Paper on Cotter-Seed Oil 
 and Cotton-Seed Oil 
 
 Henry V. Ogden 
 
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 SB 31 
 
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 READ BY 
 
 Mr, HENRY V. OGDEN, Resident Secretary, 
 
 SOUTHERN DEPARTMENT 
 
 LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE CO , 
 
 BEFORE THE- 
 
 TJBDEEWKITEKS' ASSOCIATION OF THE SOUTH, 
 
 MAY 26, 1880. 
 
 CONSTITUTION PRINT, 36 BROAD STREET. 
 1@80. 
 
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 UlL^s uullUrl-oDBlJ U1L IlLLo, 
 
 BEAD BY 
 
 Mr. HENRY V. OGDEN, Resident Secretary, 
 
 SOUTHKRN DKPARTMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE CO, 
 
 BEFORE THE- 
 
 UNDERWBITEKS' ASSOCIATION OF THE SOUTH, 
 
 MAY 26, 1880. 
 
 CONSTITUTION PRINT, 36 BROAD STREET. 
 1880. 
 
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 1 ASSOCIATION | SOUTH, 
 
 Cotton-Seed Oil and Cotton-Seed Oil Mills, 
 
 HENRY V. OGDEN. 
 Mr. President and Qenttemen of the Association : 
 
 I have been invited to address you on the subject of Cotton- 
 Seed Oil and Cotton-Seed Oil Mills as connected with the busi- 
 ness of underwriting. In discussing a subject which might 
 naturally be supposed to excite our interest in proportion only 
 as it concerns our business, I find myself in the presence of so 
 much else of interest to our community as to justify me in giv- 
 ing my investigation a wider range. 
 
 The origin and growth of an industry so rapidly expanding 
 in extent and importance, is, in itself, full of interest. The his- 
 tory of its gradual development, its present status, and possible 
 future, rightly claim our attention. Its great value to the 
 country in successfully utilizing a hitherto almost wasted pro- 
 duct of our soil, and converting it into articles valuable for ex- 
 port and for home consumption, merits more than a passing 
 consideration. 
 
 The utilization of the seed of the cotton plant was a discovery 
 of no slight magnitude and importance; the great value of which 
 was not revealed to us suddenly. It came, as most great dis- 
 coveries do, accompanied by pecuniary loss, delay and disap- 
 pointment ; and was successfully established only after repeated 
 failures. 
 
 It was a memorable day in the history of the South when the 
 value of the seed was first perceived and appreciated. It would 
 ill become us, who now reap the value of the discovery, to omit 
 recording with pride and respect the names of its authors. We 
 ought to pay our tribute of praise and honor to the men who 
 first gave birth to the idea, and afterwards sacrificed so much in 
 
 4764 
 
their efforts to give it a practical value. It is none the less to 
 their credit that they failed to make it a pecuniary success for 
 themselves. Such, unfortunately, is the common fate of in- 
 ventors. They had faith in it, and were sustained by that faith ; 
 and wrought on through trials, vexations, and disappointments, 
 and to-day we reap the advantage of their long and dearly 
 bought experience. All honor, then, to those unrewarded pio- 
 neers ! Most of them realized nothing from their labor. Many 
 of them lived long enough (and some are still with us) to see 
 the final result of their toil and sacrifice in a country enriched 
 in a commerce enlarged and the general prosperity en- 
 hanced. 
 
 Until the year 1855 cotton seed cannot be said to have had 
 any commercial value. It had in fact lain open to the eye and 
 ready to the hand for generations, yet none saw it for what it 
 was, and none reached out to grasp it. In the greater worth 
 of the fleecy staple the value of the oily seed hidden within its 
 folds, remained unperceived. The genius of Whitney had pro- 
 vided the means of separating the one from the other, but the 
 secret of the wealth stored up in the seed was yet unrevealed. 
 Possibly some one planter, more intelligent or more thrifty than 
 another, had used it to fertilize his fields or feed his cattle. But 
 more frequently it was regarded as useless refuse of the gathered 
 crop, thrown out as such, and, exposed to air and wet, it became 
 not infrequently, by spontaneous combustion, a source of dis- 
 aster to the slovenly planter, or the more unfortunate under- 
 writer. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the first move toward 
 the extraction of oil from cotton seed was made at Natchez, 
 Miss., in the year 1834. So far as we have been able to ascertain? 
 the great honor of this first attempt belongs to Messrs. James 
 Hamilton Couper and Samuel Plummer, of Georgia, and associ- 
 ated with them were Mr. Follett, of Norfolk, Ya,, and Major 
 Anderson Miller, of Louisville,JKy. The late Archibald Dunbar, 
 and other prominent citizens of Mississippi, invested liberally 
 of their means, and shared the pecuniary loss that followed. 
 The few who remember Mr. Couper speak of him as a man 
 wonderfully gifted in general intelligence and business capacity. 
 His large resources gave an impulse to the enterprise, and re- 
 sulted in the putting up of the first mill and machinery. In 
 
5 
 
 every respect, so far as known, the attempt was a disastrous 
 failure. We will not speculate on the fact that the machinery 
 was inadequate, or the process defective, or that there was no 
 general market for the products. 
 
