The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-07-26
Five Mills Are Operated
Here.
/ ffFTY-THOUSAND TONS Or
SEED CRUSHED ANNUALLY
Process Of Extracting OIL Intensely
Interesting.
n.sha,~ OF seed II Allowed To wsste,
the Eesnomie Advantages Be-
i.g Almost IDEAL

X nor OF heroes nor OF ausone"SS
hA sing. but merely Of mans prosaic
efrort Ia enslave nature, to wiring from
her every 1.-THE of substance, 10
achieve the perfect economy that Will
mark the zenith of the worlds pros
perity and economy.
Ana he will tell of cotton, from first
TO last. But no. not Of the last, TOT
there Is no end to the story OF cotton.
nor even to the history Of the tiniest
seed.
BY cotton is attained more perhaps
than In any other of natures oner-
fnrs to man, a conservation OF energy
an endless chain of utilization. that Is
( almost idealistic. Not until the cotton
seed Industry was perfected forty years
ago. was this state of nearly absolute
economy reached, but now the chain
ID complete with nearly 500 cotton oil
mills busily astir through six months
Of the year in the country, each erect
Ing n multifarious evolution from the
Undiscovered seeds to two score Of use
full products. and back. through the
cotton meal fertilizers. again to the
SOIL and the growth Of more seeds. And
d most fascinating industry 10 estab-
lfshed, one which eclipses. In its va
riety OF forms. the grubbing for gold.
or the romance ofNcoai and iron.
And so. with the establishment of
achievement of the most complete step
toward absolute conservation, the
world owes much to the South. much
70 Alabama, much to Montgomery. for
the city has taken a prominent stand
among the places of the whole world
IN the cotton oil mill work.
Five oil mills are maintained IN
Montgomery. among them one. the big
twslve-press mill of the Southern Cot
ton Oil Company. one OF the largest in
the South, and therefore one of the
largest in the world. inasmnch a. the
Southern part Of the United States Ia
the section OF the whole world In
which the cotton seed industry is most
extensively piled.
At the lowest estimate. $4,000 tons
OF the cotton seed are crushed annual
IL in the i've Montgomery milis-some-
times much more. And from this. at
least 100000 gallons of cotton seed
OIL crude ana refined. Is produced, to
be tanked and shipped near and far,
from the Black Belt of Alabama to
scandanavia to Germany. to the West
Indies to the Orient: 10000 tons of
meal. thousands OF tons of fertilizers.
Hiinters.'' or the cotton which Is puli-
"a from the seed at the oil mile.
And with the last item Of linters
comes the first revelation Of the mar
veIlous economy OF the cotton seed I'm
1ustry- When the cotton from the
fields passes through the gin. the seeds
are pfucked from the bolis. A covering
Of cotton remains about the seed-a
mere bft~of nun. which a man can
hold Invisible between his thumb ana
rorehnger This bit OF residual fleece
ls ignored at the gin. but not so when
the seed Is brought to the oil mill.
Here every downy strand Is pulled
from the heed, and these short bits OF
cotton are known as the linters.
The linters. lacking length Of staple.
are unit for weaving into cloth, except
OF the coarsest. But there are other
uses-the filing Of mattresses, the
the production, by the thrifty Ger
mans. of certain brands of felt for
hats or clothes. The linters are sold
for prices from one cent TO three cents
u pound-not much, IL would seem at
the first, but when II is remembered
that the linters represent a product
that was formerly absolute waste. 1t
10 obvious that It stands for almost
pure pront
This little Interpolation anent the
Ilnters Is merely tho description of one
instance OF the economy In the cotton
seed industry, an industry IN which
every Opportunity which nature Of
fers. however gingerly, is grasped and
utilized.
Five Montgomery Mills.
In the ave Montgomery oil mills,
SIS to 500 men are employed. while
the plant is in operation, the number
proportionate upon the rush OF bust
ness. The industry was established in
Alabama In the late '7o's. and in Mont
gomery in 1880, when the Alabama
Cotton OIL Company was opened for
business here. Several years after, in
1887, the Southern Cotton OH Com
pany was established. The two first
were branches of great corporations
so-called ''trusts"-of the North Then
began the establishment of the indie
pendent crushers, who recognized the
opening in a field where all are on a
common footing trust or no trust.
The Planters Cotton OIL Company was
the hrst OF the Independents. the Ma
tionai the second. and the Dixie Cot
ton Oil Company the last OF the Mont
gomery oil mills. Since the establish
nnent Of the business here in 1880 there
has never been a suspension or
siackening Of work IN any OF the local
mills. And, indeed, there are but few
cases, not more than half a dozen in
all where legitimate enterprises along
the cotton seed line have succumbed,
in the entire country. since the manu-
facture was nrst begun
Inquiry into the cotton seed indus
try in Montgomery reveals bits OF in
dustrial secrets. They are open Sc
crets, 1t Is true. and known TO the
world of trade, and yet they are evad-
ed. now and then.
Thus. the Southern Cotton OIL Com
pAny produces one OF these tacit I'M
derstandings. The Southern Company
- corporation. and there are some
who point to its central government
as the nighty Standard OF Company
itself 1t Is agreed. again tacitly, that
the Virginia Carolina Chemical Conn
pnny, the great fertilizer trust, pulls
the wires by which the Southern Cot
ton OIL Company moves And that
the Standard OIL Company dominates
the Virginia Carolina Company has
been matter OF surmise for years.
The Southern Cotton OIL COMPANY
operates, in Montgomery, the largest
null In the state. Twelve hydraulic
presses crush the kernels Of the seed
into cake. thereby driving from II
the albuminous protein which Is the
OIL Seven thousand gallons OF oil