The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-08
READY FOR EXPORT
FIRST CONSIGNMENT OF COTTON
WILL BE LOADED TODAY.
CONGRESSES WILL START
IN OPERATION AND BIG TRAMPS
WILL SOON BE FILLED.

u
nails and on the Wharves-HOv
Bulky Cotton Is Quickly Reduced
to Commercial Size.
The cotton congresses did not start
yesterday, on account of Labor Day.
They will begin operations this morn
ing and the first cotton steamer will be
loaded this week.
Reports from the interior bring the
information that buyers for export are
finding considerable competition among
the representatives of the mills at
home, and the farmers are reaping the
benefit. All of the mills are still short,
and there is a general fear that cotton
will not 90 down as early as was at
first thought. All breaks in the market
have recovered so rapidly that in
number of interior points New York
prices are being paid for spots.
Col. Ed L. Wight of Albany, said yes
terday that there has not been so much
prospective prosperity in Georgia since
the war. Cotton in my section of the
state is opening rapidly, said Col.
Wight, land the farmers are finding
little trouble in getting labor to harvest
the crop. The price for picking this
year is a little higher than in former
years, but the farmers are willing to
pay it to get every pound of cotton on
the market as early as possible. For
the past few days the receipts in AL
bany have been heavy, and they will
increase rapidly through this week"
No Receipts Posted.
No receipts were posted in the Sa-
vannah Cotton Exchange yesterday, but
reports from the railroads indicate that
the receipts will be unusually heavy
for the rest of the week. Very little
of the cotton that has been received
here so far has been compressed, and
is now stored in the railroad Sheds
waiting for the congresses to start
Large forces of hands will be put to
work early this morning in the presses
and the cotton will be rushed through
in a short while. There are enough
tramps here now to carry twice as
much cotton as is on hand.
A large amount of the cotton re-
ceived by the Central of Georgia is
consigned to mills in the North and
East, as is also the first shipments by
the other roads.
The combined capacity of the COM
presses here is about 1900 bales per
day, and it is well worth the time of
any one who has never witnessed it to
visit one of these places of industry
during the rush hours. The rapidity
with which the bulky bales are re-
duced is astonishing, but it is the clock
like regularity with which the eXpe-
rienced hands handle the cotton that
is the most remarkable part of the OPP
GRAFTON.
Getting Cotton Ready to Ship.
Very few people, even in the South
know of the process through which a
| bale of cotton goes before it is finally
ready to be damned and hammered
into the hold of a big steamer before
beginning its voyage. The work of pre-
pairing the staple for market is but
half completed when it is turned out
of the country gin. The increased de-
| mands for repid handling, and saw
ing of time, space and minor expenses
made the compress a necessity. Or
dinarily only about fifty bales of cot
ton can be crowded into a freight car,
but after the big presses get through
with, them nearly three times that
number can be handled.
When the neat, but bulky looking
bales are unloaded from a car at the
compress they are arranged with just
enough space between them for a man
| to pass. This man is armed with a
| pair of clippers, and with these clip
| pers he cuts all, but two ties from
| the bale and it swells out on either
| side of these remaining Orders until
they are concealed from view. AS
| the truckmen come to them the bales
| are TUNED down on their Sides the
trucks nose is pushed under, and the
| unwiedly looking mass of bagging and
| cotton is rolled right up to the mouth
| of the press. The conclusion of the
! truck wheels striking the edge of the
| bed of the press throws the bale into
position, while skilled hands hold it
upright, and the two remaining ties
are pulled off. Before the huge arms
that carry the block of steel with the
bale on it, upwards in their mighty
embrace, the ends of the bagging have
! been gathered into a neat fold, and
| quick hands have sent large needles
swiftly in and out until by the time
the hoarse call of the last tyer sounds,
announcing to the lever man that he
| is ready to release, the ends have been
tied and sewed into neat folds.
The Compressed Bale.
plates Oh SIeSl are veneer
ed to the bed and upper block of the
press, the berth for the bale, and in
these spaces the ties to hold the COM
pressed bale are run. Where only five
ties are used on the bale when it comes
from the gin, eleven are required 70
hold it into the small package into
which it is compressed.
1t is in tying that the real experts
of the COMPRISING business are found.
The men are well paid, and their work
is of the most difficult nature. and at
times dangerous. Sometimes cotton
bales explode, blowing up with a force
that sometimes seriously Injuries the
workers. This is caused by water
been allowed to stand in the rain. nut
bales that have been doctored as the
cotton was being first put into the press
at the gins. 1t is sometimes the prac-
tice of INSCRIPTIONS ginners to hold Il
certain amount of cotton out of each
bale, and in order that 1t may not De
missed in the weight of the bale, buck
ets full of water are emptied into the
middle of the bale. and cotton piled in
on it. When the terrific force exerted
| by the compress comes down on the
w ater-sc aked bale it will not give, and
as d re suit bursts out at the sides with
tremendous force.
Tying the Bale.
The tyers, four in number do the
fast work. making the connection on
the eleven bands that are placed on
the bale. They first push the ties