Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-12-19
PRODUCERS OF COTTON
Not Considered Either in Marketing
or Handling of Crop.

marketing scheme which owes its orr
gin to a special consideration Of the
producers interests" is one Of th'
conclusions reported by the office o
markets of the United States depart
ment of agriculture in its bulletin No
Sc, of November Is, 1913, on "Studie:
of Primary Cotton Market Condition.
in Oklahoma" This bulletin can b'
obtained free, as long as the suppl!
lasts, by application to the depart
ment.
These studies began in October
1912. They have covered 1O3 cotto1
market towns of Oklahoma, involved
the sampling Of over $500 bales o.
cotton, with records Of date, place OF
sale, and price paid to the grower
They also invited careful grading ano
stapling of these samples, and a close
comparison between the prices paid tc
the grower and the actual difference
in grade. AS a result OF these studles
the investigators find that practlcall!
every feature of the handling .ano
marketing system is retained because
~of the insistence of some one or the
Numerous middlemen and carriers ,Wn(
have at best only temporary inter-
Pest in cotton. Even the spinners de-
sire for a better bale kept under shei.
tsr-antR 1t is shipped to the mill ano
with a covering which would keep the
cotton clean and dry is systematicaii!
ignored.
er cotton markets in the south. Fart
ly as 8 result Of the findings, the office
of markets Is now conducting exten.
siye investigations in so typical local
marketing points throughout the cot
ton belt.
The investigation showed the fol-
lowing conditions: Actual quality
above middling has little effect on the
price paid to the producer. because:,
(a) In general, the gfnners' VINO
buy a large proportion OF the cotton.
paw very nearly the same price for all
cotton purchased on a given day.
(b) In many street markets, even
where there are q large number OF
buyers, widely differing prices are paid
on the same day for bales or identlcai
quality. There is no uniform price TOT
middling cotton. o,
(c) The differences fixed by Okla
homa firms allow only about one.haii
as much premium for grades above
middling as do the differences OF the
New York cotton exchange. This,
however, should not be construed as
an approval of the New York fixed
difference system.
(d) In actual street buying the
premiums paid for bales grading above
middling are far less than the locally
advertised differences for such grades.
In some cases the bulk or cotton Is
bought as middling for weeks at a
time, when a large majority OF the
bales are actually above that grade.
(e) Except In the southeastern part
of the. state no attention is paid to the
length of staple in fixing the price OF
1.-The individual bale, but certain regions
receive slightly higher prices than
others because Of reputed superiority
of average staple. .
(O The cotton trade in Oklahoma
recognizes no grade above good mid
ding, although many thousand pales
of higher grade are produced.
From these conditions it is appar-
ent, the investigators say, that accu.
rate knowledge Of cotton grading is OF
little value to the producer in market
ing his Individual crop under present
conditions. The prices paid to farm
ers both for seed cotton and Tor INT.
are too largely based on system OF
averages. This works great in1ustlce
to the producers Of the best grades,
and discourages careful picking ana
Improvement Of varieties In length OF
staple. The greatest losses to the
luC PiCSCAN
marketing appear to lie in their fail
ure to secure the premium for their
high grades which these bales finally
bring.
The farmer Is not party to the
neglect which Tesults=in- most or the
country damage, but he receives no
compensation for any extra care which
he may bestow upon the finished bale
No evidence has come to light that
any attention is paid to the variety Of
short staple cotton grown when NIX
ing the price. In other words, the
only advantage derived by the grower
of an improved variety is the advan-
tage which may make its higher per-
centage of lint or some strictly Gull
tural characteristic.
To bring out the general relation
between the price of middling cotton
in different local markets in Oklaho-
ma as compared with the Galveston
closing price Of the preceding day, four
middling bales were selected at dill
ferent times in fifteen. towns, their
range of local price noted, ad differ
ence from the Galveston price deter
mined.
1t was found that the range in price
paid in a local market for. different
bales of middling cotton varied from
$O.75 in Duncan to IS q bale in Erick,
where on the same day $50 and sos
were paid for bales OF this same
grade. &C.,
The difference between local aver
age middlipg prices and the Galveston
price varied from $3.50 in Ryan to
$500 in Marietta. There seems to be
no regularity in variations between To-
cal prices and the Galveston prices.
In Norman at different times the diff
ferences from the Galveston price was
$1.05, s2.19 and 1910. All figures are
based on random sampling, but bales
sold in round lots were excluded. The
figures do not represent the extreme
ranges on the days samples were TAX
en-, as the collectors usually secured
samples before learning the price Tor
which the bales sold. That the price
of middling is often more variable
than any other Is brought out by the
figures for Cordell on November s. A
total of thirteen bales were sampled.
OF these, three were middling, and
the extreme variation in price among
them was $3.75; five bales graded
strict low middling, and the extreme
range in price was $3.50; one bale OF
good middling brought $60,. the high
est price among these thirteen bales,
but a low middling spotted, the poor
est bale of the thirteen, brought ex-
actly the same price.
The investigation showed that in the
case of strict middling cotton in the
same local market the difference in
price for bales of this grade would
vary from $500 to $725. -.
In the case of low middling cotton
on seven markets. the price variation
on the same day was from $2.0O to
$3.50 "a bale. In. the case of strict low
middling cotton the variation ran from
$3.50 to $500 per bale. The follow
ing table shows the variation in high
and low grades and tinges:
Variations between
identical bales.
Grade and Place 1912
Good mid.-Purcell. Oct. 80 $500
G. mid, tngd--Noble, Nov. 21 90
Do. .-Byars -. Do. :. 90
INn -Dnranf. Dec & 90