8 
BULLETIN" 1444, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Bleaching qualities of the yarn or cloth are determined by the 
grade of cotton and they affect demand. The yarn which bleaches 
white with what the trade calls "bloom" has more value than the 
yarn with a dead appearance or a slaty bluish cast. According to 
tests, the yarn made of cotton above Middling is bloomy white, 
Middling makes white yarn, and the yarns from grades below Mid- 
dling have a slaty bluish cast. Moreover, where goods are sold in 
the gray, the spots in the lower grades may decrease the value. 
In making his selection the spinner weighs other characteristics 
of certain lots of cotton. He may say the cotton lacks character, 
which usually means that its color is more or less negative, or its 
feel lacks life and strength. Cotton may show many immature 
fibers or fibers that are partly perished. Such defects in cotton 
lessen the number of its uses. 
Mills may develop, through brands or otherwise, a good will for 
a particular kind of cloth that requires certain characteristics in 
the raw cotton. This may have an important effect on the demand 
for the desired cotton. 6 
The spinning of each grade of cotton requires a different ma- 
chinery " set-up " for best results. The demand, therefore, can not 
readily adjust itself to radical changes in the grade of crops. This 
is an important cause of the wide fluctuations in price as between 
grades. 
Supplies of other textile materials affect the demand for cotton. 
In weaving, the yarns of silk, wool, linen, or cotton are used in 
almost any combination. When the goods made of the different 
materials come on the market, one is substituted for the other if 
supply or price conditions seem to warrant it. 
Table 9. — Baiv fibers other than cotton consumed in textile industries in the 
United States, census years 1904-1919 
Year 
Wool 
Animal hair 
Silk 
Flax 
Hemp, jute, 
etc. 
1904 
Pounds 
501, 424, 203 
559, 850, 995 
510, 008, 799 
496, 434, 834 
Pounds 
44, 079, 928 
41, 549, 822 
44, 821, 941 
55, 364, 735 
Pounds 
11, 572, 783 
17, 729, 306 
25, 021, 945 
27, 857, 055 
Pounds 
0) 
28, 063, 703 
26, 455, 737 
12, 787, 560 
Pounds 
0) 
1909... 
632, 786, 278 
1914 -. 
751, 008, 927 
1919 
570, 494, 610 
Rearranged from Fourteenth Census of the United States, Manufactures, Vol. X, p. 150. 
i Not available. 
MEASURES OF DEMAND 
Spinners' weekly takings, or " gone out of sight " movement, is 
used rather generally as one indicator of the state of demand. This 
figure means shipment to mills, not mill purchases, and may not be 
timed with the sale of goods, or purchase of the cotton, or fixing of the 
price of the cotton which may take place either before or after the 
shipment of the cotton. The figures tend to forecast mill activity 
rather than to indicate the state of the market. 
6 For detailed analysis of qualities of cotton affecting demand, see Textile World, Aug. 
16, 1924, p. 43. 
