The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-10-04
BIGGEST RECEIPTS EVER.
MORE COTTON SOLD ON LOCAI,
MARKET UP TO THIS TIME
THAN EVER BEFORE.
Seven or Eight Hundred Bales
Placed in Warehouse - Southern
Platform Utilized Saturday-Forty
Cars to Be Unloaded-BiggestW Week
In Five Years.

market up to this time are the larg-
est in the history Of the city. With
| the winding up Of the receipts satur-
day there had been turned loose on
the local market 1854 bales Of new
cotton. The receipts last week were
the largest for one week in the past
five years. 4.21s bales having been
received and weighed at the cotton
platform.
Sumter may we'll claim to be the
largest cotton market in the State il
the number Of bales received up to
the present time is an index Of what
is to be sold in this county this fall
and winter. Already the receipts are
larger than they were in any pre-.
vious year up to this time and, un-
less appearances are misleading, 1t Is
probable that this will be the big
gest or one Of the biggest, cotton
year that Sumter county has ever
had. Up to Saturday night there
had been sold on the local market
14,S19 bales Of new cotton, which, If
previous records are sustained. is ap-
proximately one-third OF the cotton
crop in this county, or at least one
third what is annually sold on the
local market In previous years the
receipts to the first Of October
amounted to less than half Of the
amount received up to this time this
year. except for the year 1909 when
| 1898 bales Of cotton had been re-
ceived up to October 1st In 1910
the receipts up to the same time
amounted to $500 bales.
Today the cotton platform was
crowded with cotton from end to, end
and there was scarcely any room
for the few scattering bales which
were coming in this morning. Sat
urady the platform became too
crowded for the cotton weighers to
| continue weighing on it and they
were forced TO move to the Southern
freight depot platform where sew
eral hundred bales Of cotton were
weighed. There were in all on the
two platforms approximately 5000
bales Of cotton.
AT the same time that the weigh
ers were weighing cotton from the
wagons it was coming in in car load
lots which the weighers were unable
to handle Immediately, because of
the amount coming in on wagons.
Saturday morning there were thirty.
two carloads Of cotton waiting to be
unloaded and weighed, cotton which
had been shipped in here from
neighboring railroad stations. To-
day this number Of cars has nvan
augmented to about forty and these
were still waiting - oe weighed az
soon a. some Of the cotton on the
platforms could be loaded on cars and
shipped off from here and room
made fc' te incoming cotton.
Mr.. A. I. Thompson. who has been
cotton weigher for five years stat
ed that last week the receipts were
heavier than they had ever been at
any time since he had been a weigh
er. The weighers have done all in
their power to handle the cotton, but
lack Of space has cramped them.
TO make matters worse there is
scarcity Of labor and the railroads
cannot get hands to load the cotton
into cars so that it can be shipped
off and the platform cleared. The
present congestion is due to this lack
Of labor.
| The forty cars which are here con-
tain on an average Of twenty-five
bales of cotton, each. making a total
Of 1000 bales on hand waiting 10
/ be weighed as soon as the platform
is cleared. AT the same time De-
tween 700 and 500 bales Of cotton
have been stored in the warehouse,
showing the proportion Of cotton
sold with that stored. In the last
week more cotton was stored than
altogether up to that time, and it Is
expected that the receipts at the
warehouse this week will be the larg-
, est of any week yet. Some Of the
principal holders are Messrs II. J.
Hardy Of this city, ID. w. Alderman
of Alcolu, and others.
! Those who have handled the cot
ton in previous years say that the
congestion duo to lack of labor IS
worse this year that AT any time pre-
| VlouSlY and unless something Is dona
/ to remedy present conditions, extra
I hands come in TO load the cot3ou.
'hat there is no telling how the mat