The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-12
MR.. BUGG REPLIES.
he Contradiets MIR. HaskeII'S State
wents About DeIInted Cotton Seed


dissscts the question of delinting upland
cotton seed as a business. and reaches the
conclusion from his standpoint that there
IS no profit in the business. and that II will
only lead TO failure and disappointment.
While no particular methods or names
are mentioned in Mr.. Haskeu's card. il
IL apparent that there are references TO the
machine or process invented by Mr.. O. T.
Bugg, who is now living in this city. and
who is making arrangements to establish
a plant for the delinung of the upland
ssed..Mr. Bugg was asked yesterday about
che claim that there is no profit in the
business he proposes to undertake.
"If there is no profit in the business of
d5linting upland cotton seed about which
3Ir. Haskell knows absolutely nothing.
why does he put himself to so much trou-
Die to show it to the general public?" Mr..
Bugg asked. 1t cannot be that he is afraid
Of competition in the purchase of seed
from the poor farmer who is prevented
from offering his seed in the open markets
Of the woRd, because it is covered with
fiber after it leaves the gin. which pre-
vents its expectation or its use BY the
English oil mills.
mir. Haskell says no doubt seed can be
deIinted successfully because there are
many machines for the purpose, but that
the business has proven Improbable dur
ing the past fifteen years. 1 defy him to
name a single machine that has so far been
a commercial success.
Then, he claims that the causes of the
failure to successfully export cotton seed
is due to the superiority Of the American
method of manufacture over that of the
English method. In answer to this ! will
take as a basis of calculation Mr. Has
kelIs own figures, as to the cost Of a short
ton of seed delivered at his mill which is
SLID per ton. But to make the calculation
easier viii admit that Mr. Haskell paid
$2 per short ton. This is Coo per 100 pounds
of unlimited seed. Now to get long ton
22i0 pounds it would be necessary to buy
900 pounds of unlimited seed
which would cost $3.50. Now sup
pose that Messrs. Stead & Co,
who have large miu in Liverpool, had
my machine and mill in Savannah, in
opposition to Mr.. Haskell. Then 900
pounds of unlimited seed as shown, would
cost them, according to Mr.. HaskelTs
figures, $3.50 per ton. This 900 pounds
of unlimited would produce 40 pounds of
llntens, worth, say cents per pound, and
200 pounds of short fiber, worth l cent, a
total of $3.50. Deduc. this by-product
from the original cost of the seed, $3.50,
and you have Sl280, and add the cost of
working it, 81 per ton, ana it is seen that
one long ton of seed would cost Messrs.
Stead & Co. $780, Now what did the
same amount of cleared seed cost Messrs
Stead & Co in Liverpool? l will take
Mr.. Haskelfs figure, $40 per ton, which is
s. per ton lower than any market quo
tations which he can show me, and which
IS 81 per ton lower than merchants above
and below him have obtained for clean
sea island cotton seed during the past sea-
son, and il will show that if Stead & Co.
had their mill in Savannah, instead of Liv-
erpool, their raw material, cleaned cotton
seed would cost them $3.50 per ton, in
stead of $40 per ton, admitting Mr.. Has
kells figures TO be correct which l do not.
Mr.. Haskell admits "a prohtsof $1.20 per
ton when he only obtained $50 per ton for
the seed shipped by him and he can show
10 quotations for any such prices. THE
lowest prices reached during the past
season for Egyptian seed was so per ton
and the Egyptian seed is known to be IN
ferior in every respect to the upland
cleaned seed and is so acknowledge by
the chemist of the Royal Agricultural So
ciety of England Cotton seed is worth
in the English market to-day s25 per ton
and Notwithstanding these prices they
are enable to compete in the markets of
the world in the sale of their products
with Mr.. Haskelrs mills which pays only
al.75 per short ton for fibre cotton seed.
Mr.. Haskell claims that the English
method has time and again been tried in
this country and failed l defy him 10
point to one single instance of failure,
and [ will point to several mills that are
now in successful operation and have been
for number of years. These are the
Madison, Fla, Mill, owned and operated
by the Coats Thread people; the mill at
Blackshear, Ga, and the mill at Valdosta
erected by Mr.. Van Wrinkle of Atlanta
and L could name him one or two other
mills which will be in operation the COM
ing season which will use the English
method of manufacture.
The truth of the matter is this. AS long
as the oil mills of America can keep the
planter from putting his cotton seed in
such condition that he can export it then
the mills can fix the price to be paid for it,
but the moment it is cleaned then the for
sgn price regulates its price, and when any
effort is made to open the markets of the
world for this product then the mills will
surely come out as protectors of the gem
eral public and by talking and writing try
to discourage any efforts made in this di
rection. L am ready to prove that cotton
seed is worth S25 per ton in the foreign
markets and can prove every statement 1
have made
If there is no merit in the enterprise
why is it that so much trouble should be
taken by the oil mills to refute my state
lhents and thereby constitute themselves
the protectors of the general public. Mr..
Haskell admits having traded in the nat
ural delinted cotton seed for past eight
Years and then states that there is nothing
but failure and disappointment in the bus
mess. 1t would seem under the circum
stances that he would give it up after eight
Years experience and let some other fellow
try 1t, instead of expanding his time and
energy to keep the other fellow from put
ting his capital into the business.
Whenever the foreign manufacturers
md that they can get all the clean seed
from America that is needed by them
then they will buy more raw material and
less manufactured product, and that is
where the shoe pinohes the American
mills. The United Kingdom in 1894 took
the manufactured product of over 100000
tons of American cotton seed, because
they could not get the raw material. Not
Wlthstanding the prevailing price for cot
ton seed in Liverpool and Hull was $35
per ton They had exhausted the E,gVp-