The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-29

a very injurious effect in depressing disproportionately the price or Iutule contracts. The charge. however. that the New York stock is the refuse ac. emulation of many years is disproved by the fact that in September, l9u4. tne entire stock was reduced to 15,600 bales. of which considerable part was
 Criticisms have been made also as to tho application of the New. York sys- tenn. There has been considerable over New York committed This is conclu- the inspection fcSSa. Thls fund, it viii be remembered. is used to indemnity the owners of certihcated cotton for mistakes in grading by the classihca- tion committee. From 1890 to l906' sixteen years, these payments. lnclud- eraged less than si,2sO year. a total of less than g$20.000, while for the sin gle year. ended April 30. 1903. under reform arrangement. the net total was these payments shows that the previous classification must have been Tar too high.
 grading took place In the latter part of 1906, when the board of appeals of the New York exchange instructed the classification committee to admit to the certificated stock all cotton which passed the preliminary and informal ex- animation of the assistant inspectors at the dock, although the same might later have been held rejectabie by the classification. This cotton, thus forced in.. was to take the lowest grade or the certificated stock.
 This ruling was in direct conflict with the bylaws of the exchange. The classification committee entered pro- test, and even noted upon certificate slips of such rejectable cotton. should have been rejected" When the new management of the exchange came into
 office In June. 1907. this practice was stopped.
 A Contrary criticism has been made of the New Orleans exchange, to the there, and while the proof of this is not conclusive, it Is probable that in certain cases 1t is true. It is quite likely that the effect of the. general opinion of the exchange has been to cause the arbitrators to be, consciously or unconsciously, too severe in their classification at certain times. A num- Der of Southern merchants have made such assertions very vigorously. The Bureau does not consider the New York system of classifying and Sep1,nGta Srom its ahxed. % inference M system as wrong on general principle. Under the conditions surrounding the New York business 1t is proper develop The principal difHculties on both ex- changes have been with the careless or improper manner of applying their however, a number of changes, most of which. have already been widely l discussed, seem desirable.
 The New York rules,' as weel as New l Orleans. should expressly provide | some method by which extremely weak or. perished staple should be 1 definitely excluded from the certificated | stock. .
 The New York rules as well as now hcation should identify each individual bale by grade. It is objected that I Increased expense of handling and of storage would result, but it seems probable that this increased expense would be no greater than the expense now thrown on the receiver of cotton l in attempting to identify or reciassiiy | a mixed lot of bales, and such identi- | fcation would also greatly facilitate
 the handling of certfficated cotton and