PRIMARY MARKET PRICES AND QUALITIES OF COTTON. 3 
The farmer should be convinced of the importance of producing 
good staple and of care in picking and housing it. The ginner should 
be required to operate his gins at the right speed—approximately 400 
revolutions per minute for the average run of cotton—since fully 10 
per cent of the samples in this investigation were so badly ginned as 
to be lowered about one grade in value. Assuming that the results 
of this survey fairly represent the condition in the Cotton Belt, the 
losses for the season of 1913-14 from poor ginning alone exceeded 
$2,000,000. 
Adequate covering for the bale is necessary to protect the lint, but 
excessive tare is uneconomical. H. W. Macalister, a leading member 
of the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners’ and 
Manufacturers’ Association,’ has stated that a change from the 
present system of selling cotton to selling on net weight would result 
in a saving to the producer on export cotton alone, based on 7,000,000 
bales, of $12,852,000, or approximately $1.85 per bale. 
Proper storage after ginning would result in a tremendous saving, 
as country damage assumes huge proportions. Warehouses are an 
economic necessity in a proper system of cotton marketing. In the 
years of abundant harvest the producer can store his cotton and with 
the warehouse receipt negotiate such loans as his needs may demand. 
Without the warehouse he has to market his cotton as rapidly as 
sinned, which results in a depression in prices incident to a giutted 
market, or he must subject it to country damage and other risks. 
Figures obtained in the course of this study indicate that practically 
no premium is paid for the grades above Middling. Of the 38,000 
samples collected, 9,916 bales were better than Middling, averaging 
41 points above Middling in value, or $2.05 per bale. Assuming that 
the crop of 1913-14 graded the same as the samples in this survey, 
it would indicate that the producers lost that year, through a failure 
to secure premiums on their high grades, a sum in excess of $7,500,000. 
When conditions are favorable, great economies may be effected 
through the organization of cooperative associations for the proper 
handling and marketing of cotton. Organizing on a community 
basis will permit the development and maintenance of a pure variety 
of cotton of a given length of staple. This development of one va- 
riety must be accompanied by better methods of harvesting, ginning, 
and storing. When the cotton is ready for marketing, better prices 
can be secured by assembling it at a central point, having it properly 
classed, and offering it for sale in even-running lots of grade and 
staple. 
1U.8S. Department of State. Special Consular Reports on Cotton Tare. 1912. See page 2%. 
