The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-03

presentations of matters pertaining to the betterment of the cotton fibre by | cultivation and hybridization, as well as Improvements in the care of ginning, baling and transportation. By invitation of the Board of Government there has been presented at previous meetings several papers treating exclusively upon the baling of cotton by new methods Whatever may be the merits of these rad ieal departures in bailing cotton, it is to ; be noted that the commercial bale is | substantially the form as invented by | Judge Simon Gratz of Missouri about q | century ago: while cotton was covered | with baggng in Kentucky by Nathan | Burroughs in l7J6, and this is still prac- tically the only one in which the cotton is officially quoted on the market or de- livered to the mills today.
 Tt may be of interest in this connec- ton, to state that an investigation in some old bill of lading books has shown that previous to 1877 cotton averaged 250 pounds per package. and after that the average weight increa sed to 29S pounds, while the average of the com mercial bale of today Is about 800 pounds.
 "I> firmly believe that the time has come when we should without departing from the present policy of the organiZa- ton, as stated in the constitution and by laws. and while maintaining the old standard, take for our association new name, indicating the universal or the na- tional character of our work and our interest. removing the limitations which our present name suggests.
 II would refer to another matter which seems to me to be of interest and impor- tance. At previous meetings of the asso- citation numerous and valuable papers ted iron mt questions pertaining to the various meth ods of ascertaining the cost of manufac- turing These have all been valuable con- tributions. but there is a collateral phase of the subject which deserves further or more serious consideration, Following the precedent of other technical and commercial organizations, where Valu- ble contributions have been made as to the unification of the methods of keep ing accounts, should consider at this meeting the importance of appointing a committee to present at some future meeting a report upon a standard meth cd of keeping our mill accounts.
 T would call your attention to the badge which you wear at this conver- tion. upcn which is represented in minlr- ture a bale of cotton. You will observe thai the design is taken from the ordin . ary bale, or what is known as the com mercial cotton bale. This might be con- sidered as bringing before us again the interesting and important question of the bailing of cotton.
 Some old records in New York city indicate that the first mention of the export Of cotton from the country oc- cured in 1739, when a sample was sent to England by a planter from Georgia, and in 1747. several bags of cotton val ued at 3pounds Ills, 5d sterling were ex- ported from Charleston. s. C., and ten years later Liverpool records mention the arrival of cotton from Charleston, S. C., and in ITO three bales of cotton were shipped to Liverpool from New York, ten bales from Charleston and four bales from Virginia and Maryland and also three bales from North Carolina.
 'Again in this connection, I would state that during the past year the Board of Government deviating from it's usual practice. appointed a committee of two members to attend fire test of cotton bales. under the auspices of the National Fire Protection Association. and We ex- pect that the report of this committee will be submitted at this meeting.
 This report will be interesting as bearing upon this subject of the damage ability of cotton by fire under the var