The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-05-20
SENATOR SMITH
FOR STANDARDS.
JRGEs THAT FARMERS BE
! PROTECTED G
THEY I NOW !, LOSE
South Carolinian Explains Impot-
tance of Proper Valuationsof
Cotton Crop 4,

Cotton Crop +
Washington, May 15,-Speaking on
the agricultural bill In the Senate,
Senator E. D.. Smith of South Caro-
lima recently made "a forceful plea
for the consideration. Of the farmers
need for education in the valuation OF
his crcr. Senator Smith scontended
that it was illogical to apcreariate
money to teach farmers how to In
crease their output and not to give
money to enable them to get the real
worth Of their crops in the market.
81 wish to call the attention OF the
senate" Seantor Smith said, "lhe the
fact that In this bill we are spending
several million dollars for the purpose
Of demonstrating to the farmer the
best method by which he can increase
his output. It seems to me It comes
with Ill grace for any member on this
floor, to vote for an appropriation to
teach the farmer how to make a larger
/ crop and then make no effort to give
MIN any knowledge Of the value Of
what he does, go
,"I am the author of this amend
ment. l. proposed 1t for me reason
that I'VE have before us a demonstras
tion OF these yarns made under an ap-
proprition secured by me to the last
agricultural appropriation BILL show
ing that the trade on account Of the
grades which, it had arbitrarily fixed
is making a difference Of anywhere
from SIS tos$20 per bale, whereas by
this test of hte relative value. Of the
different grades the department Of az
riculture has demonstrated that no
such actual difference exists.
t"'Yous and i are dependent for the
textiless Of this country upon the,
Southern cotton growers. The only,
way you can make him prosperous It
to, make his york profitable. I do
not see how any member on this foor
can vote millions ..Of dollars for the
purpose OF increasing the output, and
then make no appropriation whatever
to teach to those who produce the
raw material what 1t is worth.
he0UCoG Inc fT1Ces rU a,t.,
"The manufacturer would get q Ger
tain kind Of cotton and on account Of
its appearance they would declare 1t
was gin-cut cotton, that 1t WAS not In
fgood form, and therefore that the far
mer. should lose from l to q cents
la:pound or from $40 o SIS a bale. The
department has proven that the speed
of the gin has nothing to do with the
quality of the output. The department.
stan ndardtzed the grades Of cotton,
from goec ordinary to- middling fsir-
half grades. The department took
half grades. THhe' department took
J samples from the exchanges of the
country and out Of the whole made
an average that represented the uni
form grades Of upland cotton produced
in the South. It then sent some Of
each grade Of this cotton 20 the mills
at Danville, Va, and some Of it to
the textile department at Clemson coll
lege and elsewhere, believe. It was
spun at these places with the same
speed, with the same humidity, and
with, the same mechanical conditions
surrounding it. AS a result it was
found that good ordinary bIeached
| and good ordinary nonbeached, as
represented on this card, were prac-
| tically the same as the other. grades,
so far as tensile strength and bleach,
ing qualities were concerned. -
"As a practical cotton grower, I
want to call the senate's attention to
the fact that here Is the middle grade
all below that grade brings q lower
price. The trade made difference
Of SIS per bale between middling and
good ordinary Under the impartial
test of the department, made at Glenn
son college, as shown On this card,
that there Is practically no difference
form the yarns made from the grades
from middling to good ordinary. But
the trade makes a difference Of SIS
bale between middling and good or
| binary, and $50 bale between mid
ding fair and good ordinary.
"The department has impartially
spun this yarn under, conditions that
should characterize eYbry well, or
ganized mill, using upland cotton, .un-
der the same mechanical conditions
with the same humidity and the same
speed Of spindle, and has reached this
result.
when in well regulated mill, rum
ling with the same speed, while an ar
tificial condition within the breaker
room and the picker room and the
slasher room you can without any ad-
ditional cost, produce the same con-
dition in New England that you do
in the South, and the same condition
in the South that you do in New En-
gland, surely the Senator from Utah
(Mr. Smoot) Is not going to come here
and say that because our mills have
had a condition Of speed and of cli-
mate that might not make the pro-
duct as good in one as in the other
he is going to penalize the grower and
penalize the producer Of raw material
because some man wants to use an
old worm out system and thereby en-
rich himself at the expense of those
who produce cotton"