The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-09-18
CIRCULAR LETTER

~ UC Of8tftI~ACtOfo ~ QUO Ge tHe- L
proving the present system Of boring and
couering cotton bales.
In view of the recent sudden and
alarming advance in the price of jute
bagging, an advance that will this
year entail on the cotton producers of
the country an expenditure for cover
ing their cotton of some So, 500, 600 in
excess of last year, the Farmers State
Union of Louisiana, at its annual
meeting held in Opelousas On the 1st
to 4th insts., judged the present time
opportune to call the attention of all
interested parties to the many defects
that exist in the present system of pre-
pairing cotton bales for market-de-
fects that increase the cost of handling,
the dangers from fire, and the liability
to damage and loss of weight, from
the time a bale leaves the gin until it
reaches the hands of the spinner.
It is needless to point out at any
length that all expenses on cotton,
whether for covering, transportation,
storing, COMPRISING, slowing on board
ship, &C., and all risks of damage, and
of loss in weight are charged up ulti-
mately to the producer, and to the
producer alone.
It therefore behooves the producer
to see that the system of preparing the
cotton for market, and of placing it in
the hands of the consumer, be as nearly
perfect as possible, so that expenses
and risks may be reduced to a mini
mum, and the price he receives for his
product correspondingly increased.
1t behooves all through whose hands
the cotton passes on its way to the
consumer to assist the producer in
this, so as to secure for their respective
! markets o. shipping points a full share
of the increased volume of business
that will certainly result from an i'm
proved and more economical method
of handling the crop.
The producers of cotton are repre-
sented and can be reached by the
various Farmers Alliances, Unions
and Oranges that have been organized
in the majority Of the Cotton States;
the middle men through whose hands
the cotton passes on its way to the
consumer can be approached through
the various Chambers of Commerce,
Cotton Exchanges and Maritime AS
sociations of the country.
To these organizations, then, this
circular letter is addressed, and they
are earnestly requested to give to the
subject matter the full consideration
that the Importance of the question
deserves and to aid with their counsel
and support in formulating and put
ting into effect measures to improve
the existing state of affairs.
The first point to which the atten-
ton is directed is the want of a uni
form size of press box for gin presses.
The drawbacks arising from the
consequent variety in the dimensions
and weights Of bales of cotton must be
apparent to the most cursory observer;
but, though these Inconvenience are
felt in many instances by the producer
himself, when he finds that he can
snugly load on his wagon a bale boxed
at one gin, while a bale boxed at an
other gin close by requires considerable
handling before it can be properly
secured on the same wagon, he does
not seem to realize that every one who
handles cotton on its way to the con,
sumner meets with similar inconveni-
ence, increased in proportion to the
concentration of the bales turned out
from various sized press boxes.
To the farmer in the country, it may
seem immaterial that he has to devote
a little more time and labor to getting
his bales properly loaded in his wagon,
but to the steamboats,, and especially
to the railroads, that carry these bales
to market, extra time and labor in
loading, and space lost through the
unequal dimensions of the bales, mean
extra expense and increased charges
for carriage.
If the bales are warehoused the
same troubles occur, and when they
go through the compress they are
often found so wide "that not one
press in ten can grasp them; as a con-
sequence they are bulged out at the
side, " and it becomes difficult to handle
and impossible to stow them to advan-
tage on board ship or elsewhere.
But it is when these bales are deliv-
cred alongside an o~cean-going vessel
that the greatest drawback resulting
from their varied dimensions is expe-
rienced; and it is precisely of this last
stage in this country, of the progress
of. the cotton towards the consumer
that our producers. as a rule are most