PRIMARY MARKET PRICES AND QUALITIES OF COTTON. 13 



The farmer should be convinced of the importance of producing 

 good staple and of care in picking and housing it. The ginner should 

 be required to operate his gins at the right speed— approximately 400 

 revolutions per minute for the average run of cotton — since fully 10 

 per cent of the samples in this investigation were so badly ginned as 

 to be lowered about one grade in value. Assuming that the results 

 of this survey fairly represent the condition in the Cotton Belt, the 

 losses for the season of 1913-14 from poor ginning alone exceeded 

 $2,000,000. 



Adequate covering for the bale is necessary to protect the lint, but 

 excessive tare is uneconomical. H. W. Macalister, a leading member 

 of the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and 

 Manufacturers' Association, 1 has stated that a change from the 

 present system of selling cotton to selling on net weight would result 

 in a saving to the producer on export cotton alone, based on 7,000,000 

 bales, of $12,852,000, or approximately $1.85 per bale. 



Proper storage after ginning would result in a tremendous saving, 

 as country damage assumes huge proportions. Warehouses are an 

 economic necessity in a proper system of cotton marketing. In the 

 years of abundant harvest the producer can store his cotton and with 

 the warehouse receipt negotiate such loans as his needs may demand. 

 Without the warehouse he has to market his cotton as rapidly as 

 ginned, which results in a depression in prices incident to a glutted 

 market, or he must subject it to country damage and other risks. 



Figures obtained in the course of this study indicate that practically 

 no premium is paid for the. grades above Middling. Of the 38,000 

 samples collected, 9,916 bales were better than Middling, averaging 

 41 points above Middling in value, or $2.05 per bale. Assuming that 

 the crop of 1913-14 graded the same as the samples in this survey, 

 it would indicate that the producers lost that year, through a failure 

 to secure premiums on their high grades, a sum in excess of $7,500,000. 



When conditions are favorable, great economies may be effected 

 through the organization of cooperative associations for the proper 

 handling and marketing of cotton. Organizing on a community 

 basis will permit the development and maintenance of a pure variety 

 of cotton of a given length of staple. This development of one va- 

 riety must be accompanied by better methods of harvesting, ginning, 

 and storing. When the cotton is ready for marketing, better prices 

 can be secured by assembling it at a central point, having it properly 

 classed, and offering it for sale in even-running lots of grade and 

 staple. 



1 U. S. Department of State. Special Consular Reports on Cotton Tare. 1912. See page 24 . 



