COTTON WAREHOUSES. 11 
efficient warehouse service. This is far from the case. Most of the 
best storage houses belong to the cotton mills and to cotton factors 
or commission merchants. The mills have built their warehouses 
for storing the cotton which they buy for spinning. They were 
never intended as public storage houses, and they are available for 
such use in very few instances. The factors have not built ware- 
houses for the purpose of doing a storage business, but in order to 
aid in their regular transactions. But few of these persons would 
build warehouses for the storage fees they collect, but they are 
forced to operate the warehouses in order to handle the cotton which 
is consigned to them for sale. It will be seen, therefore, that but 
few of the best storage houses now in use are available to the farmer 
unless he is willing to ship his cotton to the factor and pay him a fee for 
selling it, in addition to regular storage charges. Many farmers are 
averse to shipping their cotton to another town and consigning it to 
a factor or commission merchant. They usually expect to receive 
the money at the time the cotton is delivered. Many farmers are 
reluctant to pay any charges whatever. This attitude is unfortu- 
nate, for it eliminates them from participation in the use of the best 
storage facilities,“ 
HE SMALL WAREHOUSE RENDERS POOR SERVICE. 
The service rendered by the small warehouses in the primary 
markets is almost universally unsatisfactory. The warehouse own- 
ers are not to blame for this poor service. The cost of handling 
is much greater than in the case of larger establishments, and 
the insurance rate is usually four or five times as great as in the 
standard warehouses in larger towns. One might at first be inclined 
to think that they should erect costly buildings, but in most cases 
this would not pay, for there is not a sufficient volume of business. 
Very few farmers will store their cotton when the market price is 
fairly satisfactory. A good storage building might be erected in a 
small town and a fair profit be made for one year, but it might be 
four years or even longer before it would again be well patronized. 
The chances are that during this period the fees collected would not 
pay the cost of operation. The investor would lose all of the money 
made in one year in addition to the interest on the funds invested 
in the building. The result is that most of the warehouses erected 
in such towns are owned primarily by merchants or cotton buyers 
for use in connection with their business. They are not intended 
for the use of farmers, and when a year of very low prices comes they 
are not in position to render the service that the farmer expects. 
COOPERATION ON THE PART OF FARMERS. 
From the foregoing it would seem that the most satisfactory solu- 
tion of the situation would be for the farmers to form cooperative 
“ 
