UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1445 
Washington, D. C. 
December, 1926 
SERVICES IN COTTON MARKETING 
Axonzo B. Cox, Agricultural Economist, Division of Cotton Marketing, Bureau 
of Agricultural Economics 1 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Preparing cotton for marketing chan- 
nels 2 
Ginning, baling, and wrapping 2 
Compressing 5 
Beginning 6 
Means of identification 6 
Standardization 7 
Present status of standardization- 7 
Universal standards for American 
cotton 11 
Cotton classing 14 
Number of times cotton is classed- 15 
Cotton classing and the farmer 16 
Government activity in cotton 
classing 17 
Assembling and distributing 19 
Assembling the cotton 19 
Distribution L 20 
Terms used in the movement of 
cotton 21 
Freight brokers 22 
Money transactions 22 
Controllers 22 
Warehousing 23 
Number and space 24 
Location 26 
Warehouse legislation 26 
Page 
Inspection and regulatory work 26 
Functions 27 
Services 27 
Regulatory work 28 
Financing cotton marketing 29 
Financing the processing and 
movement 29 
Financing the purchase 29 
Financing cotton stocks 30 
Methods of financing the growing 
cotton crop affect the methods 
of marketing 30 
Financing cotton out of the grow- 
ers' hands 31 
Types of market information and their 
sources 33 
Prices 34 
Functions and relationships of the 
markets 35 
Buyers and sellers 35 
Cotton handling 35 
Finance 36 
Cooperative performance of marketing 
services 36 
Summary 37 
Satisfactory delivery of cotton from the farm to the mill requires 
the performance of a number of essential services. These services 
must be compensated for in the spread between what the spinner 
pays for his cotton and what the grower receives for it. Efficient 
marketing is concerned with the most economical and satisfactory 
performance of the essential services. 
The cotton crop is grown by about 2,000,000 farmers on more 
than 40,000,000 acres of land scattered in 16 States. Cotton as it 
comes from the fields is not in condition to enter the channels of 
trade. 
Marketing may be considered from the standpoint of the owner of 
the commodity as the means of converting a physical commodity into 
purchasing power or value. To do this most effectively in the case 
J Credit is due Florena Cleaves for much assistance in the preparation of this report. 
1 
