CHAPTER VIII. 



STOPPING THE LEAKS IN COTTON PROFITS 



It is not true, as a distinguished authority has 

 charged, that our general methods of growing and 

 handling cotton are "as bad as can be;" but it is 

 true that they are susceptible of vast improvement, 

 and that enormous leaks in cotton profits are yet 

 to be stopped. Perhaps the most serious menace 

 to cotton farming at this time is the boll weevil, 

 but as that subject is reserved for a later chapter, 1 

 shall not discuss it here. 



One of the greatest leaks that any industry has 

 ever known was the utter waste of cottonseed for a 

 hundred years. Cottonseed used to be regarded 

 as of so little use, in fact so much in the way, that 

 cotton gins within the last two generations have 

 been built over streams in order that the seed 

 might be easily washed away! In some States 

 laws have actually been passed requiring ginners, 

 for the sake of the public health, to remove the 

 rotting piles of waste seed ! 



$100,000,000 FROM A PRODUCT ONCE THOUGHT 

 WORSE THAN WORTHLESS 



Now the raw cottonseed are worth nearly $100, 

 000,000, or about one-fifth the value of the cotton 



(63) 



