The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-03-01

President Dabbs of the State Farmers
Union Tells What IL Meant by the
"City Crop"
To The Press of the State:

is meant by this, or that ne has not
sir, the City Crop" of cotton does not
mean cotton grown in cities, it
means samples of cotton taken from
the bales by the cotton buyers when
they are buying the cotton. When
farmer takes his cotton to the mar
ket, it is always sampled by the cotton
buyer-in some cases by three or four
different cotton buyers-and the sam
pies are almost invariably retained by
him. This means, of course, that dur
ing the cotton season a cotton buyer
has obtained a large number Of SAM
pies which he bales and sells. These
samples have not cost him anything
50 that this cotton, although it does
not grow an the city, is evidently q
city product as far as it represents
s,aything to the farmer.
When it is considered that sam
pie of cotton will weigh at least
twelve ounces, or three-quarters Of a.
pound, it will readily be seen how
much the city crop" Of cotton
amounts to in the course of a season.
(Signed) Crop"
Some of the friends Of the farmers
in the legislature and elsewhere, and
some farmers where up in arms about
the inspection fee on cotton by which
l hoped to make the cotton crop fin
ance its own warehouse system with
out any charge of class legislation.
The above short letter in one of the
leading journals throws some light on
this subject. Ask any we'll informed
person in any market of any conse-
compress, how much "city crop" cot
ton is sold each year and the reply
will astound some of these farmers
friends. In selling 10 bales of extra
staple cotton within the past month
more than 20 cents on each bale went
TO swell the "city crop" in four cities
in the samples that / submitted and
none of my samples were full size.
Why, If my memory serves me cor
rectly, one Of the most persistent and
"rantankerous" opponents of this
vicious" feature, as he was pleased
to call the inspection fee, some years
ago wanted the Farmers Union to get
behind a move to have all cotton
samples turned over to the anti
tuberculosis league, or the society for
the amelioration Of the condition of
the natives OF Timbuctoo, or some
equally worthy object. There was
nothing vicious about such legislation
because it would take from the help
less CD cotton buye, one of his
sources of income.
This bill would, when properly
worked out, have provided what a cot
ton buyer told me recently he had
tried TO have put into effect: The
sampling OF cotton, and these sam
pies properly numbered and kept in
the Office of the warehouse where it
could be properly protected from
dust and light and be accessible TO
buyers whenever they wanted TO see
the grade of any lot of cotton on stor-
age. His reason was that when the
warehouse is full OF cotton it is
sometimes almost impossible to get
samples Of every bale and he had
bought lots of cotton of which 10 or
ID bales he could not sample until
after the deal was closed ana the
cotton was taken out for delivery. At
the end of the season the cotton sam
pies could he sold for the benefit of
the persons whose cotton was sam
pied, or i'm the case of a warehouse for
the expenses VI the same, thereby en-
abling IL To do business at less cost.
This feature alone would reimburse
the farmer for the inspection fee Of
- cents If there were no others.
Another feature would serve save
OH the Cttl' uldNlbll VI al islN u llOpl IN
pert of many years experience in the
cotton trade $1.S3 per bale. This
would hc lust as soon as the cotton
hale and the covering could be stand
ardiZcd. Sow this saving would not
hc increased price but in more econ
omical covering ana in the saving in
freight ana Insurance. Docs any one
suppose for a minute that such . re-
f'rm Will come about ,oluntar'ly
when every farmer and ginncr is a
law unto himself as To the s.zc of his
bale, ana whether hc puts gu.uo
sacks SUGAR sacks. old CO. now jutc
covering On his bale; %ot .n a mil
lion years When tbc sample from
ono uaic SELLS thc loir dt the Same
+ f.rI,. tI.t TN. ..rrtl, from ..1tfl