32 BRAZILIAN COTTON 



If the cotton spinners of the South Avere to encourage the farmers of 

 Sao Paulo with fixed premiums for clean cotton, I feel convinced that 

 they would ultimately be the gainers. In this connection I may be 

 permitted to state that it appeared to us, that few millmen really took 

 the trouble to examine their cotton ; in several cases the man in charge 

 told us simply that the cotton in a certain shape of bale (it was from 

 Boxwell's and speaks well for their reputation) was always right and 

 that he has no need to examine it. 



Nothing but Brazilian cotton is used by the mills in Brazil. There 

 have been exceptional cases when odd lots of foreign cotton were 

 imported, because the exchange was favourable and the northern 

 cotton was in good demand by Europe. 



Occasionally we found damj) cotton in the mill stores and one 

 manager told us that his cotton loses on an average 5 to 6 per 

 cent, owing to evaporation. We could not get any detailed information 

 on this point. 



As regards the waste which Brazilian cotton gives, a millowner 

 who spins 28's as average and is a careful expert told us that Per- 

 nambuco cotton gives 9 per cent., Ceara and Para 7 per cent, in the 

 ojjener. In the whole mill the waste was 10 per cent. 



In another mill in S. Paulo (where they spin up to 60's without 

 combing from cotton raised in the State) the waste during 1920 

 averaged \^\ per cent. In the opinion of a technical manager Sao 

 Paulo cotton gives 8 per cent., Pernambuco 12 per cent., Natal 18 

 per cent. 



The working week in Rio and Sao Paulo consists of 48 hours, 

 but in the interior 50 and more hours are worked. In a few cases 

 mills were working two shifts during the crisis. 



Children are not supposed to work before they are 14 years of 

 age, but in one mill in the interior we saw children of 11 years of age 

 at work. 



Workpeople receive compensation, according to law, in case of 

 accidents. 



Wages. — The following detailed wages were in force at one of the 

 representative mills in the city of Sao Paulo during May, 1921, when 

 the exchange was about 7d.= 1,000 reis ; they maybe taken as a fair 

 average of wages throughout the South of Brazil : — 



SPINNING DEPARTMENT 



Opener . . . . . . Rs. 675 and 700 per hour. 



Cards : Tenter . . . . ,, 725 per hour. 



Lap Carrier . . ,, 675 ,, 



Can Carrier .. , 550 ,, ,, 



Preparation : 



Drawing Frame : No. 0,14 hank sliver Rs. 345 per hank 

 „ 0,16 „ „ 315 „ „ 



» 0,20 „ „ 270 „ „ 



1 female operative 3x6 deliveries. 



