The Van Buren press., 1897-06-26
SENATOR JONES' DENIAL.
His Views Of the Purposes Of the
American Cotton Company.


From the Manufacturers Record
II being well known that Senator
Jones, of Arkansas, is connected with
the American Cotton company, Mr..
Thomas P. Grasty. of the Manu-
factuers Record, called his attention
to the statement of Senator McEnery,
made in the senate on Saturday last, In
which that senator stated. not as
report or rumor. nor simply as belief,
but apparently as matter within his
own knowledge, that the American
Cotton company is trust that
its intention is to purchase the cotton
Of the South and bale 1t. and that
1.-The object of the organization Is TO
control the price Of cotton. and that
they will be backed in this '.by every
cotton exchange in America and every
cotton exchange in Liverpool. apd
asked him for statement on the sub
ject. Senator Jones said In reply:
Il am stakeholder and director in
the American Cotton company. This
company owns the patents for new
method of packing cotton. have been
for more than ten years personally en-
gagged in developing and perfecting this
press. While the idea Is simple, the
mechanical difficulties to be overcome
in carrying it out have been numerous
and very formidable. Some of these
have seemed at times to be absolutely
insurmountable, and l and my asso-
eiates have almost despaired Of success
at different times. But after years Of
close thought and numerous expert
ments we are now satisfied that we have
a perfect press. We do not propose to
operate the presses ourselves. but, on
the contrary. propose to lease them to
ginners, to be used by them for their
own benefit. Last fall, when the press
was unknown, we were compelled to
buy the cotton TO be packed on 1t,
because no one else would have cotton
packed ia an entirely new method. We
established and ran several presses in
different states to show to the farmers
and ginners what these presses were.
We baled cotton and sent it to mills for
trial all over the country, so that they
could test the new method, All this
was done for the purpose Of introducing
the invention. We are now running
daily gin and press at the Nashville
exposition for the same purpose. AS a
result we are now leasing presses
wherever we can. We have agents in
almost all the Southern States, and
have already made leases in quite a
number.
I'VE are, and must necessarily
remain. In competition with the
methods of packing cotton which have
been in use for century. We cannot
induce farmers nor ginners to take and
use our press unless it will do the work
cheaper and better than by the old way.
We claim that our method will result in
a great saving to farmers and ginners,
transportation lines and mills. and do
no harm to any of them. To induce
ginners who are timid to take and use
our presses we guarantee that cotton
packed in this way shall sell for as
much as the same cotton packed by any
other method, and agree to take the
cotton ourselves at such price if this
cannot be done. This is all that we
have to do with the price of cotton,
except that where we have plants, those
established last fall If farmers are
unwilling to have their cotton packed
in this way, we will buy their cotton in
the seed and pack it ourselves if they
desire it. So you see the erroneous
impression which the senator's state
ment. that we intend to buy the cotton
of the South, might create, and also
how utterly untrue in his other state
ment, that our object is to control the
price of cotton.
THE other suggestion, that we are
acting with cotton exchanges in this
country and in England, is equally
without any basis of truth. The press
will, of course. supersede the old
clumsy methods now in use, If it proves
to be what we believe it is. Some of
those who are interested in maintaining
these old methods may perhaps be will
ing to misrepresent us for selfish
purposes. No material improvement
was ever made without such attacks. -