OLEOMARGARINE. 485 



Senator FOSTER. For the cotton seed ? 



Mr. PETERS. For the cotton seed 1,785,000 tons at about $15 per ton. 



Senator MONEY. If it will not interrupt you, I would like to have 

 you go back to the price of cotton seed for a moment, because the 

 prices you gave are contrary to my experience. Do you refer to the 

 price per ton of cotton seed, or the price per bushel? 



Mr. PETERS. No; the price per ton of seed at Houston. Let me read 

 to you the prices of cotton seed at Houston, per ton of 2,000 pounds, 

 from 1898 to 1900. These figures are taken from Bradstreet's quota- 

 tions. On the 1st of January, 1888, the price was $9.50; in 1899 it was 

 $9; in 1900 it was $12. 



Senator MONEY. Sixty bushels make a ton, you know. 



Mr. PETERS. That is the way it is usually estimated. 



Senator MONEY. Well, that is the basis on which every farmer and 

 every oil-dealer buys and sells. 



Mr. PETERS. In our section they buy and sell entirely by the ton, 

 by weight. 



Senator MONEY. Well, 60 bushels of seed will make a ton. I have 

 lived on a cotton farm. In fact, I am a farmer myself. Now, that will 

 make 25 cents a bushel for cotton seed, there being 60 bushels in a ton. 



Mr. PETERS. That is right. 



Senator MONEY. The point is that in my State we are only getting 

 about $8 a ton now. 



Mr. PETERS. I sold mine last year at $15.50. 



Senator MONEY. Ffteen dollars and a half a ton ? 



Mr. PETERS. Fifteen dollars and a half a ton. 



Senator MONEY. That is 25 cents a bushel. That is higher than I 

 ever knew it to be sold before. 



Senator FOSTER. You had better send yours over to Texas, Senator. 



Senator MONEY. Yes; we might ship our cotton into Texas at a 

 profit, at that rate. 



Mr. PETERS. No; you do not know the railroad people there. The 

 railroads charge us double price west of the river there for everything 

 we ship. It takes about $2.50 a bale to get a bale of cotton to the ports 

 west of us, while east of us it is only about a dollar. 



Senator FOSTER. These are Galveston prices, are they? 



Mr. PETERS. These are Houston prices. 



Senator DOLLIVER. You are being robbed by somebody in some way, 

 Senator Money. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. The "octopus" has got hold of you. [Laugh- 

 ter.] But go on with your statement, Mr. Peters. 



Mr. PETERS. This is the letter I received inclosing the figures to 

 which I referred a moment ago. 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE, 



DIVISION OP STATISTICS, 

 Washington, D. C., January 8, 1901. 

 Mr. E. S. PETERS, 



Hotel Raleiyh, City. 



DEAR SIR: In compliance with my promise of yesterday, I beg to 'inclose such 

 information as is available with regard to the production and price of cotton seed. 

 The information with regard to prices is rather meager, and I do not know whether 

 it will meet with your requirements or not, but it is the best that can be done on 

 such short notice. So far as production of cotton seed is concerned, it has been 

 figured out on the generally accepted basis of two-thirds seed and one-third lint; 

 in other words, it is assumed that 1,500 pounds of lint and seed will make 500 pounds 

 of lint and 1,000 pounds of seed. In the figures for 1900-1901 of production of cot- 

 ton, it is impossible to separate the production of Texas and the Territories, but this 

 is explained in a footnote. 



Very truly, yours, JOHN HYDE. 



