Arizona republican., 1916-11-17
ON THE WAY TO
 HI: MINERS.

Immediately after the process of gin~
 ming is completed, the cotton is baled
 anG put in condition for market. As
 the spinners refuse to pay for the bag
 ging and bands on the bales. especially lat the prevailing high prices, twenty
 two pounds tare, which is the weight
 Of such covering, is deducted from the
 gross weight of each bale and the net
 weight obtained is used in arriving
 at the cost of the cotton per bale.
 After contamination of sale to buyer.
 q gin receipt covering each bale is
 issued to the purchaser and a tag placed on each bale. as a partial means
 of identification. which is usually sup lplemented before shipping, by stencil ing each bale with brand, and usually the shippers name.
 In practically all sections of the country where cotton is raised eXten- sively, the railroads accept shipments in less than carload lots at the same freight rate as carload lots, They are able to do this as so much cotton is moving from various purchasers to practically the same destination. that shipments can be consolidated and car load lots obtained. But at the present time the railroads of this vTiley apply a much higher freight rate on less lIldll I-IOdQ iOlS tIldD OH SflIpultUlS in car lot quantities. A minimum car, according to the current tariffs, is 20.0 GOO pounds which weight approx mates forty bales; this has frequently necessitated carrying of cotton for a considerable time, by the buyers. be- fore sufficient can he accumulated to obtain advantage of the minimum
 rate As soon as the required number of bales for a car are gotten together, they are branded and loaded and shipped undersan order bill-lading to 1 destination. These bills -lading bear
 notation requiring compression of the cotton in transit. Compressing a bale. as the name implies, means to reduce
 a bale to a smaller package than when ! it leaves the gin.
 This serves q double purpose: name | ly. the saving of car space in shipping | and storage space at the mills.
 Fifty bales of cinned cotton can be 1 loaded into an average freight car. but i one hundred compressed bales can be put in the same space. The charge , for compression is ten cents per hund-
 red pounds. which charge is included in the freight rate. At compress
 points. the congresses keep records of
 each shipment handled and at stated intervals collect from the transporta- { ton companies. The route of shipping . in general practice at present. is by way Of San Antonio, at which place | the cotton is compressed. and from ! there 10 Galveston, where 1t Is loaded ! on coastwise ships if intended for do- mestic trade or on trans Atlantic ! liners if destined tO the foreign mar kets. The valley cotton is matured. marketed and shipped during the same 1 period in which the cotton of the south is moving in greatest volume, consequently blockades and embar- goes at the receiving ports and un- i loading ports. as well as congestion at ! interior terminals. are conditions ire l Quently encountered: therefore. ship meats are at times considerably de- ! lay cd. Probably the average time re-
 Quired tO transport a car of cotton
 from the valley gins to a New England mill is around two months