6 BULLETIN 277, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Notwithstanding all of the objectionable features of the storage 
business as now conducted, the farmer frequently considers it neces- 
sary or to his advantage to hold his cotton. The past year has been 
most strenuous for the cotton farmer; one of the largest crops ever 
produced in the United States, the growth of 1914, has left his hands. 
However, the world’s visible supply, at the opening of the new 
cotton year, August 1, was in round figures about 1? million bales 
larger than a year earlier. That means a large proportion of the 
world’s cotton crop of 1914 growth was carried over and added to 
this season’s crop. However, the exports of cotton from this coun- 
try during the cotton year closed August 1, 1915, were very close to 
those of the year ended August 1,/1914. This year’s crop, at the 
time of this bulletin’s going to press, is still m the making. But 
when it is considered that im normal years there is a loss of from 
$30,000,000 to $75,000,000 from what is generally, although incor- 
rectly, called “country damage,” 1t will be seen that there is ample 
need of an adequate warehousing system, regardless of whether the 
crop is larger or smaller than normal. 
In connection with the value of a negotiable warehouse receipt, it 
should be said that proper State laws covering the issuance of the 
receipts are necessary. In order to be of greatest value the ware- 
house receipts should show beyond question the ownership of the 
product stored, and this accuracy can not be accomplished unless 
the States in which the warehouse companies operate have laws that 
properly guard the issuance of receipts. If the laws.of the State in 
which the warehouse is located are such as to throw any cloud upon 
the title of the goods covered by the receipt, the receipt immediately 
becomes almost worthless as collateral and defeats any effort to 
borrow money at cheap rates from outside sources. In addition to 
enacting such laws as will guarantee effectively the integrity of ware- 
house receipts, it seems advisable for all States to adopt a law of 
uniform warehouse receipts. This law is now in effect in many of the 
States, and has been approved by the American Warehousemen’s 
Association, the American Bankers’ Association, and the American 
Bar Association as being the best form in which laws can be made to 
protect both the owner of the goods and the lender of money against 
the receipts covering such goods. re 
The investigations previously referred to showed that there has 
been great loss in the construction of the present warehouses. | The 
data gathered seemed to prove that the average insurance rate on 
cotton in the buildings now in use is not less than $2 per annum 
on $100. It is also true that if the money that has been spent on 
these buildings had been expended economically and intelligently 
in the construction of standard warehouses, properly protected with 
automatic sprinkler equipment, the rate of insurance could be 
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