PRIMARY COTTON MARKET CONDITIONS IN OKLAHOMA. 35 



lies of the proportion of the different grades in the total crop of the 

 State and of the average relative prices received for these grades 

 during the entire season. This will also give an accurate record of 

 the rise and fall of prices in the interior as compared with prices at 

 the ports and on the larger exchanges. If successful in obtaining 

 this information we should have a fairly accurate measure of the 

 aggregate loss to the growers in the State from failure to secure 

 proper grading at the time of sale, and we shall be in a position to 

 give accurate advice as to the savings which may result from or- 

 ganized cooperative handling and marketing among the farmers. 



SUMMARY. 



1. This market survey included 103 towns in Oklahoma and in- 

 volved the sampling of over 3,200 bales of cotton with records of 

 date and place of sale and price paid to the grower. It also involved 

 the careful grading and stapling of these samples. 



2. While the survey was in progress much information concerning 

 ginning and marketing practices was obtained. 



3. The ginners, who buy a large proportion of the cotton, pay very 

 nearly the same price for all cotton purchased on a given day whether 

 buying in seed or in the bale. 



4. In street markets, even where there are large numbers of buy- 

 ers, widely differing prices are paid on the same day for bales of 

 identical quality. There is no uniform price even for middling 

 cotton. 



5. The differences fixed by Oklahoma firms allow only about one- 

 half as much premium for grades above middling as do the differ- 

 ences of the New York Cotton Exchange. This should not be con- 

 strued as in any way approving the New York fixed difference 

 system. 



6. In actual street buying the premiums paid for bales grading 

 above middling are far less than the locally advertised differences 

 for such grades. In some cases the bulk of the cotton is bought as 

 middling for weeks at a time, when a large majority of the bales are 

 actually above that grade. 



7. Accurate knowledge of cotton grading is of little value to the 

 producer in marketing his individual crop under present conditions. 



8. Independent ginners and local merchants who buy cotton are 

 usually compelled to accept the grading of the larger firms when 

 their cotton is " taken up." 



9. Except in the southeastern part of the State no attention is 

 paid to length of staple in fixing the price of the individual bale, 

 but certain regions receive slightly higher prices than others be- 

 cause of reputed superiority of average staple. 



