The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-04-23
THE QUESTION OF COTTON.

HE 4OG0A4OKy Vt III AV4Ss
Il il pity that men protesting ordinary in
telligence should undertake to discuss matters
pertaining to the SOUTH or for that matter to
any section, Of which they are as igBorant a.
Germany is of honor and morality, says the Man.
n cturers' Record. The disposition Of some
people to talk learnedly about things Of which
their ignorance is SO dense that it is almost inn
penetrable is illustrated in weekly circular Of
w. J. Wollman Co., members Of the New York
Stock Exchange, who undertake to tell the south
what it should do in regard to cotton from the
question Of how to grow cotton to how to handle
it. One statement, which is typical Of most OF
this amazing financial review. is the following:
1aThe amount that the south wastes annually
in the handling Of the cotton crop is greater than
the total of dividends paid on all the railroads
Of the United States, and these nj 1916 amount
ed to $342, OOO, 900. Density Of compression at
the gins would save hundreds of millions every
year that now go for re-handling, extra haulage,
needless space taken up on railroads and steam
ships, loss in transit, claims for damages and
other items. Yet the south has set its face stub
bornly against these modern improvements and
chung to ancient methods"
It win be news to the cotton ginners Of the
south and to the income tax forces of the coun-
try that the cost Of cotton ginning runs far into
remarkable statement says that hundreds of
millions" could be- saved annually by greater
density Of compression. 1t is scarcely conceiv-
able that an office boy, able to write his name,
could have been guilty Of putting forth such
asinine statements.
Density Of compression at the gins is impor.
tant. Better baling and better handling are OF
great importance, but the utmost amount that
anyone has yet claimed which could be saved by
this improved system is from $5O.0O0.O0O to
$50, 600, 900 year. That is very big item, but
it is far and away behind the $432. 900 which
the bankers circular mentions. Since, accord
ing to Wollman & Co., density OF compression
would annually save hundreds of millions" we
are wondering just how many hundreds OF mil
lions these bankers have been figuring on as pos
sible to be saved certainly far more than the
$342, OOO, 900 which they have mentioned as be-
low the saving that could be effected each year.
Possibly these bankers, whose density Of lg-
norance about cotton is far greater that the
density Of the most densely compressed cotton
bales, are not aware Of the fact that leaders in
the south have for years sought to bring about
better compression Of cotton but that the rail-
roads Of this section, owned and dominated AL
most entirely in New York and either owning or
dominating many of the compresses II the
south. have in many cases aggressively sought
| to prevent the betterment of cotton baling They
have refused in times past to give better rate
/ for properly compressed cotton than for badly
i baled cotton, though they could carry far more
Of the better compressed bales to . car than they
| could Of the present badly baled cotton Many
years ago, when the round bale was being intro
duced, the entire cotton-handling system Of the
south could have been changed il the railroads
had not aggressively fought against giving any
advantage whatever to the improved bale as
compared with the old bale. Steamship COM
panies doing the worlds trade, were willing to
give better freight rates. but the railroads in the
south, owned and controlled in New York, were
not as ready to help better balng Of cotton in the
south IS were the steamship companies which
were owned in England. Moreover, this banking
house is probably ignorant Of the fact that q
large proportion of the big cotton congresses in
the south were owned or controlled, dierctly or
indirectly, by New York cotton firms who had
such power IN the cotton trade that they join
| ed in the campaign against better baling. and
through their financial strength were able to
break nearly every effort made for improving
the cotton-handling system Of the south.
] Because it doesn't know how to reduce the
cost of living. government increases the pay Of
its railway employees But how does that help
]. the rest Of US?