The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-07-17
REFORM NEEDED.
MIR. Jordan Profoundly Impressed
by what He Saw

On His Trip to the Foreign Cotton
Centres, Makes Powerful Plea for
Reform iii Handling Cotton.
No word has been spoken in regard
TO the handling and shipping of cot
ton is of more vital interest to the
Southern farmer than that which We
are reprinting on this page from
President Harvey Jordan's recent ar
tlcle in the Baltimore Manufacturer
Record. What Mr.. Jordan says is
not guess work. He went abroad -
see and find out things that affect Re
price of the Southern farmer cot
ron and he has written the results
of his investigation. AS long as the
American farmer sends abroad two
out Of three bales of cotton that he
raises. the foreign buyer will be a
factor in fixing the price that the
farmer cannot ignore. And when 1t
is demonstrated, as Mr.. Jordan de-
monstTated it, that the shabby cloth
eS our King Cotton wears when he
is abroad stimulates the cultivation
of the staple in foreign countries and
that ragged cotton bales abroad make
ragged cotton farmers at home, it is
high time our growers were taking
up in dead earnest the matter Of
enforcing superior and more at
tractive method of covering and han
ding their export cotton. But We
will give Mr.. Jordan's presentation
of the matter, and nothing We have
printed on the subject is better worth
your serious reading He says:
The average grower of cotton IN
the Southern States has been educat-
ed TO believe that cotton OF good
quality and in large quantities can
be grown only in America, and that
therefore it made no particular diff
ference as to how badly the cotton
crop was handled, the spinning world
had to take it and make the best OF
it.
There is no doubt upon my mind
that we are in error as regards the
idea that foreign countries do not
possess land and climatic conditions
favorable to the production of the
best grades of cotton in large guam
titles. The trouble in more rapidly
increasing the production of foreign
grown cotton lies in unfavorable
climatic conditions as it does in the
education of the people in those coun-
tries where cotton could be grown to
take hold of the industry and push 1t.
In Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Austral-
la, Egypt, India, Mexico, South Afrl-
ca and other countries where the
staple can be grown by natives are
as yet but semi-civilized and where
but few of the modern facilities for
agriculture and transportation have
been introduced.
Anyone who will take the pains to
carefully investigate the imports OF
cotton from all sources into Great
Britain and the Continent each year
will soon ascertain that large num-
Der Of countries are now growing cot
ton and that the annual production
of these foreign cottons. is increasing
and in some sections to al amazing
degree. While these shipments,
aside from Egypt and India. are not
large. still so many small shipments
are beginning to foot up largely in
the aggregate. India alone produced
in the past year 100000 bales OF
cotton, weighing on an average OF
400 pounds per bale. This is as large
as the American cotton crop was
few decades ago. One large hrIn,
Platt Bros. & Co., which | visited IN
Manchester, alone turns out annual
" 5000 new gin outfits, none OF
which comes to America, but all are
shipped out to meet the demands OF
other countries.
Undoubtedly the South holds a
commanding position in the predom-
mating supply Of the worlds cotton
and will perhaps always maintain her
prestige. but American cotton is
bought by foreign spinners under
protest. and only after similar grades
of foreign-grown cotton has been en-
hauSted. not because foreigners are
prejudiced against American-gro~n
cotton. but because Of the bad man
ner in which American cotton is bal
ed and delivered ABROAD.
American Cotton is the only cot
ton in the world where every bale
is sampled and carefully examined
through which it passes from the
local cotton buyer in the interior, on
through the hands of the foreign cot
ton merchant, and finally by the
spinners under the roofs of their
mills. 1t is the only cotton in the
world where grades in the same bale
are not uniform and where deduc-
tionS have to be made for country
damage If the growers and hand
lers Of American cotton do not re-
form the present method Of deliver
ing our cotton abroad, it %lll only
tend to intensity the determination
of foreign spinners to induce larger
production Of cotton in other coun-
tries. make this plea in behalf Of
American cotton after having visited
the great cotton centers OF Europe
and personally Investigated the facts
herewith recorded.
l personally inspected large cotton
warehouses at Venice, Bremen, Man
chester and Liverpool. At every
point visited, accompanied by my as
sociate, Mr.. Walter Clarke, Of Mis-
sisippi. We were shown every cour-
tesy by the large cotton merchants.
the members of the exchanges, and
shown through all the warehouses
we cared to inspect and freely given
all the information we wished.
Everywhere, in response to our
questions as to American cotton bales
compared with other cotton, the an
swers were the same. namely. that
American cotton was generally re
ceived in bad condition; that II re-
quired more sampling, carried high
er rates of insurance. heavier tare,
expensive arbitration and losses from
what is termed country damage or
rot. Everywhere we were asked II
the American bale could not be re-
formed. We had fine opportunity OF
judging comparisons, as We found