8 BULLETIN 121, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
fluence more or less the value of cotton to a spinner. If we compare 
a 500-pound bale of middling with a 500-pound bale of good mid- 
dling on the basis of the above percentages, ignoring tare, we find 
that the middling bale produces 424.45 pounds of yarn or thread, 
while the good middling produces 453.30 pounds. These figures show 
a difference in the amount of finished product of 28.85 pounds, which 
represents an important item to the manufacturer, as this 28.85 
pounds, if it had not been removed as waste, would have appeared as 
finished yarn and thus would be worth the value of the finished 
product. Again, the machines must be operated just as long, at the 
same or greater cost to the mill, to produce the 424.45 pounds from 
the middling bale as they are to produce the 453.30 pounds from the 
good middling bale. 
Again, the machines can not run as fast or produce as much when 
running on low grades as when on the higher grades. Therefore it is 
apparent that increased labor charges per pound accrue on a de- 
creased outturn of production. This is due to the increased per- 
centage of waste and necessarily slower speeds, and it is necessary 
either to operate with a lower production or to overcome these factors 
by running double shifts of operators on some processes or by increas- 
ing the equipment for these processes, either of which is an expense 
to the manufacturer, and adds its influence to the relation of values 
between the grades. 
Again, on account of the increased amount of foreign matter in the 
lower grades such machines as the picker and card require more fre- 
quent cleaning or " stripping.*' This necessitates more frequent stop- 
page of the machinery for this purpose, especially of the cards, which 
reduces production and increases cost. It should be remembered also 
that the low grades of staple cotton have only a very limited use in 
the regular or so-called white lines of goods. It is sometimes the 
custom to mix low grades of oif-colored cottons in very small quanti- 
ties with the better grades. If a great number of low-grade bales 
should be put through the mill simultaneously the color of the yarn 
cr cloth would likely be of such character as to be considered by the 
trade as undesirable, or difficult to bleach, or to dye with such delicate 
shades as are sometimes used. This attitude of the trade accounts 
largely for the discrimination against the low-grade staples. It is a 
question how far this discrimination should be carried, as frequently 
these low grades, after being cleaned of their excessive trash, are 
almost as valuable to the spinner as the better grades. 
Summarizing these statements it seems that every increase of waste 
or of labor necessary and every per cent by which production is de- 
c reused increases the final cost per pound to the mill. The important 
fact is that even with a reduced production all overhead or fixed 
