18 BULLETIN 1445, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The regulations under the act as now drawn by the Secretary 
provide for three classes of certificates issued by a duly constituted 
board of cotton classers. The first, called Form A, is merely an 
informative memorandum, which states the class of the sample 
submitted. It is not and can not be made a final certificate in the 
sense that it becomes prima facie evidence in the courts. The typi- 
cal Form A memorandum would be one issued to a holder of cotton 
who had submitted a sample for classification to a board of classers. 
If a cotton grower in the Southern States wishes a Form A memo- 
randum, he may send his samples to the secretary of the board of 
cotton examiners at New Orleans and his cotton will be classed 
on the payment of the necessary fees. Citizens of other States may 
apply to the board in New York. 
A Form B certificate is issued where two parties are in dispute 
as to the correct class of a sample that they agree is representative 
of the bale. The Form B certificate becomes final as between the 
parties concerned once it has been reviewed by the appeal board at 
Washington. 
Form C certificates are issued only after the cotton is in an ap- 
proved warehouse, and has been inspected and sampled under the 
supervision of agents of the Department of Agriculture or of some 
one approved by the department. When the classification has been 
reviewed it becomes a final certificate with standing as prima facie 
evidence in courts of the United States as long as the cotton is 
kept as provided for in the regulations. 
The provisions of the act and the regulations under it are broad 
enough to cover all the requirements of an appeal board to settle 
all kinds of disputes involving the determination of the qualities 
of cotton according to the adopted standards or according to sub- 
mitted types. 12 
The cotton standards act was soon found to have far-reaching 
consequences in the sale of American cotton abroad. The move- 
ment was started to adopt universal standards for American cotton, 
which were accepted as the official standards under the law. 
To facilitate the settlement of disputes, the members of appeal 
committees of recognized foreign exchanges that have adopted the 
universal standards for American cotton have been designated by 
the Secretary of Agriculture as an appeal committee in the settle- 
ment of disputes between American shippers and foreign importers 
arising over the grade of American cotton when the dispute arises 
after the cotton has reached its foreign destination. 
Though it is unlawful to sell cotton classed according to any 
other standard than the official cotton standards now known as the 
universal standards for American cotton, this does not preclude 
the use of private types where they are not used as a means of 
evading the law. 
The Sixty-eighth Congress, in passing the appropriation bill of 
the Department of Agriculture for the year 1924—25, provided for 
the classification of cotton under the authority of shipping-point 
inspection. The law demands that the class established shall be 
prima facie evidence in courts of the United States as to the true 
12 U. S. Dept. Agr. Service and Regulatory Announcements No. 80, August, 1923. 
