The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1913-05-22
COTTON" SMITH
ON THE JOB.
TWO BILLS OF GREAT IMPOR.
TANCE TO FARMERS, ESPEC-
TALLY COTTON GROWERS.
Editor County Record

vi IllOIS llloll pe1ooiilS iiSSi>o ~
the farmers of South Carolina, and
particularly the cotton growers, is
the measure introduced and passed
through the efforts of Senator + D
Smith, requiring the Department OF
Agriculture to test, the tensile
strength, that is, the yarn-making
quality, of each andevery grade of
cotton, to bleach every grade wheth-
er in the form of yarn or cloth, IN
order to determine the cost and the
result of the bleaching, to estimate
carefully the amount of waste in
each grade incident to converting 1t
into yarn and cloth, to estimate care
fully the value of this waste.
From this it will readily be seen
that the result of these experiments
will be of incalculable benefit to the
grower. This measure became law
at the last session of Congress and
the Department of Agriculture is
now engaged in the work of investi-
CATION. twill give the producer the
requisite knowledge from an impair
tial official source of the real CONNER
cial value of every grade of cotton.
AS is we'll known, both the export
and domestic buyers make differ
ence between middling and the low
er grades Of anywhere from 81 .25
to $500 per bale. The producer
had no way of knowing whether this
was right andGust or not. He had to
take the word of the trade. By vlr-
tue of this law, he will be furnished
a bulletin giving him full knowledge
of all these facts. So that when he
comes to market he will be thor
oughly informed as to the value of
every grade in reference to its man.
ufacturing value and will not have to
take the word of an interested party.
In conjunction with the above law.
the grades have been standardized
by the government. Senator Smith
has begun a campaign to have every
shipping point in the cotton-growing
States furnished with set of these
standardized samples, that is, every
shipping point where there is a sworn
weigher or other competent officials
to take charge of them. 1t can read
ily be seen that with the knowledge
furnished by the provision which is
already law, as to the value of each
grade, that if each shipping point is
furnished with set of samples, the
farmer who comes to market to sell
is thoroughly equipped to protect
himself against being buncoed or de-
ceived as to what grade his cotton
is and the value of that grade. To
illustrate: when a farmer comes to
market where there is set of stand
ard samples, he can determine him.
self what his grade is and not be de-
pendent upon the buyer to say what
the grade is. When the grade has
been determined by comparison with
the government standard, the farm
er then can determine the value of
that grade by reference to the gov
ernment tests furnished him. For
instance, suppose the buyer offers
the producer q half cent or three
quarters of cent less for his low
middling than for middling. Suppose
the farmer, by reference to his bull
letin, finds that, according to gov
ernment tests, low middling for man.
ufacturing purposes is as valuable as
middling. With this knowledge he
can demand the same price for his
low middling that he does for his
middling and it would be up to him
whether he takes less or demands
the same. In a word, he will be in
possession of all the knowledge avail
able in reference to the value and
the grade of his cotton that the mill
man and buyer has, and can govern
himself accordingly.
In Senator Smiths opinion this is
the most important legislation ever
enacted in behalf OF the cotton grow
er. Senator Smith has reintroduced
and is pushing his bill looking to the
regulation of cotton exchanges. This
is the same measure that came near
passing at the last session of Con-
gress. Briefly stated, this bill pro-
vides that in each and every contract
for the future delivery of cotton the
grade or grades contracted for shall
be specifically named IN the contract
and such grade or grades as are
named shall be according to govern
ment Standardization. This will le-
galize the standardized grades in in
terstate commerce and give the sane
.tion of law to the use Of the stand