The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-29
STATES COTTON
 CROP |S ALL SOLD Good Prices Are Obtained for
 the Last Bales
PROFIT FOR MISSISSIPPI
Railroad Commissioner Webb Will Go to Washington to Try to Straighten Out the Car Service and De-
 murrage Questions.

Jackson, Miss, May 2S.-(Special )-The penitentiary authorities have sold the last bale of cotton of the crop of 1sOS-s at nssc per pound. or s416.7s for the lot of seven bales, local firm being the pur- chaser
 The total crop raised by the state con- victs the past season amounted to 534S bales. distributed among the four farms as follows: Parchman farm, in Sunf1ower county, 4423 bales; Oakley farm, in Kinds county, 19s bales; Belmont farm, in Holmes county, 6S9 bales; Rankin farm, A bales. This cotton has sold for some thing in the neighborhood of $500 GOO, but that figure does not more than half cover the value of the entire products of the state farms for the year. There were nearly 100000 bushels of corn and thou sands of bushels of potatoes, peas, pea nuts and other food crops. Hundreds of gallons of molasses, thousands of bales of hay and thousands of pounds of meat must also go to the credit of the farm. In addition thousands of feet of lumber 1 have been sawed, many good brick have been burned, miles of tiling has been made and laid on the big farm to drain | the overflow and wet lands, thus reclaim 1 ing many valuable acres
 It has come to that pass where 1t is | hard to tell what a crop made on the | convict farms is worthS
 Railroad Commissioner Webb announces | that he will probably leave the early part of next week for Washington to attend a | meeting of the subcommittee of the na- tional railroad commissioners organiza- ton, which has charge of the revision of the rules of car service and demurrage This will be the final meeting of the com , mittee, and whatever is done at this time will stand perhaps for years.
 | At previous sittings the committee has passed on several of the rules, but Com | missioner Webb has insisted on the incor- l roration of the Mississippi car service rules, but meets with strenuous opposi- tion. Briefly stated, the Mississippi rules l provide for more free time for the con- | sgnee, the time being based on distance | the consignee lives from the railroad and l his depot. The longest time is five days 1 for parties who live more than 10 miles | out
 Commissioner Webb is also anxious to | impress the committee with reciprocal demurrage rules adopted by the state of | Mississippi two or three years ago, and which have been declared Just and reas- l e. | This reciprocal rule penalizes the railroad /, for delays In placing cars, and is in con | sideration of the fact that the consignee is penalized for delays in unloading. The | state court went on the theory that it Is ] a poor rule that does not work both ways.
 Several months ago the Mississippi com 1 mission ordered the attorney general to proceed against the Yazoo and Missis- l sippi Valley railroad for its failure to obey their demurrage rules as to free l time, but while 1t was pending there l was an agreement with the car service association by which 1t was to observe the state rule on interstate as well as intrastate shipments-the condition being that the commission should dismiss the pending suit. The car service people | have since declined to put that rule in operation unless all the companies inter- ested would agree. The commission has reopened negotiations with the association and in the event the agreement is not | lived up to the suit will be reinstated and pressed for decision in the courts.
 Meantime, Captain Webb will endeavor to have the committee which meets in
 Washington adopt the rule for recom- mendation to the interstate commission
 but has small hopes of success
 Some time ago the Indiana Transports
 
 send them a sample slab of Mississippi
 wood, explaining that they wanted to
 carve map of the state thereon, same tc
 be made permanent ornament of theil
 great steamship, the Theodore Roose-
 welt" The governor had the Carrier
 Lumber and Manufacturing company O.
 Sardis to send the steamship company the
 slab asked for, and they furnished g
 magnificent piece of red gum
 The governor is now in receipt of 6
 circular letter from the steamship com
 pany explaining that the piece of wooc
 had been highly polished and made 6
 section of their great map of the United
 States, and which will be carried on the
 ship at all times. so that all passengers
 may see what kinds of wood every state
 has that is subject to high polish. Every
 state has made q similar donation to thu
 map-one foot square being used to each | Har EIarkton RlItnnc