A STORY OF COTTON 41 



He will either have to pay the rates that the Insurance P'ra- 

 ternity publishes as applying to his warehouse, that was built 

 without consultation with the Underwriters; OR 



He will have to RECONSTRUCT his warehouse, by ADD- 

 ING TO or TAKING FROM, his original construction, often, 

 at an ENORMOUS expense. 



If one will realize the FACT, that Fire Insurance Under- 

 writers must be considered, and are partners of the assured; 

 if the cotton people, at large, would always CONSULT WITH 

 THE FIRE UNDERWRITERS on a PARTNERSHIP BASIS, 

 much of the friction between the insurance companies and the 

 assured would be eliminated. 



In compiling the specifications for a cotton warehouse, it is 

 exceedingly essential that the warehouse should be SO divided 

 by fire walls that the maximum values, subject to one fire, 

 should be limited, and GREAT losses due to conflagration, be 

 MATERIALLY reduced. 



If cotton is to be piled, it is absolutely essential, so as to 

 avoid damage to the cotton fibre, that may press against the 

 floor, if the cotton is to be held in the pile a GREAT LENGTH 

 OF" TIME, that the lower tier of the cotton be placed at least 

 three inches from contact with the floor, as the natural damp- 

 ness, given ofl" by the earth through the pores of the floor will 

 be sucked into the bales by capillary attraction, and the lower 

 flats of the bales, that are in CONTACT with the floor will 

 BECOME DAMAGED. 



It is ESSENTIAL, that a suflicient amount of ventilation 

 can, when necessary, be readily admitted into each compart- 

 ment in which cotton IS stored, for the purpose of evaporating 

 atmospheric dampness that ordinarily permeates any COM- 

 PLETELY enclosed compartment. 



If ventilation is not provided, when a damp atmospheric 

 condition prevails within the compartment, then, we AGAIN 

 have the absorption of moisture from the atmosphere by the 

 bale of cotton, which moisture, when the cotton bale is 

 weighed from Buyer to Seller, not being visible or suscei)tible 

 to touch, will, when eventually evaporated from the bale by 

 contact with dry atmospheric conditions, cause a loss in 

 weight ranging from three pounds to eight pounds per bale. 



