The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-26
COTTON BY THE CUBIC FOOT.
A PLAN TO BRING ABOUT THE
ADOPTION OF THE STANDARD
DALE.

Ocean Freight by the Space Would
Prove More satisfactory to Ship
pers Than the Present Pound Rate
and Would Aid in the Adoption Of
Uniform Bale as Recommended
by the New Orleans Conventional
Savannah shippers Views.
The decision of the convention of cotton
shippers in New Orleans in favor of a
standard bale Of the same length, the
same density and the same number Of
ties for every bale OF cotton shipped is
| generally approved by the cotton shippers
here. The New Orleans resolutions declare
in favor Of a bale sc inches in length, Is
pounds density to the cubic foot and with
eight iron bands. The shippers propose
to secure the adoption of this standard
through the efforts Of the cotton ex-
| changes. the railroads and the congresses.
by taking such action as to make the
bales which do not come up to the stand
ard practically understandable or rather
make the difference in the cost of ship
ment such as to make it to the interest
Of the producer to conform to the stand
ard.
Mr.. J. NJ. Barnard, Jr.. of Richardson
& Barnard, has given this subject con-
siderable attention. Mr.. Barnard's idea
IS that If a change in the method Of deter
mining ocean rates were made so that the
rate be by the cubic foot, and not by the
pound as at present this would eventually
result in the general adoption of the
standard bale.
Ships are now chartered by the ton"
said Mr.. Barnard ION a basis of 100 cubic
feet to the ton. on this basis we have 10
calculate a pound rate. If the bales run
according to the average we come ont
all right in our calculations. Ii they are
/ poorly pressed and Of odd lengths, we fail
TO get as much into the ship as we had
calculated upon, and lose accordingly
| We never know what we are going to get
] for ship or whether we make or lose
until after the ship is loaded If the rate
were based upon the cubic foot of space.
/ we would be able to make a much more
/ equitable rate. knowing how much space
| we had, we could tell exactly how many
! bales OF stanard measurement we could
/ get into the ship, and the rate would be
/ calculated accordingly. The advantage.
of course, would be in favor of the stand
ard bale and the tendency would be in IA
] ~.
! Where does the difficulty now lie in
| bringing about a standard bale?" Mr..
Barnard was asked.
THE difficulty is with the country
! presses, the presses where the cotton is
/ ginned and baled There is. no attempt az
/ regularity in packing cotton into bales
! and it is in the country that the reform
must begin"
Can this be easily done at small ex-
pense?"
/ 1T can" was the reply. An exnense
/ of 81 or 50 at each gin would be sufficient
/ to make the majority of the boxes con
! form to the standard length il vvouId
| only be necessary to nail in a few inches
/ of boards to shorten the box When the
| requirements were known it would be n
very simple matter to pack the cotton so
\ as TO give the proper density to the bale
! The congresses would do the rest II
| would be easy to find some means to make
| them comply with the standard REQUIRE
| ments heavier rate would be charged
/ for poorly compressed cotton, and if this
/ did not bring about a reform a refusal to
accept poorly compressed cotton would
/ soon have its effect"
/ The Savannah delegates to the New Or
leans convention will return home the
] latter part of this week. The action Of
/ the convention will be brought to the at
/ tention of the Cotton Growers Associa-
/ ton, which meets in New Orleans next
/ week.
/ To show how easy q. reform can be
! brought about by the ships it is only
/ necessary to refer to the change that
was wrought in the manner of bal
/ ing sea island cotton. That kind of cot
| ton was packed in round bales. The
| ships charged a much higher rate of
/ freight for round bales than for square
/ bales. The result was that in one sea-
son a change was affected from round to
/ square bales