12 



PACKING AND MAEKETING OF COTTON. 



Freight by rail is the same as by boat, but there is no expense for 

 insurance or drayage when the carriage is by rail. It seems, however, 

 the water route is preferred for reasons given by the planter f^™^^' 

 ing the above figures, who stated : " We have the choice of raU or boat. 

 The latter is higher, considering insurance and drayage, but we prefer 

 the boat on account of receiving prompt service. We can load ^^^^^ 

 on the boat Saturday morning and have it in the warehouse at Mem- 

 phis Monday noon, whereas by rail it takes from 10 days to 6 or 7 

 weeks to land cotton in Memphis, even when shipped in carload lots, 

 when the season is on." 



Another large planter furnished the following statement of cost 

 of conveyance from the plantation to the compress : 



Items. 



Hauling to ginnery. 



Ginning 



Bagging and ties, . . 

 Freight to compress 



Drayage 



Insurance 



Amount. 



10.50 

 2.00 

 1.00 

 1.25 

 .10 

 .15 



Items. 



Weighing 



Warehouse charges. 



Compression 



Fees for patcliing-.. 



Total 



10.10 

 .50 

 .50 

 .25 



6.35 



From a third source the following statement was obtained : 



Items. 



Amount. 



Items. 



Amoant. 



Hauling to ginnery 



Ginning 



Bagging and ties 



Freight to compress point, 

 Drayage to shed.! 



10.75 

 2.00 

 1.26 

 1.25 

 .15 



Insurance.. . 

 Compression 

 Storage 



Total. 



SO. SO 

 .50 

 .50 



6.90 



Commission for selling is not included in these statements, as com- 

 paratively little cotton is sold on commission. The charge for selling 

 is 2^ per cent and in many cases 3 per cent. Charge for commission 

 may be safely placed at a minimum of $1.50 per bale. The cost for 

 conveyance to ginnery and from ginnery to compress point varies 

 according to distance. For storage and insurance at the compress 

 warehouse the minimum charge is for one month. After the first 

 month the charge for storage is reduced to one-half the charge for 

 the first month. A charge for patching is made only when that serv- 

 ice is ordered by the owner of the cotton. In the first statement the 

 items given are those actually paid by the planter. In the others 

 the cost for freight is given as representing an average of cost for 

 that item. Deductions made on account of country damage and loss 

 by sampling are not taken into consideration in the above statements. 

 There is loss from sampling, and deductions are made for country 

 damage, whether visible or not. These two items may be properly 

 included in the cost of handling and added to the totals above given. 

 They will average $2 per bale. The cost for commission where paid 

 and certain incidental charges average $2.50 per bale, making an 

 aggregate of $4.50 which should be a&ded to the totals in the three 

 tables given above. 



A comparative statement of the cost of handling cotton by the old 

 system and by the gin-compressed syslein has been made that indi- 

 cates a very material difference between the cost of handling the 



