SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



somewhat similar conclusion from a different premise 

 which grew out of the conditions of the years follow- 

 ing the First World War. At that time most of the 

 cottonseed meal throughout the South was sold to 

 the big fertilizer manufacturers, they used it as a pre- 

 mium ingredient rich in nitrogen and organic material 

 in their mixed fertilizers. In the Southwest, however, 

 three-quarters of the cottonseed meal was shipped 

 abroad in big, flat, hard slabs. Most of this went to 

 Holland and Denmark where it was used as feed for 

 dairy cattle. What was left in these states was also fed 

 to cattle, beef cattle in feedlots close to the local mill. 



This was a jolly setup for the oil-mill owners and 

 managers of the Southwest. For a few months in the 

 late summer and autumn they worked overtime and 

 Sundays, buying cottonseed and running their mills to 

 capacity. Then some long distance telephone calls to 

 sell their oil to dealers and manufacturers and their 

 meal slabs to brokers and exporters, both at known 

 prices fixed on the commodity exchanges in New 

 Orleans, Chicago, and New York. Fill the tankcars and 

 load the boxcars; sweep out the mill and the ware- 

 house, smear the machinery with grease; lock the door 

 and go fishing! 



World War I jarred this smooth-running system. 

 Owing to the dislocation of ocean shipping, the exports 

 of meal slabs shrank close to the vanishing point. But 

 they came back in the postwar boom, and most of the 



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