The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-07-26
THE ROUND BALE CRAZE.
A Mississippi Ginner Makes Convinc-
ing Statements Which Should be
Regarded-NO Good 10 Anybody.


A correspondent OF the Meridian, Missis'
| Your letter asking me TO write you and
"tell us all you know about the round bale,
whether II be good or bad, received. Will
write you what see from the ginner's stand
point, and one who buys cotton at country
points.
the % tedious task Of trying to run the round
bale system. 1 found that the cost OF freight
and erection incurred by me In the contract
was great deal more than expeesedd or ,a,ra naa
Of the company is, that this cotton "shall
bring As cents per hundred pounds more than
the square bales are WORTH This last part,
which all the sheep get out. In fixing con-
tracts for this cotton, the freight on square
bales TO the point ia considered and the con
tract based on the spot quotation & OF Ine sr poe..
age price was only 2s points above square
bale values and that many times during the
season there was no premium.
The system Of buying square cotton on con-
tract market and round bale on spots market.
accounts for this, and 30 often occurred that 1
had no premium to offer the farmers or to re-
imburse myself for having rented the press.
ont profit, either In the matter OF ginning
or cotton buying, as the farmers demanded
the premium, rs points IN lien OF the !are 10
press took up the ginning profits. The result
can be seen. I ginned the crop at loss OF
this seasons work as well as the fact that II
cost me considerably more to run than when
using square press. AS far as my research
has extended, that claim 1 make holds good,
and In larger town I have visited the pre-
MUM generally was 25 points.
The trouble with the press and machinery
thereto comes in the matter OF having TO
adjust its many parts ofen and making so
many little bales. of all which have to be Kept
account OF and settled for, sampled, weighed,
I,,t IL fooff han6-
ling the public. The public he's always been
hard on the ginner, but no ginner can con.
ceive before hand In what position he places
himself.
Now the actual fact ia, there js no gain In
the system under the con ntraet. either to the
ginper or farmer, and all the farmers any
where have gained has been lost TO the ginner
baling the cotton. This has been fully reallz.
ed BY them and man who run press last
season said to me q few days ago that athe
community bad gained what he had lost"
Thus showing had he protected himself
against loss, the community would not have
felt gain but found the com mmunity de-
manded more than equality with square cot
ton. The enormous claims OF the round pale
people had the public firm IN the belief that
demanded II. I found that merchants and
planters baving customers. won ID lnhuence
them to gin on the round bale only wnen tne
Side; when the bids were equal, though the
round bale had often given him good prices
for cotton, be would gin on the square bale.
Thus the round bale gin has TO lose money be-
hsy ans sal'y ShcS is the all
tenn pting thing that secures contracts, there.
fore becomes myth and no contracts can oe
secured whereby this value can he ootalneo
tracts have relied on the statements Of the
agents Of the company that "your cotton con.
tract will be sent you fully covering all Inc
claims"
have been in the ginning business ever
since when sat on the lever and drove the
teams around in the old horse ginnerles, ana
every single improvement In ginning or pal
Ing or the methods OF hauling cotton has
brought Increased value to the cotton and adj
ditional profit TO the ginner at lower tak Q
out than was common, but here comes the
round bale press and does none OF these
things, but makes an actual loss on the gin-
ming business on top Of the fact that It pro-
poses to advance the take out from the Gus
tomary charges, and yet the claims for IL are
larger than all the claims combined ever
made for q single Improvement. MY exper.
ience would say that 1t all appears to me lot
OF talk, fostered and pushed by those inter-
ested In the new venture.
The President OF the American Cotton Com.
pany, after visiting. the South in the interest
OF the round bale, gave an interview IN baltl.
more In which he went right on talking ana
elaborated on the advantages OF the method
freights, storage, ETC., but he did not show his
lessees while South how they were going TO
get their money back. or show any new peo-
Die how they were going to make money out
out Of the contract offered.
also notice In "Cotton Facts" that Mr.. d.
| G. Call has quite lot 10 say concerning the
uniform bale adopted by the square bale peo.
pie last season, and says that the interior lolks
Are now beginning to receive returns from
this bale and that the little so cents expected
on this cotton has not materialized. 1t Is q
bad thing for him 10 tslk about "those re-.
turnG," for his people have at last received
some returns and all the claims Of the round
bale goes in to the air.
II ali my mistakes aud losses Of q life time
equal to the harrassing experience have had
| with the round bale.
Yours truly,
Pocahontas, Miss. E. K. Middleton.