10 BULLETII^ 146^ U. S. DEPAETMEl^T OF AGEICULTUKE. 
the farmer's debt, xlt current prices, the crop of 1913 was probably 
no exception to the rule, and left the producers poorer for having 
groTvTi it. 
THE SYSTEM OF MARKETING AT CHARLESTON. 
The structure of the market system at Charleston is the same now 
that it has been for mam^ years, and is similar to that formerly found 
at most of the other leading cotton markets. It consists^of cotton 
buyers, factors or commission merchants, and warehousemen. The 
buyer at Charleston does not buy from the farmer, but only from^ 
the factor. In theory the factor acts as the seUing agent for the 
farmer and receives a commission on sales. He never sells directly 
to the mills, but only to cotton buyers. But, in fact, the chief busi- 
ness of the factor is to advance money and supplies to faamers to 
enable them to make their crops and to collect these accounts when 
due. He is the money lender and is indispensable when the farmer 
is in debt or has insufficient capital for the year's needs. The num- 
ber of acres planted in cotton by a man measures in a rough way. the 
amount of the advances a factor is willing to make to him on his 
crop, and this fact accounts for the persistence of many in gro^vmg 
cotton under present low prices. Warehousemen simply receive a 
storage fee and are not concerned in the actual buying or selhng of 
cotton. The system is good in theory, and v/as formerly much 
more general, but its inflexibility is regrettable, and in many cities 
outside of the Sea Island section this has led to great changes in 
practice or to the entire abandonment of the system. 
There are some unfortunate conditions and practices existing in 
and around Charleston which are detrimental to the Sea Island 
trade. These have the sanction of precedent or custom and are 
therefore hard to change or eradicate. 
CENTRALIZATION OF MARKET CONTROL AT CHARLESTON. 
Perhaps one of the most notable of the local conditions is the fact 
that a single firm of cotton buyers usually purchases over three- 
fom^ths of the Carolina crop. Four firms of factors make practically 
all of the advances toward raising the crop. The firm of buyers 
and aU four of the factors do their banking with the same institu- 
tion. The cotton-buying firm is represented on the directorate of 
the bank. The potential power of a firm of cotton buyers in such 
a position is, of course, great; and it matters not how square the 
relation between the cotton buyer and the bank is or may have 
been, there are always many who will suspect that the firm's connec- 
tion v/ith the bank is being used to a selfish end. 
Under ordinary conditions in the cotton trade, farmers would be 
in a position to meet such a situation by offering their cotton through 
other brokers or to other cotton buyers. But in Charleston this is 
