The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-06-06

have we to believe that they will not
battle every attempt to thwart them?
COTTON BAGGING VS.. JUTE BAGGING.
The late "alliance" convention at
Birmingham, Ala, composed ofrep-
resentatives of the cotton-growing
States, adopted cotton bagging as the
future covering for cotton bales in
lieu of the jute bagging, the price of
which has been SO greatly increased
by the combination of protected iute
bagging manufacturers known as the
"bagging trust" The substitution
of cotton for jute as the material for
bale coverings promises several very
considerable advantages. To begin
with, it would increase the demand
for cotton.
According to Mr.. w. H. Lawson,
who was appointed, with others, by
the convention to confer with inter-
ested persons, it will require 100000
bales of cotton to make the 100000
600 yards of cloth needed to cover a
crop of 100000 bales, circum-
stance which must tend to enhance
the price OF cotton at least one-fourth
ola cent a pound, or $1.25 bale.
1t is evidently better for planters to
use such a covering as will add to
the value of their crop, and an in
creased value of $S,75O,OOO is worth
some effort.
The substitution of cotton for jute
will be much facilitated, however, if
the cotton planters can secure q re-
duction of the tariff on cotton cover
ed with cotton bagging, and to this
they are addressing their chief ener-
gies. The average loss of bale cotton
covered with cotton cloth, it is rea-
sonably held, would be less than in
the case of bales covered with jute
bagging, and this difference should
be recognized by those who buy and
sell cotton. The allowance for tare
should conform to the conditions
created by the use of a material for
covering both better and lighter than
the material now in use.
Jute bagging of the best quality
weighs 81 pounds per yard, six yards
being used to bale. at an aggregate
cost of &c cents. Cotton bagging
for the same bale, weighing I pound
per yard, seven yards to the bale,
would cost S73 cents. The cotton
covering plainly costs the most, but
as it weighs but st pounds, while the
jute covering weighs 134 pounds,
the unfavorable difference can be
more than balanced by just tare
allowance. The next conclusion
reached by Mr.. Lawson is that for a
5O0-pound bale the planter would
net, with cotton bagging, $42.48,
with jute bagging $41.954, gain to
him per bale of 52f cents. In the
case of inferior jute bagging the gain
would only be about 16a cents per
bale.
To this direct gain must be added,
of course, the indirect advantage,
noted above, Of an increased con-
sumption of 100, 900 bales of cotton
in the South in the manufacture of
cotton bagging. In Mr.. Lawson's
opinion it is important that the ac-
tual tare should be deducted from
the price of the bale in the market
where it is first sold. IF this be
done it will be practicable, he thinks,
to force every producer of cotton to
use cotton bagging. Undoubtedly
it will be better, if practicable, to
take the tax off here under proper
supervision than to have it done in
Liverpool.
The planters of the South have
the sympathy of the Whole country
in their struggles against an odious
monopoly, and it is to be hoped that
they will persist in their organization
against it until they create COMPETE
ton on e basis broad enough to be
permanent.