COTTON WAREHOUSES. 9 



In many primary markets there are no storage houses at all. 

 Cotton frequently remains on the ground, in public yards, and about 

 supply stores for weeks, where it is damaged by weather and en- 

 dangered by fire. In North Carolina cotton is stored by the dealer 

 in order to aid in financing his transactions, but seldom by anyone 

 for protection from "country damage." 



GEORGIA AND ALABAMA. 



On further examination Table VII seems to indicate that Georgia 

 and Alabama are best served at present, especially when we take into 

 consideration the distribution of warehouses with reference to produc- 

 tion. These States have by far a greater number of warehouses than 

 any others. In Georgia 1,089 public and private warehouses and 

 the storage houses belonging to 151 cotton mills have a combined 

 capacity of 2,105,780 bales, which is not far short of the 1913 pro- 

 duction. Something of the distribution of these warehouses has been 

 shown in Table I. As previously noted, it appears that, with refer- 

 ence to distribution, Georgia is better supplied with cotton warehouses 

 than any other State. The available storage space in Alabama is 

 greater than the annual production, and the fact that there are 581 

 warehouses seems to denote that those now in use in that State are 

 fairly well distributed. 



SOUTH CAROLINA, MISSISSIPPI, AND OKLAHOMA. 



Reports indicate that the situation in South Carolina, Mississippi, 

 and Oklahoma is about the same. We see from Table VII that each 

 of these States has a storage capacity slightly in excess of the pro- 

 duction, but the number of warehouses in each of these States is 

 much less than in Georgia and Alabama. Owing to the fact that the 

 investigations in these States have been very limited, it is not possible 

 to state the situation definitely. But the comparatively small num- 

 ber of warehouses would seem to indicate that they are located in 

 the principal towns. This means that many of the small and even 

 medium-sized towns are not well supplied with storage houses. The 

 trouble in these States is not necessarily with the total storage 

 capacity of the cotton warehouses, but with the poor distribution of 

 those now in use. 



ARKANSAS AND NORTH CAROLINA. 



It will be seen (Table VII) that the warehouse space in Arkansas 

 is insufficient to shelter the annual production and that the number 

 of warehouses is small. It must be considered further that a number 

 of large warehouses are located in Pine Bluff and Fort Smith. This 

 would seem to show that many of the small towns are not properly 

 supplied. The situation is very much the same in North Carolina. 

 It will be seen that the number of warehouses, not including those 

 belonging to the cotton mills, is very small. The combined storage 

 86344°— Bull. 216—15 2 



