminate 

 certain recognized evils in future dealings. Among the conditions 

 necessary to be met in order to exempt a contract from the tax were 

 the use of the official cotton standards of the United States estab- 

 lished under the act, and of actual commercial differences in the 

 settlement of such contracts as ascertained from actual sales of cot- 

 ton in bona fide spot markets. The act also taxed orders sent from 

 the United States for the maldng of future contracts on exchanges 

 in foreign countries, unless the contracts made on the foreign ex- 

 changes complied with certain conditions. The Secretary of Agri- 

 culture was given authority to establish the official standards, to 

 designate the bona fide spot markets, and to determine disputes re- 

 ferred to him by the parties to future contracts involving the grade, 

 length of staple, or quality of cotton offered for delivery there- 

 under. The most important changes made in the new act are the 

 omission of the tax on orders sent abroad for the maldng of future 

 contracts and the addition of authority for the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture in settling disputes to include in his findings a complete classi- 

 fication of the cotton involved. The new act became effective Sep- 

 56493°— 16 2 



