The leader., 1901-03-20
Census of Cotton Ginning.

Census of Cotton Ginning.
Various efforts have been made to
perfect agencies for securing early and
trustworthy information as to the
quantity of cotton annually grown in
the United States, with a view to re-
ducing to a minimum the fluctuations
incident to an industry so greatly de-
pendent upon supply and demand.
Statistics of this crop used in COM
mercial centers have to do with the
cotton as marketed during each year
ending August 81, and are gathered
very largely through reports of trans
portation 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 these common carriers, their
reports constituted fairly trust
worthy basis for estimates of the COM
mercial crop, but, as much cotton now
goes directly from the fields to the
mills without passing through the
hands of transportation companies
this means of gathering cotton stats
ties is annually becoming more and
more unsatisfactory. All returns are
made in commercial bales, which is an
unsatisfactory unit of measure. Dur
ing the past century the average
weight of the commercial bale more
than doubled. In some sections the
cotton bale now means the square
package averaging in weight 49S
pounds. In other regions 1t means a
bale of 400 pounds, while in still other
localities is found the round bale, aver
aging 80 pounds. None of the means
hitherto employed has reported the
number and weight of these divers
kinds of commercial bales. The rel
alive number of square and round
bales is changing and with this the
average weight of the ordinary unit.
the commercial bale, is being modified.
Hence the Importance of substitute
ing fixed unit like pound for
variable unit like a bale, thus en-
abling the country to know the actual
quantity of cotton produced.
Believing that the reports of cotton
ginners, showing the number and av-
erage weight of the bales passing
through their hands during a given
year, would afford trustworthy stats
ties, the United States Census office
has by correspondence and through
the enumerators obtained from each
ginning establishment of the country
a report of the quantity of cotton
handled of the crop of 1896
The attempt to obtain the statistics
of the cotton crop through this agen-
cy has been SO successful, and the
method promises to develop statistics
50 much more complete and satisfac.
tory than those heretofore adopted
that the Director of the Census has
decided to undertake an annual cen
sus of the cotton crop through the di-
rect cooperation of the ginners.
The success of this annual cotton
crop report must depend altogether
upon the promptness and accuracy
with which reports are received. AS
the information solicited is very large
ly for the benefit of the cotton ginners
and cotton 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 is now undertaking to
obtain the facts regarding the cotton
| crop of 1900, through blanks mailed to
the cotton ginners. These inquiries
should be promptly and accurately
answered and returned at once in the
franked envelope, which requires no
postage. Ginners will not fail to see
that the success of this inquiry will
rebound greatly to their benefit, and
they should be prompt to report to
| the Bureau the names and addresses
of new ginning Establishments, as
we'll as any changes in the manage
ment of old ones