The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1900-01-25
BUILD AN OIL MILL.
1t Will Pay Big Dividends. and Zen.
eft the Farmer. the Merchant, and
the City Generally.

III Is astonishing W Lle, edlot
Major Havelock Eaves yesterday,
"why some of our monied men who
are looking for good, safe invest
meut that will pay big dividends
don't pool their issues and build a
cotton seed oil mill here
"It is good investment then, is
it, Major?' asked The BAMBERG
HERALD representative.
81 should say it was," was the
quick reply. "As an evidence, go
into the market to-day and endeavor
to buv second hand machinery for
such mill. You'll find little,
if any, for sale, because the demand
for new machinery is so great, that
the manufacturers working night
and day can't keep up with their
orders. Did you ever hear Of an oil
mill suspending or demanding re-
ceiver, or anything of that sort: ,"
Il don't know that l ever did"
"Of course you didn't. They pay
from start to finish, and if you want
to buy one already established you'll
have to lay down a good round sum
for it,"
Chow much capital would be re-
'quired to build IN oil mill, Major:
"To erect buildings and putin an
up-to-date plant for a mill of Say
twenty tons daily capacity, which
would be about the needs of Bam-
berg, it would require an investment
of say $50, 900. 1t would not only
pay big dividends, but it would ben-
eft the town more than any equal
amount of outlay that | can think
of. We will take the farmer to be-
gin with. He has his cotton picked,
carts it to neighboring gin, has it
ginned, and the seed is dumped into
the wagon with the bale of cotton
on top. Thus loaded he drives
home, takes out the bale of cotton
and shovels his seed into house,
under a house, on the piazza into a
knocked-up shelter, or any other old
place, reloads with mis- bale of cot
ton and carries it to the nearest
market town. He has choice of sew
eraI, aud may come here or go to
Barnwell, Olar, Cope, Ehrhardt,
Govan or Denmark. Later on he
loads up his seed. At every loading
and unloading, mind you, there is
more or less waste. We will say
that he brings it here. He sells it
at the highest market price, and
goes home again. Mayhap though,
he wants his seed ground into meal.
In that case he takes an exchange
ticket and when thu meal is ready for
delivery comes here again and carts
it home. That's four trips he has
made to market one bale of cotton
and get the seed meal for fertilizing
his next years crop. Now, if there
was an oil mill here he would do
the whole business ir o..e trip.
With a load of seed cotton be could
drive direct from the field to town,
have his cotton ginned in superior
manner, sell it right on the spot,
and either dispose Of his seed or
carry back the meal the SAME day"
"Thst certainly would be savlhg
to the farmer"
CHOW let us see how it would ben
eft the merchants, and incidentally
the commerce and prosperity of the
whole town. The farmer would not
he slow to take advantage of the fa-
cilities l have just enumerated. In
stead of taking his cotton to one of
a half dozen markets he would nat
urally bring it here, where he could
get the quickest anu most advapta-
geous returns for his product, and
Bamberg would recover her lost
prestige as a cotton market. In
1890 there We're $4,000 bales of cot
ton shipped from Bamberg, and that
was before We had the cotton mill,
which annually purchases and con-
sumes about 1880 bales. This year
the total sales Of cotton in Bamoerg
will not exceed $500 bales. In ten
years the balance of our purchase
has been diverted to other nearby
markets. With an oil mill in jper-
alton here, all this cotton will be
diverted back to our city, and the
area of the territory drained by
US would be extended. That means
u greatly increased mercantile busi-
ness, and a help to everybody"
''It is reasonable to believe this"
"Now we come down to the pay
ing prosp, cts of the mill. Under
present conditions man brings u
ton Of seed here. 1t is purchased
by representative of one of the
oil mills, and he makes at least a
profit of $3.50 a ton on each ton he
purchases. The railroad company
receives a freightage of $1.1O ton
to carry the seed to the mill. When
the meal comes back there is anoth-
er 81 80 to pay-a total Of $4.2O
out If every ton of seed eaten up
in the middleman's profit, a profit
that goes neither to the farmer nor
to the oil mill. Now if this profit
can be saved to a mill right here on
the ground, it, in itself would make
the enterprise big money winner,
for the profit on an output of twen-
ty tons a day would be $S4, and that
would enable the mill to pay a.pret-
ty big dividend on capital of
$4,000. But the oil mills else
where make big profit, outside Of
this $4.2O a ton that goes to the