8 PACKING AND MAEKETING OF COTTON. 



that accrue to agencies that intervene between the ginnery and the 

 spinning mill combine to discourage and frustrate efforts on the part 

 of private enterprise to bring about a reform. The existence and 

 strength of these adverse conditions are recognized by all who are 

 engaged in handling American cotton, notwithstanding which tne 

 admission is general that the inauguration of remedial measures is 

 demanded in the interest of the producer, who is deprived or the 

 reward to wTiich his toil entitles him ; the spinner, whose legitimate 

 profits are menaced by excessive cost and unnecessary expense ; and 

 the consumer, who is obliged to pay a price for the fabric based ^^n 

 extraneous charges incidental to the unbusinesslike and wasterul 

 system in vogue. 



HANDLING FEOM FARM TO KILIi. 



Personal inspection of the methods of handling American cotton 

 between the farm and the mill can not fail to startle the business 

 man who knows the importance and value of economy in production 

 and whose activities are directed by systems evolved from experience 

 and perfected by the achievements of science and the general enlight- 

 enment of the age. These methods are maintained, not because mod- 

 ern and economical agencies are unavailable, but partly because of 

 indifference and partly because of opposition on the part of those 

 who profit by present conditions. The inadec[uate baling of the 

 product is not an irremedial condition but an incidental feature of 

 the present system. Cotton can be completely covered at the ginnery 

 and compressed to any desirable density. Brief recital of the first 

 handling of cotton — that is, its conveyance from the farm to the gin- 

 nery and subsequently to the compress — will give an idea of the anti- 

 quated, dilatory, and expensive methods that obtain. 



The farmer or planter hauls his seed cotton from the farm to the 

 ginnery. When ginned the lint is baled by the ginner, who fur- 

 nishes bagging and ties, for which the average charge is $1. The 

 ginning and baling being included in one charge, naturally the ginner 

 uses the cheapest covermg obtainable, regardless of appearance or 

 sufficiency. The lint cotton is compressed into a package known 

 as the plantation or flat bale. Jute bagging, much of which has been 

 previously used, sugar bags that likewise have had previous service, 

 and any other cheap material that can be readily obtained are em- 

 ployed by the ginner. From 1,500 pounds of seed cotton there will 

 be a yield of about 500 pounds of lint. The farmer may sell the seed 

 at current prices, which in recent years have averaged perhaps $23 

 per gross ton. The lint cotton may be sold to the ginner or be 

 removed by the farmer. Usually it is taken to the nearest city or 

 town and sold to merchants and buyers for local and other mills. 

 It is at this point that mutilation and spoliation of the bale begin. 

 Those to whom the cotton is offered inspect a sample to determine 

 its quality. Each sample pulled weighs from one-half to 1 pound, 

 and two or three holes may be cut and as many samples pulled before 

 the cotton is sold by the farmer. If purchased by a merchant for 

 future sale, or a buyer for immediate delivery the cotton is sent to a 

 warehouse or shed, and in absence of these means of protection it is 

 piled on the street adjacent to the business house of the purchaser. 



