10 BULLETIN 216, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



capacity of public and private warehouses and storage houses belong- 

 ing to cotton mills falls far short of the annual production. It is known 

 that comparatively few of the mills permit farmers to use their ware- 

 houses. Many of the mills buy the cotton which they use from other 

 States. From a rather thorough investigation of conditions in this 

 State it has been found that very few of the small towns have any 

 warehouses. Most of the warehouses in the State are located in a 

 few of the central markets and are controlled and used primarily by 

 the dealers. North Carolina is probably in more serious need of 

 storage houses than any of the other cotton-producing States. It 

 would seem that many new warehouses could be constructed and 

 operated at a profit in this State. The warehouses at Norfolk, Va., 

 are used largely, however, by North Carolina merchants, and this 

 tends to relieve the situation, especially in the northeastern part of 

 the State. 



TEXAS. 



It will be seen (Table VII) that the storage capacity (as offered) of 

 all the warehouses in Texas is more than a million bales short of the 

 annual production. Reports from this investigation show that more 

 than half of this space is located in Galveston and Houston. This 

 shows clearly that the warehouses in the producing sections are entirely 

 inadequate. As there are only 497 warehouses in the State, it can be 

 assumed that most of them are large and located in the more impor- 

 tant towns. This seems to be conclusive proof that only a compara- 

 tively small percentage of the farmers could store their cotton if they 

 wished to do so. 



SUMMARY OF DISTRIBUTION. 



In summarizing the storage situation it may be repeated that the 

 cotton warehouses now in use have an ample storage capacity, but 

 they are so located and the conditions under which they operate are 

 such that in many cases they do not serve their purposes. In North 

 Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas the total capacity of all of the ware- 

 houses is not equal to the annual production, and those that are in 

 use are not properly distributed. In Georgia and Alabama storage 

 facilities seem to be ample in volume and fairly well distributed, but 

 the service is not of the best. In the other States facilities are ample 

 in storage capacity, but the warehouses are not properly distributed 

 nor are they so operated as best to serve the producers. In all States 

 a majority of the cotton warehouses do not appear to be rendering 

 efficient service to the industry as a whole. 



SERVICE OF WAREHOUSES NOT SATISFACTORY. 



SPACE NOT AVAILABLE. 



While an attempt has been made to show that in storage capacity 

 the warehouses now in use are fully adequate, it is not meant to con- 

 vey the impression that those who produce cotton can get proper and 



