84 BULLETIN 1392, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
and the South Carolina association about 450, the rate of payment 
being 15 cents per bale in each association. A few were used by 
three other associations, under special conditions, the rate of pay- 
ment ranging from 20 cents to 50 cents per bale. The Mississippi 
staple association, as previously outlined, has its local managers at 
each receiving point. The other seven associations provide no 
special aid in delivering beyond, in some States, such assistance as 
may be rendered by local field-service workers. 
WAREHOUSING 
The associations, while having the authority to form subsidiary 
warehousing corporations, have not found it necessary or advisable 
to provide their own storage facilities. They use public warehouses, 
selecting those which are advantageously located and most suitable 
for their purpose. 
Warehousing is necessary to protect cotton from damage, deterio- 
ration, and loss from theft; to obtain economical handling in connec- 
tion with its movement in the marketing process; and to facilitate 
financing by providing negotiable receipts which are recognized as 
desirable collateral for loan purposes. The integrity of the receipt 
is largely determined by the conditions under which it is issued. For 
this reason some of the associations use only warehouses licensed 
under the United States warehouse act, and certain others use them 
for the major portion of their cotton. The warehouses not so licensed 
must have also the approval of lending banks. 
The associations have found that their use of many small interior 
warehouses is expensive and in other ways undesirable. Concentra- 
tion in relatively few advantageously located warehouses has re- 
sulted in a lower storage cost, a reduced insurance premium, and 
decided advantages in handling, selling, and shipping. The extent 
to which concentration is desirable or practical varies in the different 
States, depending mainly on the character and extent of existing 
storage facilities, railroad facilities, tariff rates, and especially the 
consuming markets to which the cotton is to be shipped. 
The Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana associations concentrate all 
their cotton at Gulf ports—at Houston, Galveston, and New Orleans, 
respectively. Prior to adopting this plan of port concentration the 
Texas association used 71 interior warehouses or compresses, Okla- 
homa 22, and Louisiana 5. The North Carolina association has 
reduced the number of storage places used from 80 to about 46; 
Alabama, from about 200 to 125; and some of the others have made 
equal or greater reductions. During the 1924-25 season the Missis- 
sippi staple association used 21, Arizona 2, Arkansas Cotton Grow- 
ers’ Cooperative Association about 25, the Arkansas Farmers’ Union 
association about 9, Georgia 17, the Mississippi Farm Bureau asso- 
ciation 31, Tennessee 6, and Missouri 5. 
In the States outside of southern mill districts where the bulk of 
the cotton crop is compressed, storing occurs at interior or port com- 
press points in the large warehouses operated in connection with the 
compresses. The interior compresses reduce the size of the gin bale 
by compressing it from a density of about 12 pounds per cubic foot 
to a “standard” density of from 22 to 24 pounds, resulting in lower 
costs for freight, storage, and insurance. Freight rates usually in- 
clude the charge for compressing. 
