The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-02-03
A MONEY SAVER
FOB THE COTTON FARMERS OF
THE SOUTH.

Valuable Invention of a South Caro-.
linian That Will Revolutionize the
Handling of Cotton.
A large manufacturing plant is to
DE established in Richmond, Va, to
manufacture the Neely compress,
which was invented by Mr. Samuel
NJ Neely, of Chester, S. c., and
which it is claimed will reyolutionize
the handling of cotton that is ex-
ported to other countries.
According to the figures that come
from the census bureau at Washing
ton there were about 12,500,00O
bales Of cotton ginned in the South
ern States last year, and it took
something like 10000 gins to do
this work Ginning means the sepa-
ration of the cotton fleece from the
seed and putting the fleece into
bales; large unweildy bales that are
but poorly fit for shipment by steam
er to foreign parts and that cost
entirely too much in freight, storage
and other charges.
To meet this situation there have
been established in the leading South
ern cities during the past decade OF
two various compress companies,
which take the bales Of cotton as
they come from the country gile and
compress them into smaller areas
and put them in kind of shape for
shipment to Europe ports but as a
matter Of fact there has been but
little change within the past three
quarters of century il the manner
of bailing and COMPRISING cotton
for foreign shipment, except that the
iron screws has been substituted for
the old wooden screw that was used
by our forefathers.
Of course, there have been many
improvements in the gins that are in
use so far, as the mere matter OF
the separation Of the seed from the
lint is concerned, but all Of the i'm
provements made in the matter Of
COMPRISING the ginned bales ready
for shipment have been primarily
in the interest Of large Corporations,
which control the comparatively few
compress establishments in this
country. The owners of these steam
compesses have been enabled to form
one Of the most gigantic and most
autocratic of the trusts.
In the olden ,time' the cotton
grown in the South that went to all
parts of the world was ginned at the
country and village gins and con-
:ensed in the old-time bales Of great
bulk, pounds. These bulky bales
cook up a great deal Of platform
space at the storage points and a
great deal Of car space when the
railroads came to haul them to the
seaport points for shipment to for
eign manufacturers, and also a great
deal of space in the ships that took
them across the waters.
The compress became a necessity,
that is, steam compress that could
take the bulk bales and squeeze them
into smaller space. These steam
congresses are few in the number,
being established only in the sea-
port cities of the South, and in time,
as before stated, the compress men
became something Of trust, and
then later on one of the most arro-
CANT Of all the trusts. The ships re-
fused to receive for transportation
The old-time bulky bale direct from
the country gin, and thus the farmer
was placed at the mercy of the COM
press men.
At least 100000 bales of our
cotton are exported, and every one OF
these exported bales must go
through one of the few existing COM
presses located in the cities. This
export cotton has to be shipped from
the gin to the compress and be COM
pressed before it is put on ship
board for shipment to some other
country. All this costs money and
it comes out Of the pockets Of the
Southern farmer. To obyiate all Of
these interminable troubles and to
bring about some peace of mind to
the Southern cotton grower and to
increase his profits on the sweat OF
his brow inventive genius has been
at work for several years.
As result Of this study several
inventions were made and came on
the market, but none of them en-
tirely filled the bill, until Mr.. Samuel
NJ. Neely, Of Chester, S. c., who
lived in the cotton country, brought
out his cheap and in every way suit
able compress. After years Of study,
and just before his death, Mr.. Nicely
inTented and had patented a COM
press that is believed to meet the
situation and this is the machine
that a million dollar company has
been organized to manufacture in
The Neely machine Is very simple.
and will be made in time for this
years crop at cost to the ginner
Of about S1,500 each, and their great |
saving to the cotton grower is suf-
fcient to guarantee that every one
Of the thirty-odd thousand gins in
the country, will sooner Of later
have one in operation with the gin;
and by this means the cotton growers
If the country will be guaranteed
4 saving in the business Of a frac-
ion over SO per bale, or ia the as.
yregate SIS, 100000 to s3O,eo0,0On
,er annum on the cotton crop Of the
south.
The r1eans hy which this great