20 BULLETIN 216, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
TaBLE VIII.—Comparative cost, storage capacity, insurance rates, and other data con- 
cerning public and private warehouses classified according to construction. . 
Total | Average 
: : Cost per | Average 
State. Type of warehouse | number. oa capacity | otal cost. pale incuvanoe 
construction). in fla ; 
( ) bales. A capacity.| rate. 
ReOntigs sn. se Wioodes mie sre: 26 14, 250 548 $48, 350 $3. 40 $3. 30 
Corrugated iron... 69 53, 935 782 125, 820 2.35 2.70 
IBTICKSY es 7. onan 215 | 280,170 1,303 | 1,089,500 3. 89 1.95 
Standard: (3. 320-= 5 10, 700 2,140 31,7 2.97 1.52 
Concrete or stone.. 22 20, 750 944 76, 500 3. 64 2. 29 
North Carolina. .... Bricks soe 11 14, 000 1, 273 40, 950 2. 925 1.96 
Standards eee! 5 13, 250 2,650 30, 450 1.54 1,25 
Oklahoma.......--- Corrugated iron... 22 27, 850 1, 266 27, 820 1.00 2.20 
TABLE IX.—Comparative cost, storage capacity, insurance rates, and other data con- 
cerning public and private warehouses classified according to sprinkler equipment. 
Total | Average 
State. Equipment of ware- | 7s mper. | Capacity | capacity | Total ast oor pce. 
houses. in flat in flat cost. : 
bales. bales. capacity. rate. 
Georgia: ss f725i m2 With sprinklers... .- 30 | 129,200 4,307 | $527,900 $4. 09 $0. 246 
Without sprinklers. . 30 63, 200 2,107 | 248,600 3.77 1. 67 
North Carolina. .... With sprinklers... .- 8 47,900 5,988 | 173,500 3. 62 . 238 
Without sprinklers. . 8 8, 600 1,075 22, 950 2. 67 1.52 
} 
PLAN, EQUIPMENT, AND COST. 
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of proper planning, 
construction, and equipment of cotton warehouses. These have an 
important bearing not only upon the cost of the structure itself and 
the cost of handling cotton but also upon insurance rates. The 
public warehouses now in use which are equipped with automatic 
sprinklers have cost about $4 per bale storage capacity, and cotton 
stored in these buildings is insured at an average of about 25 cents on 
the $100 per annum. ‘These investigations show clearly that the 
average cost of warehouses not so equipped is not very much less than 
$4 per bale storage capacity, while the insurance rate is very much 
higher, comparatively speaking. It is admitted that the automatic 
sprinkler equipment is expensive, but the warehouses now in use 
which are equipped with sprinklers are comparatively large, most of 
them have been built according to the underwriters’ standards, and 
in a general way they have been planned and built on a business 
basis, which accounts for the saving in cost of construction. 
If the present crop of cotton is assumed to be 16,000,000 bales, new 
warehouses to store all of it could be constructed and equipped with 
automatic sprinklers for $64,000,000 or less. If all of this crop should - 
be stored for a period of six months the cost of insurance at $2 per 
$100, which is lower than the average paid at present, would 
amount to $8,000,000 if the cotton is valued at $50 per bale. In the 
new warehouses costing $64,000,000 this cotton could be stored for 
