SERVICES IN COTTON MARKETING 27 
organizations independently or under supervision, by municipalities, 
by a State, or by the National Government. 
FUNCTIONS 
The functions of inspection service are: (1) To give the distant 
buyer confidence in the seller's statements of quality and quantity 
of product and (2) to assure the owner that the commodity, and 
his rights in it, are fairly protected when it gets beyond his imme- 
diate supervision. Incidentally it tends to break up sharp practice, 
but its primary object is to broaden the market for each individual 
who wishes to buy and sell. 
The first function can best be performed when the standards for 
measurement are uniform throughout the world and are well known. 
The adoption of universal standards for American cotton, coupled 
with a high-class inspection service, should in time eliminate much 
of the expense of marketing. A Federal inspection service is being- 
worked out for the state-wide cooperative marketing associations 
at their request. 'As a prerequisite they are having their cotton 
classers licensed under the cotton standards act. They put up their 
even-running lots according to the universal standards, and the 
Federal Government in turn sends out an expert cotton classer to 
see that the cotton is properly classed. 
The second function of inspection service for cotton marketing 
was organized in the larger importing and exporting markets, such 
as Liverpool, New Orleans, and New York. It was instituted to 
serve primarily the members of the exchange and the clients from 
whom they bought cotton, but under prescribed conditions others 
might use it. As the business has expanded the value and public 
nature of the service has become more clearly recognized and the 
service has been expanded from time to time. The main function 
of the service as it now exists is to see that the cotton as it arrives 
is in good merchantable condition, that it is properly weighed and 
sampled, and that it is rightly handled otherwise. The inspection 
bureau which ordinarily performs such service is usually composed 
of an inspector in chief and two or more members. They serve the 
members of the local exchange primarily, but outside parties may 
obtain their services by paying the customary fee. Prescribed rules 
govern the inspection service provided by the exchanges. 
SERVICES 
The service of the inspection bureau may be obtained in making 
any sort of cotton-marketing transaction permitted by the constitu- 
tion and by-laws of the exchange. The object is to provide expert 
service at a minimum cost and of a character above reproach. 
The working out and establishing by the United States Govern- 
ment of official standards for the classification of American cotton 
laid the foundation for many improvements in cotton-marketing 
methods, such as providing a basis for a wide-spread price quota- 
tion service and more equitable means of settling disputes. 
The cotton standards act is largely a service act, though it con- 
tains important regulatory features. The establishment of the of- 
ficial cotton standards as universal standards has gone a long way 
toward lessening the importance attached to the regulatory features 
