Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-07-10
I'm OUR
VALLEY

WHY DOES a cotton buyer WELD
a sharp knife on cotton bagging,
expose the lint, take out handful
and after the Sampling throw the
handful of cotton on the conven-
lent floor?
Perhaps many cotton farmer
has wondered about this.
And the man not interested in
the cotton business, except as it
might affect general economic con-
ditions, wonders too.
This happens in every cotton
yard. or on the floor of every
warehouse.
Each prospective buyer feels that
he must open the bale at a differ
ent place. Soon that bale gets into
such a condition as to cause cur
iostiy as to what the buyer thinks
the farmer paid out cash money
to have his bale well covered.
"A And there arouses the suspicion
@3hat in the course of a season
quite considerable amount of sup
posedly wasted cotton is gathered
by someone.
THE LOWER Rio Grande Valley
is on the opening end of what
promises to be fairly good cotton
season.
Gins throughout the section are
busy. Everywhere the fields are
filled with cotton pickers.
The highways are lined with
wagons and trucks carrying the
seed cotton to the gins. Traffic is
slowed down, especially on the
narrower paved roads.
Indications are for a hundred
thousand bale crop. That will be
slightly more than the crop Of last
year.
But still short Of the bumper
crops Of 1924, 1925 and 1926.
Even SO the present crop promises
to yield to Valley growers the
municifent sum of $10,000,000.
FIRE INSPECTOR o. E. Finley
was in Brownsville Tuesday for the
purpose of accepting the fire alarm
system recently installed. While
Finley is not authorized to reveal
what his recommendations to the
state department will be, he ap-
peared well satisfied with the local
system. If he reports favorably,
this will mean that Brownsville will
obtain one of the lowest fire in
Sdrance key rates in the state.
A rate Of 16 cents on the 500
valuation is expected. This would
be the fourth lowest in the state,
only surpassed by Fort Worth, Dali
las and San Antonio.
Inspector Finley also noted the
standardization work being done on
hose and plug connections here. In
the past the connections have been
3 1-54 inches. They are now be-
ing changed to 8 1-16 national
standard.
This will mean that should
large conflagration break out in
a6y part of the Valley local units
could be rushed to their aid. In
the past difficulty would have been
experienced due to the fact that
the hose connections were not of
the same size.
The next step toward lowering
the insurance key rate would be the
erection Of stand pipe in Victoria
addition. This is the fartherest
point from the pressure supply at
present. The stand pipe would
equalize the pressure and give a
greater volume of water in the
eastern portion Of the city.
One OF the main penalties assess
ed against the fire department now
is the presence of several buildings
with shingle roofs in the downtown
fire district. Building restrictions
now prevent erection of such struc-
lures but do not require that those
existing be changed.
Eventually the older structures
will be removed and the insurance
key rate will again be lowered.
When this is accomplished, Browns
vile may have the lowest key rate
In the state.