PBIMABY COTTON" MARKET CONDITIONS IN OKLAHOMA. 
21 
and (5) the utter failure of competition to secure proper discrimina- 
tion in gradations of prices is as much a surprise to the writers as it 
will be to the cotton interests themselves. 
In such cases as that of Purcell, where the average price paid for 9 
strict middling bales is actually 75 cents per bale more than the 
average price of 7 good middlings, it would appear that there is no 
attempt to distinguish between grades above middling, and that it 
is merely a matter of chance which grade happens to show the best 
average price. The same condition is indicated at Norman, where, 
on November 4, 7 bales of middling averaged slightly higher than 5 
bales of strict middling. Marietta on November 16 showed a similar 
condition. 
A failure to distinguish between adjacent high grades will not 
account, however, for such showings as that for Erick on November 
4, when the average price paid for 3 strict low middlings was $1.90 
per bale above the price paid for 2 good middlings. Here is a jump 
of 3 full grades, with the lower group of bales bringing a decided 
premium. Again at Okemah, on November 18 3 we have 2 low mid- 
dlings bringing $1.75 per bale above the average price of 6 strict 
middlings, another instance of missing the proper relation between 
bales by 3 grades. 
It is hardly credible that buyers in towns where so much cotton is 
handled could make such mistakes in the average grading of even 
one day, and the most plausible explanation which suggests itself is 
that the farmer must insist upon actively developing the latent com- 
petition in the town if he is to profit by it. In other words, the first 
offer made may have little regard to the real value of the bale. The 
offer may also be influenced by the known necessities or obligations 
of the seller. 
Table X. — High-grade hales selling for less than low grade and amount of 
premium these should have or ought. 
MAN GUM, OKLA. 
Lower grade. 
Higher grade. 
Total 
penalty 
on good 
bales. 
Difference 
sheet 
premium 
for these 
bales. 
Date. 
Number 
of bales. 
Grade. 
Average 
price per 
pound. 
Number 
of bales. 
Grade. 
Average 
price per 
pound. 
Loss to 
growers. 
1912. 
Nov. 7 
11 
12 
Dec. 13 
5 
1 
2 
4 
S.L.M.. 
S.L.M.. 
S.L.M.. 

Cents. 
11.50 
11.85 
11.61 
10.81 
3 
5 
3 
1 
S.M 
S.M 
M 
L.M.... 
Cents. 
11.41 
11.75 
11.58 
10.50 
SI. 35 
2.50 
.45 
1.55 
$7.50 
12.50 
5.63 
13.75 
$8.55 
15.00 
6.08 
15.30 
MOUNTAIN PARK, OKLA. 
Nov. 4 
11 
18 
21 
4 
M 
11.49 
5 
S.M 
11.47 
$0.50 
$3.23 
2 
M 
12.03 
7 
S.M 
11.87 
5.60 
4.38 
6 
L.M.... 
11.09 
5 
M 
10.98 
2.75 
31.25 
3 
M 
11.60 
4 
S.M 
11.49 
2.20 
3.75 
$3. 73 
9.98 
34.00 
5.95 
