PRIMARY COTTON MARKET CONDITIONS IN OKLAHOMA. 13 



Whatever may be the facts concerning transactions between the 

 smaller and the larger dealers, the results of our work show conclu- 

 sively that the difference sheet receives little attention in fixing 

 the price offered the grower. There is a very general tendency to 

 hold the price for all cotton offered on a given date pretty close to 

 a certain quotation; and, as has been pointed out, the variations in 

 price are almost as radical between bales of the same grade as 

 between bales of different grades. 



In order to show how this works out in practice Table VI is pre- 

 sented, giving the results of collections of samples in 16 towns from 

 October 26 to December 21. These towns are arranged in the order 

 of date of sampling, and it will be seen that there is no evident rela- 

 tion between the differences paid for high and low grades and the 

 differences advertised by the larger merchants as the season pro- 

 gresses. This table shows the number of bales sampled on each date, 

 the grade of the best and of the poorest bale in the lot, and the differ- 

 ence per pound between the highest and lowest priced bales, ex- 

 pressed in fractions of a cent. The last column shows the difference 

 which would have been made between the highest and lowest bales 

 sampled if one of the local difference sheets used in. the State and 

 based upon the official cotton grades had been adhered to. In every 

 case the actual differences in the prices paid for the best and poorest 

 bale sampled were less than the difference sheet would have justified. 

 In other words, the tendency to pay somewhere near the same price 

 for all cotton offered on a given day is very marked. The entry for 

 Lindsay is the most notable, and illustrates one of the complications 

 which the sale of the seed and lint to the same buyer introduces into 

 transactions which affect the bale. The facts in this case seem to be 

 that a ginner paid for the good ordinary bale practically the same 

 that was being paid for good middling cotton. 



Such excessive payments are often made for the purpose of holding 

 the trade of a particular farmer, especially when his seed is being 

 sold to the gin. In these cases it is evident that the profit on the seed 

 is relied upon to cover a loss on the lint. There is an immense amount 

 of such business in Oklahoma, and it militates against accurate grad- 

 ing and proper discrimination between good and poor quality. 



The prices paid for individual bales at Lindsay varied within very 

 narrow limits each day. As a result widely different grades were 

 often bought at the same price. On November 15 bales ranging 

 from strict middling down to strict good ordinary spotted were 

 bought at 11.05 cents per pound. On November 20, when the extreme 

 range in price was $3 per bale, we found single bales of strict mid- 

 dling, strict low middling, and good ordinary each of which had been 

 bought at 11.50 cents per pound. 



