38 BULLETIN 1445, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
with the least amount of expense and effort. Classing encourages 
the sale of cotton on description, thus reducing the cost of handling ; 
minimizes risk and enables buyer and seller to bargain on a narrower 
margin ; and adds to the value of cotton as collateral. 
Though a bale of cotton may change hands many times, it should 
be necessary to sample it but once. An expert classer is able to 
determine rather accurately from a representative sample the class 
of the cotton. The determination is made by sight and " feel," as 
well as by actual measurement. 
The United States Government is now authorized to class cotton 
under four acts, and the far-reaching consequences of the cotton 
standards act in particular, out of which has grown the adoption 
of the universal standards for American cotton, are only beginning 
to be apparent. 
Cotton purchased by merchants is assembled in even-runnino- lots 
to meet spinners' requirements. Distribution is accomplished 
through a vast system of warehouses and cotton yards, compressing 
plants and loading platforms, and a banking system evolved to 
" carry " the crop through time and space. 
Warehousing is essential to efficient cotton marketing. It affords 
physical protection from damage by weather or dust; from loss 
because of fire, mutilation, or petty picking ; and from " tag switch- 
ing " and other forms of fraud or theft. It provides the means of 
converting the title to cotton into more desirable collateral and 
makes possible a policy of gradual marketing. The warehouse 
receipt should show, among other things, the grade, staple, and 
condition of the lint; the weight of the bale; the tag number; by 
whom the cotton was classed; and a statement as to the insurance 
of the cotton and the negotiability of the receipt. The value of the 
warehouse receipt depends further upon the structure and location 
of the warehouse, upon the insurance provided, the size and nature 
of the bond furnished, and the efficiency, integrity, and standing of 
the responsible officials. The Federal Government through the 
United States warehouse act and the principal cotton-growing 
States, through their legislative enactments calculated to meet the 
needs of the sections individually, are exercising considerable regu- 
lation and supervision over the warehousing of the American cotton 
crop. 
The development of a high class inspection service, in connection 
with the adoption of universal standards for American cotton, should 
eliminate some of the cost of marketing cotton. Whether provided 
by private business concerns, independently, or under supervision 
by a State, or by the National Government, inspection should (1) 
give the distant buyer confidence in the seller's statements of quality 
and quantity of product, and (2) assure the owner that the com- 
modity, and his rights in it, are fairly protected when it gets beyond 
his immediate supervision. 
Regulatory measures may originate in trade organizations or in 
some Government unit. They should be resorted to only when all 
other methods fail to prevent undesirable practices or to encourage 
practices conducive to general welfare. Among the many regulatory 
activities affecting the orderly marketing of cotton should be noted 
those in connection with the cotton futures act, railroad transporta- 
