The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-24

J. II. Connell or DdllaS, IeA.
 MT. Benton told of the enormous waste in cottonseed products due to careless handling by steamship lines and of the loss to American shippers thereby, estimated as high as $1,000,- 900 in a single year. As an example of how this waste occurred, he said:
 Mixing Up Grades.
 we find In New Orleans today wait ing for export 5000 tons of meal from five different firm. This meal includes five different brands. Of the total amount 1000 tons of 1t is choice meal. The remaining 1000 tons is dark, badly ground and with an excess of lint and hulls. All this meal Is loaded into a vessel at New Orleans without re- gard to the classification shown on the marks. including the brands. As a re- suit it Is pretty well scattered over the ship. Since this cargo does not fill the boats capacity, a few thousand barrels of cottonseed oil Is rolled in on top of the meal. A few of the bar rels break, a few of the sacks are torn, and both eargoes. oil and meal, are more or less da amaged.
 Upon unloading the meal sacks are hosted by a single rope from the hold of the vessel and are dragged along the floor until they reach the warehouse, by which time several more bags are broken. Having been loaded without regard to brands the meal is unloaded in the same manner. So many bags, moreover. have been ruined that it is useless to attempt to collect the cargo according to It's clas- sifcation. Instead. the meal Is piled in discriminatory in heaps of 8 ton each of mixed meal for weighing and sampling The loose meal from the broken bags is apportioned to those piles which may be short in weight At this stage a cargo which left the United States, consisting of 4O00 tons of choice meal and 1O00 tons of off meal, Is now reduced to all one grade, and that the worst. There Is just enough lint and hulls In 1t to cause recla nation.
 "The importer therefore does not get the grade he has bought. If we could guarantee him the grade we could get more for southern cotton seed cake than is paid for any other cake in the world.'
 Necessity for Action.
 Mir. Benton said 1t will be difficult task to extend southern cotton seed prod ucts trade abroad until the delivery is improved. He recommended sending q permanent representative of the crllshers' association abroad to watch the condition of goods on arrival. He warned export CTS to insist that the cotton oil he not loaded near boiler rooms. He said that at the Trfolium dairy in Europe l5,0iO head of cattle are fed on cotton seed cake. that their milk sells according t1 the butter fat in 1t. and that it is richer than any other milk in Europe
 MT Benton's work abroad was confined to Holland and Denmark. neither ot which countries produces an article to compete with the southern cotton seed corlmJd tiles.
 Olive oi1 he declared. is the only tdi- be oil which competes with cotton seed oil. and will always be an important fac tor in the European price of cotton s'ed oil
 "A snort olive crop" hc p1. nc :es- sitatcs more cotton oil for v ding. and 1t is said that some growers always make an average crop if it requires 80 per cent of cotton oil to make the requisite number of barrels"
 In 1906, Mir Benton said the United States exported to Europe $l3,673 i00 worth Of cotton seed oil and S13,073. 100 in cotton cake. against '2s5,6o0 in cotton oil and See5.lO in cotton cake from all other 
 Experts Are Chosen.
 The convention nominated Albert c. Perkins of Memphis. Tenn, for the posi- ton of United States expert abroad on the subject of cotton seed products. This is tantamount to appointment. which will be made by Secretary Strauss of the department of commerce and labor. Prof. J. II. Cornell of Dallas, Tex. was tine only other candidate for nomina- ton. MT. Perkins succeeds J. l.. Benton of Monticello, Ca, resigned.
 A reply to MT. p1~ton was made by NJ. J. Sanders, agent - New Orleans for the Leyland Steamship line. He held shippers partly responsible for the waste for putting up their products in inferior He said shippers will not oe | able to hold the steamship companies l liable for losses until the strength of | these packages is improved Then he | said, thousands of dollars can be saved. |
 The convention provided for the ap- pointment of committee of three mem bers of the Crushers association to con fer with steamship lines on handling the cotton seed products and to report to President L. A. Ransom of the associa- ton.
 To remedy the almost prohibitiye tariff of Austiia-HungalN a resolution was adopfed aaktpp nnatnhere nf aasOCi1-