COTTON WAREHOUSES. 11 



efficient warehouse service. This is far from the case. Most of the 

 best storage houses belong to the cotton mills and to cotton factors 

 or commission merchants. The mills have built their warehouses 

 for storing the cotton which they buy for spinning. They were 

 never intended as public storage houses, and they are available for 

 such use in very few instances. The factors have not built ware- 

 houses for the purpose of doing a storage business, but in order to 

 aid in their regular transactions. But few of these persons would 

 build warehouses for the storage fees they collect, but they are 

 forced to operate the warehouses in order to handle the cotton which 

 is consigned to them for sale. It will be seen, therefore, that but 

 few of the best storage houses now in use are available to the farmer 

 unless he is willing to ship his cotton to the factor and pay him a fee for 

 selling it, in addition to regular storage charges. Many farmers are 

 averse to shipping their cotton to another town and consigning it to 

 a factor or commission merchant. They usually expect to receive 

 the money at the time the cotton is delivered. Many farmers are 

 reluctant to pay any charges whatever. This attitude is unfortu- 

 nate, for it eliminates them from participation in the use of the best 

 storage facilities. 



THE SMALL "WAREHOUSE RENDERS POOR SERVICE. 



The service rendered by the small warehouses in the primary 

 markets is almost universally unsatisfactory. The warehouse own- 

 ers are not to blame for this poor service. The cost of handling 

 is much greater than in the case of larger establishments, and 

 the insurance rate is usually four or five times as great as in the 

 standard warehouses in larger towns. One might at first be inclined 

 to think that they should erect costly buildings, but in most cases 

 this would not pay, for there is not a sufficient volume of business. 

 Very few farmers will store their cotton when the market price is 

 fairly satisfactory. A good storage building might be erected in a 

 small town and a fair profit be made for one year, but it might be 

 four years or even longer before it would again be well patronized. 

 The chances are that during this period the fees collected would not 

 pay the cost of operation. The investor would lose all of the money 

 made in one year in addition to the interest on the funds invested 

 in the building. The result is that most of the warehouses erected 

 in such towns are owned primarily by merchants or cotton buyers 

 for use in connection with their business. They are not intended 

 for the use of farmers, and when a year of very low prices comes they 

 are not in position to render the service that the farmer expects. 



COOPERATION ON THE PART OP FARMERS. 



From the foregoing it would seem that the most satisfactory solu- 

 tion of the situation would be for the farmers to form cooperative 



