The age-herald., 1900-04-19
MEETING OF THE
 SQUARE BALE MEN Two Days Session of Alabama
 Compress Association. HELD AT THE MORRIS HOTEL
Important Questions Discussed-M. B. Hamilton Addressed Meeting on Advantages of Standard Square
 Bale-Election of Officers

The Alabama Compress association, af- ter a two days session at the Morris hotel, adjourned yesterday afternoon, subject to
 the call of the president
 Among the important questions discussed
 at the meeting was the relative merits of
 the round and square bale method of put
 ting up and handling cotton. It was demonstrated by statistics that
 since the organization of the association there had been a marked improvement in the square bale method and that there had been about 20 per cent increase in the number of bales loaded in a car. It was shown that the advantage derived from obtaining more uniform bales and for improving the quality of the compressing has not only increased the loading of cars,
 but has also increased the carrying ca
 pacity of steamships, resulting in very
 marked decrease in the ocean freight
 rates, thereby enabling the buyers of cot
 ton to pay correspondingly high priceNto the farmers
 Big Company Organized The. only new developments of interest to the general public was the announce | ment by c. C. Hanson of Savannah, who has recently returned from the east, that
 
 formed for the erection and operation of gin plants. The object of the new com pany is to prevent the round bale com panies from monopolizing at any one point the buying and ginning of cotton. | The policy of this company will be to | perpetuate throughout all the cotton grow | ing states the present system of handling | cotton in the 24X54 standard square bales. They expect to do this by assisting and CO., l operating in the erection and mainten- | ance of square bale gnneries at all points | where round bale systems are attempting l to monopoize the business of ginning and | buying cotton.
 The following officers were elected for | the ensuing year:
 Presdent-F. B. Fisk Montgomery, Ala Vice Presidential. r. Howell, Birming- ham, Ala.
 Secretary and Treasurer-JamesP Fer rall Montgomery, Ala.
 Board of Directors-C. c. Hanson. Sa- vannah, Ga.; L. A. Slaughter, Selma, Ala ; l F. P. Davis, Mobile, Ala. w. D. Nesbitt,
 Birmingham, Ala.
 | An Expert OpinionJ l The agitation of the comparative advan- i tages of the square bale over the round | bale assumed such widespread importance | as to have induced the compress interests 1 of the south to have a representative in
 the person of M. B. Hamilton visit the l leading spinners of America and Europe 1 for the purpose of observing the manner | in which the two packages have been re-
 ceived and worked by the spinners. MT. | Hamilton has recently returned from his 1 trip, and was present at yesterdays ses- sion. He addressed the convention regard | ing his observations as follows | MT. President and Gentlemen: q assume you have seen copies of my | reports from New England and Europe | sent you by MT. Hanson in circular form. | Therefore, I shall not go into detail, but | touch only briefly on the subject and main | facts which bear upon the work now be- l fore you. From my experience and obser- l yation I conclude:
 | q. That a well-covered and tied uniform | size square bale will be at all times pre- | ferred by the consumer to any cylindrical | package yet known Why? Because it stores better in ship; salvage is greater | in a fire it does not mat and cake; is open | to competition, and, in the end, the most | economical package
 l '2. Cotton compressed direct from the gin l fiue in an ordinary damp year, when the l vegetable moisture is retained i'll the fibre, | cannot give satisfaction at the mill, be- l cause of mating and caking, causing trou | ble in opening, clogging in the bale break. | CT, licking and resulting in loss to the spin | ner.
 l "3. The claims made by the round | bale companies that their package would | bring higher price than the square bale in | European markets, afford a better fire l risk, etc., have proven utterly fallaceous. l "Prices-I make the assertion that in most instances round bales have sold in l Europe at figures under current prices for l square bales.
 Actual Fires-At a fire in Liverpool, in | which there were American round lap and | square bales, results proved that the sal wage on the square bale was greatly in ex- l cess of that on the round package. ''The trade has generally come to the l conclusion that there is real merit in | the cylindrical bale. Many spinners have given both the Lowry and American Cot l ton comDany's bales an impartial trial, l showing by the purchase of the bale no prejudice in the matter, and the great ma | jority were not satisfied and say they will not use round bales however, this makes no difference, provided you do not improve the condition of your square ba1ess and the round bale companies are allowed to mo- nopolize the ginning business in certain sections, and give to the trade enough round bales to effect consumption, then spinners will be forced to buy their cot l ton whether they prefer 1t or not "Gentlemen of the Convention-It is evil dent to every man who has given the sub ject thought that the opposition should not be allowed to monopolize any one section buying seed cotton at a price far below | that paid at competing points, thus trengthening themselves financially to | give us a harder fight in sections where l the square bale gin is operated We must | see that an uD-to-date 24x54 gin plant is es- | tablished whever the round bale has mo- | nopoly. Details of how this plan can be put into operation can be discussed and arranged by your proper committee. I un- tSderstand that a strong company has been | formed to operate on this line throughout all of the cotton-growing states. I have to say that this is the most important step yet taken for the protection of the square | bale against the monopolistfc features of | the round bale companies.
 Better Bagging-My recommendation | from Europe some months ago to use