22 PACKING AND MAEKETING OF COTTON. 



package to be plainly marked in a manner that will not be obliter- 

 ated. The marking of the bale so it may be identified is a highly 

 important matter. The bill of lading and other shipping documents 

 describe the marks placed on the bale for identification, but if these 

 be obliterated, defaced, or removed by cutting the covering, delivery 

 of the cotton to the purchaser is difficult, sometimes impossible, when 

 a large cargo consigned to numerous buyers is concerned. The re- 

 compressed bale rarely reaches its destination in condition to pernut 

 recognition of marks. 



PEOPEE MARKING OP BALES. 



The character and condition of the bagging as it leaves the large 

 compress preclude proper marking. Moreover, the operation is so 

 rapid and the material employed so inadequate for the purpose in- 

 tended that the mark, usually placed on the bale while in motion 

 from the compress to the laborer who removes it, is often so smeared 

 before the bale reaches the shed that it is almost useless for the pur- 

 pose of identification. It not infrequently happens that the mark, 

 or a portion of the mark, is placed over a sample hole. 



Several metallic devices have been introduced for the better mark- 

 ing of cotton. These are placed securely on the tie and can not be 

 removed without removing the band on which the tag is fastened. 

 If desired, two or more of these metal tags may be placed on the 

 bale. The number and location of the ginnery at which the cotton 

 was baled is stamped on the tag, thus furnishing means for deter- 

 mining by whom the cotton was packed. The tags are numbered 

 serially so that the ginner may readily ascertain the producer of cot- 

 ton as to which complaint is made. 



CONDITION OF AMERICAN COTTON IN LCTEEPOOL. 



In a recent report to the Department of State the American consul 

 at Liverpool wrote in regard to the condition in which cotton arrived 

 at that port from the United States : 



It rarely happens tliat one sees a carefully prepared bale of American cotton, 

 and it is equally as rare to see a carelessly prepared bale among tlie foreign 

 shipments. * * * The constant complaints with regard to American baling 

 appear to arise from the inconvenience which is thereby caused in handling the 

 bales as well as from damage to the cotton and consequent loss from insecurity 

 of the padding. The ineonvenience arises by reason of the marliing being so 

 damaged or torn away at times as to make it difficult to determine all of the 

 particular bales which are due to a particular consignee, and delay and diflS- 

 culty are the outcome. The writer saw on the quays bales which had been 

 practically denuded of covering. It is quite clear from the manifest that a cer- 

 tain number of bales are due to a certain consignee, but there is a loss to some 

 one unless each receives the particular grade of cotton which he has purchased. 



The advantages, however, claimed for gin compression are lessened 

 if the bale be subjected to the usual cutting to obtain samples or if 

 the quality of the burlap used for covering be inferior. No manner 

 of packing can be effective if the package be surrendered to such a 

 system. Therefore the substitution of an entirely new system of 

 grading, which will limit the pulling to one sample from each bale 

 before the cotton is covered, and provide that grading shall be done 

 at the time of ginning, is suggested as a tentative plan for the sue- 



