U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The spinner would like a better bale, kept under shelter until it is 
shipped to the mill, and with a covering which would keep the cotton 
clean and dry. Thus far very few bales thus wrapped and sheltered 
are to be found in the trade, and the industry is taxed for high 
insurance rates and for country damage claims instead of for proper 
warehousing and sheltering facilities and for careful handling. 
The farmer wants a better price, and believes that if there were 
not so many persons and processes between himself and the spinner 
he could get it. As matters stand to-day there are just three things 
which he can do to get more from his cotton crop, and in few locali- 
ties can he do all three. He is told either (1) to grow a longer 
staple, (2) to grow a higher-yielding variety, or (3) to pick it more 
carefully, so' as to have a better grade. Two of these are purely 
cultural propositions and the third is largely dependent for success 
upon the kindly consideration of the ginner. who may spoil a high- 
grade bale by running it just after a low bale without dumping the 
roll, by making a water pack, or by operating with an improper 
adjustment of saws and brushes. After a bale of good grade has 
been ginned the producer is still dependent upon the generosity of 
the buyer to give him the price to which the higher grade is entitled. 
This consideration and generosity the ginners and buyers of cotton 
do not always show. 
The farmer has no direct interest in the concentration of great 
quantities of cotton at compress points, nor in the process of com- 
pression, which adds nothing to the intrinsic value of his cotton. 
He has no direct interest in the patches added to the bale at the 
compress. He is not a party to the neglect which results in most of 
the country damage. It is true he sets no good example in this 
matter, but he receives no compensation for any extra care which 
he may bestow upon the finished bale. The city crop does not seem 
to constitute a direct loss to him. as he has sold the bales before most 
of the robbing is done, but he knows it is a tax on the trade, and he 
believes that all these taxes are deducted from the value of the cotton 
when the first offer is made him. 
One thing is evident to even the casual observer. There is not 
a single important step or process in the entire handling and market- 
ing scheme which owes its origin to a special consideration of the 
producer's interests. He is offered so much for his cotton, usually 
on a limit which is set by a firm which fixes it as a perfectly safe basis 
for its business. Competition among local buyers is his sole guar- 
anty of fair treatment and most of the buyers are the subordinates 
of middlemen. A multiplicity of buyers means that just so many 
more men are living on the profits made on the cotton of the com- 
munity after the farmers have parted with it. 
