THE PRESENT COTTON SYSTEM 197 



acter and grade of the entire crop by seeing that each indi- 

 vidual grower was properly compensated for superior quality 

 in his product. 38 



On the other hand, it is considered legitimate in many 

 instances to underbuy cotton. "The failure to discrimi- 

 nate in price to the farmer is so general that many 

 buyers do not consider it dishonest, but look upon it 

 merely as one of the ways of increasing the profits of their 

 business." 9 The failure to pay the market price for the 

 staple is due, it has been suggested, to the restriction 

 of competition. "In some towns ... in the Cotton Belt 

 there is a general understanding among these men [buy- 

 ers] whereby each enjoys the exclusive right to do busi- 

 ness with certain farmers. . . . For instance when a 

 farmer brings a load of cotton to town, one of them will 

 walk out and place his foot upon the hub of the wagon 

 and begin talking to the farmer. This is the accepted sign 

 that the farmer is his customer." 



It was shown in the North Carolina study that the 

 producer who knew the class of his cotton obtained on 

 the average $1.15 per bale more than the farmer who 

 was not furnished such information. 41 If this can be ac- 

 cepted as generally true the growers must lose from 

 twelve to sixteen millions of dollars a year because of 

 ignorance of grade. Carl Williams is authority for the 

 statement that the Mississippi and Arizona cooperatives 

 "have consistently sold cotton at from $10 to $15 a bale 

 above country market prices. The Oklahoma and Texas 



38 Letter of David R. Coker, Dec. 29, 1926. In the files of the 

 Rural Social Economics Library, Univ. of N. C. 



39 Dept. of Agriculture Bulletin 60, p. 7. 



40 Charles E. Gibbons, op. cit., pp. 43-44. 



41 Dept. of Agriculture Bulletin 476, p. 18. 



