The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-02

1 pute and differences of opinion as to the | exact classification of cotton Under some l market conditions this is drawn to so fine a point as quarter grades. The matter of | light, particularly as to- reflections from
 coiored walls or gray sky, with over- | head state of cloudlness, all affect the work of classification ,and,many mistakes made in class are attributed to these con- | ditions.
 l The New York and the New Orleans ex- | changes have prepared each year stand | ards. of types of grades in sealed glass covered boxes the full and half grades.
 But there Is no such thing as an exact
 chasing to standards. There is only the
 very nearest approach to it, and in many | local markets there are variations in this
 matter. Upon this oft times rests the
 matter of small profit to the broker
 who buys on one grade and ships on a
 higher class to larger markets on orders
 from expert houses and mill agents. | The chasing of cotton still has the
 earmarks of the primitiveness of colonial | days, when there were only four full grades known to the commercial world.
 Most of the purchases are on basis of 1 middling. Now, niddling is just a half i grade between ordinary and good mid
 ding under the old system. Middling may
 be said to be cotton pure white in color, smooth in fiber, free from trash and such
 an infinitessmal amount of leaf trash ground up in passing through the gin as
 to be almost imperceptible.
 The term strict middling means half
 grade better than mddling and a half
 grade lower than good middng. In some | markets the term fully, which signifies
 a quarter of a grade better, fully good | middling, is used, and more especially
 in the Liverpool and other foreign mar
 kets. In the general classification of cot | ton the grades run from middiing fair | to low ordinary. Midding fair is a grade | as fair as a lily, free from any foreign | matter, very smooth and with residence | This is very rare grade ,and is only found under unusual conditions as to the V pcather, careful picking and the ginning | in clean machine with the cotton having | lain for some time in the seed so that the natural moisture found in green cotton will have evaporated. Low ordinary is | the lowest grade recognized on contracts | but there is marketed, in unfavorable | picking seasons much cotton known as | inferior, being very trashy and dirty and happy from bad ginning Some times | with prolonged bad weather in the picking 1 season when the very low grades have been exposed to rain and frost and when | the picking is indifferent as to dirt and ttash where the cotton is on the ground, there is some cotton marketed called dog
 
 The difference in price between grades | OF actual spot cotton Is usually one-eighth of a cent. Sometimes, however, an over- supply of a grade will alter this differ eEce.
 For many years it was the custom of foreign buyers and mill owners to pay to brokers commissions and certain charges for the buyin, weighing, class ing and shipping of cotton purchases made
 Oil limit or price based on grade. This passed out many years ago. In those days. up to about 1875, it was the custom for factors to deliver cotton for the own CTS, or merchants buying the same in
 trade For this the factor received 21a
 Der cent commission, and warehouse and other charges. Competition gradually forced this down from $l.25 a bale on a value of $50. to 50 cents per bale. All of this business has passed away at
 smaller places. and is done only to a linn | ited extent in the larger markets, where merchants and planters are borrowers l from commission houses. The buying business, which by the way | has been notorously full of fraud, not ohly in class, split bales, marked up weights on wet cotton, but reached the tclimax of downright theft in forged bills of lading for cotton which was never de- | livered to railroads. Absolutely there is | unknown any business in the wide, wide 1 world where so much rascality and fraud | and cheating has gone on for years. 1t may be that the limit has been reached and that now we shall have some protec- | tioD for legitimate, honest cotton buyers against the thieves and rascals who seemed. to have prospered and to have been unwhipped.
 | It is fact that for many years shrewd
 brokers and buyers have relied at times 1 on the pillaging of the cotton bales-the samples-for their commission. Now, ops- Eeif pound to pound is ample for any honest sample, that is when being exam iced carefully for grade by an expert. These samples are drawn by what is known as cotton gimlet. The rascally cotton broker, after the cotton has been weighed, has often taken as much as 10 or b pounds out of the bale. This cotton When rebaled, brings something under | low middling price .Often cotton has been exposed to weather for long time and las gradually become saturated with | moisture; it is then that the weighers | knowledge comes into use in scaling, for | tEis scalage may run from to 90 pounds
 per bale, and in some cases has required | 100 scalage. but this is unusual. One of l the tricks of crooked cotton buyers is | to mark up the weights of sworn weigh | CT who has honestly tried to do his duty 1 in scaling. Just here let me say that l there is but one sure remedy for this raS- | cality. It is the enactment of laws for
 the purpose of having cotton graded by l two men of undoubted honesty, say, to | an average of full grades and half grades;
 also provision to be made for dry rooms | in connection with warrant warehouses, | so that if the cotton when coming to be stored or weighed is in wet condition it | may first be placed in the dry rooms, then weighed by an official weigher. Now, if l the classers have done their duty, and the | weigher. let there be attached to the bale
 a metal tag, and stamped on it the class ! mark and the weight; also one to be in- serted in the middle of the bale. Make 1t | an offense against the law to remove these | marks, but allow broker to attach any | ether brands he wishes. These official l tags to be the arbiters in disputes, or in the settlement of losses by fire.
 Buying From the Farmer
 When the small farmer with his one or
 more bales comes to town he usually takes it to some warehouse or yard, has 1t weighed and marked. He receives re-
 ceipt with the weight written on it, and
 d small sample drawn from the side of each bale. Here in Birmingham most of this business is carried on in that sec tion north Of Twenty-third street, on Sec ond avenue, with wagon yards provided by the merchants near by. When the
 farmer has dumped his cotton and gotten