28 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



Belt are St. Louis, Norfolk, and Baltimore on the fringe, 

 Boston as a center for the textile industry, Washington, 

 San Francisco, and Philadelphia as points of export, and 

 New York and Chicago as future markets. The remark- 

 able expansion of the acreage in the Western Belt is 

 shown by the growth of Dallas. From 1915 to 1920 Dallas 

 received on the average 117,179 bales of cotton. In 1923- 

 24 with the aid of eight steam railways and six electric 

 lines Dallas handled a half-million bales. Three hundred 

 million dollars were required to finance the transactions. 49 

 The distribution of cotton warehouses in 1921 shows 

 a distinct concentration in the Eastern and Western 

 Belts, especially northern Georgia, South Carolina, and 

 eastern Alabama. The Black Prairie of Texas also is well 

 supplied with places of storage. The Warehouses are 

 found "at many local markets as well as at the larger 

 concentration points throughout the South." } The no- 

 ticeable lack of warehouse facilities for cotton is found 

 in the great Mississippi River Bottoms where cotton is 

 customarily marketed, due to the tenant system, as soon 

 as gathered. In 1921 there were 2,735 warehouses in the 

 South, Georgia with 775, Texas with 756, Alabama with 

 282, South Carolina with 269. The distribution of cotton 

 compresses affords an interesting contrast. In the West, 

 where most of the cotton is exported or shipped to New 

 England, compresses are numerous ; while in the East, 

 where much cotton is consumed in the local mills, they are 

 few. 51 Cotton compresses are of necessity located in the 

 great urban centers, the spot markets and points of ex- 

 port. In the Western Belt, Houston, Galveston, Waco, 



49 "Dallas as Cotton Market," Commerce and Finance (Sept. 17, 

 1924), pp. 1801-5. 

 B <>"The Cotton Situation," p. 377. B1 Cotton Atlas, p. 25. 



