The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-03-27
CENSUS OF COTTON GINNING
a Very Importanc Work Undertak. n
bV the Census Bureau

The Greenville Meu -taineer says
various efforts have been made to per
feet agencies for securing early and
trustworthy information as to the quan,
tity Of cotton annually grown in the
Uoit:d States: with view to reducing
to a minimum the fluctuations incident
to an industry so greatly dependent
upon supply and demand.
Statistics Of this crop used in COM
N ,rcial centers have to d. with the
cotton as marketed during each year
ending August 81, and are gathered
very largely through repcrts Of trans
porsation lines touching the cotton
fields. So long as it was safe to as
sumo that practically the whole of the
cotton crop reached its market through
the common carriers, their reports
constituted a fairly trustworthy basis
for estimates Of the commercial crop,
but, as much cotton nov goes directly
from the fields to the mills without
passing through the hands of traupor
tation com panies, this means Of gather
irg cotton statistics is annually becom
ing more and more unsatisfactory. All
returns are made in commercial bales,
which is an unsatisfactory unit Of meas
ure. During the past century the
average weight of the commercial bale
more than doubled. In some sections
the cottan bale now means the square
package averaging in weight 498
pounds. In other regions it means
bale of 400 pounds, while in still other
localities is found the round bale aver
aging 259 pounds. None Of the means
hitherto employed has reported the
number and weight Of these divers
kinds Of commercial bales. The rela.
tive number Of square and round bales
is changing and with this the average
wight Of the ordinary unit, the COM
merciai bale, is being modified. Hence
the i'm portance of substituting a fixed
unit like pound for varisbIe unit Of
measure like bale, thus enabling the
country to know the actual quantity Of
cotton produced.
Believing that tie reports Of cotton
ginners, showing the number and aver
age weight of the bales passing through
uhei: hands Gu:ing given year, would
afford trustworthy statistics, the Uolted
States Census Office has by correspon-
Genae and through the enumerators
obtained frcm each ginning establish
ment Of the country report of the
quantity Of cotton handled of the crop
Of 1899. The attempt to obtain the Stats
tics Of the cotton crop through this agen
cy las been SO successful, and the me-
thod promises to dtvelop statistics SO
much more complete and satisfactory
than those heretofore adopted that the
Director of the Census has decided to
undertake an annual census of the cot
ton crop through the direct cooperation
of the ginners.
The success Of this annual cotton
crop report must depend altogether
upon the promptness ard accuracy with
which reports are received. As the IN
formation solicited Is very largely LOT
the benefit Of the cotton ginners and
c,tton growers, it is believed that the
ginners will cordially respond to the
efforts Of the Census Office to render
this service to the South and to all
those interested in its great staple.
The Census O5ice is now undertaking
obtain the facts regard ng tho Gotten
crop Of 1900, through blanks mailed to
to the cotton giuner5. These inquiries
should be promptly and accurately
answered and returned at once in the
franked envelope, which requires no
postage. Gjnners will not fail to see
that the success of this inquiry will re-
dound greatly to their benefit, and they
should be prompt to report to the
Bureau the nam IS and addresses Of new
ginning establishments, as well as any
changes in the management of old ones.