The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-01
Dlnerenc. in weight of Cotton.

Editor Advertiser: Farmers wish to know why bale of cotton does not does at the gin out in the country.
 It Is a very rare occurrence Tor bale to weigh more at our warehouse than it does where 1t is Einned, ana very seldom as much.
 It often occurs that a bale packed today and weighed in the city tomor- row loses from i've to nfteen pounas. hundred pounds of lint for ginning, the warehouseman brides himself on making the cottSn weights hold out. so you see the farmer stands between the upper and neither Inillstones and he Is the only sufferer. The cotton grower pays for more cotton than he has cotton below it's real weight. In plain old fashioned English. the ginner oyer weighs or the warehouseman under weighs.
 l would mot dare charge either par ty with dishonesty for moment, but the facts above stated exist, and we. the farmers. want an explanations.
 To illustrate whae am complaining about give the. following which came under my knowledge, viz: four bales all of the same cotton. and dry. weigh weighed In Montgomery a few days la ter only 2,00l pounds lint. loss or thirty pounds.
 ginner for thirty pounds of cotton he did not have in his bales, or the warehouseman has weighed to cause a loss of 30 pounds lint.
 It will not explain the matter to tell me there IS moisture in the cot ton and that it dries out because in the illustration givon above. one of the itghtest bales of the four lost fifteen pounds. while the heaviest bale lost only seven pounds.
 In the above lot of cotton the loss hounds per bale. Some ono quick at figures will tell you that S2,500.0a pounds are lost in this way provided however that the glnner.s weights are houseman Is correct the farmer pays the ginner for 89,500, 900 pounds of cot ton he does not get. equal to 165.000 at $50 a bale will amount to $S.250.- 600. quite loss to the farmer.
 Every farmer in Alabama will tell ations. my experience corresponds with his experience and that we want a bale of cotton to weish exactly the same. no matter where it is weighed.
 The above was taken. to a promi- nent warehouseman of Montgomery. who made the following statement:
 The wareEouseman's scales are cor. rect, and the best proof that this is so is that when the cotton Is offered Tor sale to exporters and shippers 1t is invariably their preference that tho is because he is looking after his own interests and by his experience he has found that the receipt weights or first weights at the warehouse almost inVa. riably show loss.
 , When reweiRhed. these reweiehts seller. each one sndeayoring to be ac. are made by both the buyer and the there is any mistake.
 Thus 1t Is seen that there are three different men with three different scales to weigh tho cotton in town with three different interests.
 The farmer on the other hand has
 An additional reason why the cot ton weighed in the country does not correspond with the city weights is that the warehouse scales are as &C., curate as can be made. They are sent on to New York and sharpened, while depot along the side track exposed to the weather and consequentIy rust. be- come dull
 Another reason given why the cot ton brought to town is lighter in weight than in the country is that the &C., ton of the wind. sun and air cause falling off in pounds. Then, also, the bagg.nR used is in many cases second hand and inadequately put on. On the trip to town this bagg-ng be- comes loose and in many cases a pound or so of 1t is thrown away.
 "As tc the specific difference of fif- teen pounds mentioned in the above letter, the only explanation which can be given is that there was some mis- take-either on the part of the gin- ner or on the part of the warehouse man, though from the above record of weights it Is hard to believe that the warehousemah made the mistake"