 When you are told that in this first mill the pressure to ex- 
 tract the oil was obtained from the simple wedge principle, you 
 can easily imagine how rude and inadequate to success were all 
 the other appliances. At this safer distance of time, and guided 
 by the clear, cold light of experience, we recognize a fact that 
 seems to hold good, alike in the moral and physical world, that 
 great ideas or great results are seldom either hastily or easily 
 realized. 
 
 There is too often a tinge of sadness and romance in the his- 
 tory of inventors. They sow, but they seldom reap ; they con- 
 ceive the idea; they launch the thought; but in striving for 
 practical results, they are generally lost in the stormy waters 
 of experience. It was so with those who first engaged in the 
 manufacture of cotton-seed oil. As has been truly said, it is al- 
 ways the first step that costs. However, a beginning had been 
 made, and the remembrance of failure in this case had at least 
 served to keep the idea alive. 
 
 In the year 1852, just eighteen years later, it attracted the 
 attention of Wm. Wilbur and Frederick Goode, citizens of New 
 Orleans. These gentlemen, as strong in their faith in the origi- 
 nal idea as their predecessors had been, embarked their all in a 
 new attempt to give it practical value. They conceived and 
 carried out the plan of a mill, machinery, and process of extrac- 
 tion, crude and imperfect, perhaps, but still a great improvement 
 over the Natchez mill of 1834, and which has been the inspira- 
 tion of much that has followed. Their improvements enabled 
 them to make oil and clarify it ; they made the first soap and 
 sold the first oil cake, but they did so only to share the fate of 
 their predecessors of 1834, for, like them, they were pecuniarily 
 ruined. They had, however, succeeded far enough to convince 
 themselves, and demonstrate to others, the possibility of the in- 
 dustry. 
 
 In the year 1855, Mr. C. W. Bradbury, of New Orleans, en- 
 gaged in the enterprise. Energetic and intelligent, he was no- 
 tably the first to demonstrate, beyond any question, the feasi- 
 bility of the manufacture. Laboring under many disadvantages, 
 
not the least of them the lack of capital necessary to efficiently 
 carry out his own ideas of the business, he was unfortunately 
 obliged to suspend operations for the time being, resuming again 
 under better auspices, only to be interrupted and ruined by the 
 breaking out of the civil war. 
 
 No doubt most great enterprises begin with brains rather 
 than with capital, and they aie most successful when their 
 growth, though slow, is strengthened and supported by the ex 
 perience and the profits of each successive year. This has been 
 fairly illustrated in the success of the manufacture of cotton- 
 seed oil in the South. 
 
 Happily for New Orleans, there were a few men endowed 
 with the foresight and intelligence that enabled them to recog- 
 nize the great value and importance of the industry. Among 
 them may be named Messrs. Paulin Martin, F. M. Fisk, Paul 
 Aldige and A. A. Maginnis. These gentlemen took up the busi- 
 ness where Mr. Bradbury left it. They had the resources of 
 capital and credit; and, with the experience of others to assist, 
 they operated successfully up to the breaking out of the war in 
 1861. Again there was a pause in the onward movement. But 
 with peace came fresh capital, and the permanent revival of the 
 industry. Each succeeding year has witnessed a steady increase 
 in the capacity and number of the mills, with a corresponding 
 improvement in machinery. 
 
 To-day, statistically speaking, the situation is this: There 
 are forty-one mills operating in the Southern States, distributed 
 as follows: Mississippi, nine; Louisiana, nine; Tennessee, eight; 
 Texas, six; Arkansas, four; Missouri, two ; Alabama, two; and 
 Georgia, one. A complete list of the mills, and their location, 
 will be found appended to this paper. 
 
 As preliminary to a short account of the different processes 
 involved in the manufacture of cotton-seed oil, it will be well to 
 consider for a moment the seed itself. The area of its produc- 
 tion may bo briefly comprehended as lying between the 30th 
 and 36th parallels of latitude, bounded on the east by the At- 
 lantic ocean, and on the west embracing all of Texas and Ar- 
 kansas. The line of perfect growth, so-called, having regard to 
 climate and soil, being parallel thirty-two. The quality and 
 quantity of the seed are greatly governed by the character of 
 the season. 
 
As it falls from the cotton gin of the plantation it is not en- 
 tirely divested of its fibre, and though, at first sight, the little 
 left would seem scarcely worth the manipulation necessary to 
 secure it, yet, as will be seen later on, it is an important factor 
 in the profits of the business. Much depends upon the care of 
 the seed, both in the hands of the planter, and after it has passed 
 into the charge of the mills. From its oily nature it is inherently 
 predisposed to heat, and this, if permitted, materially injures all 
 its products, and practically the same result follows if exposed 
 to dampness. Fortunately the expanse of territory over which 
 the growth extends is so wide, it is seldom that a fair average 
 of quality is not secured. The seed is gathered from the plan- 
 tation in sacks, and when so stored may, with a reasonable 
 amount of ventilation, keep sound a twelve-month, but in some 
 seasons, with the best of care, unaccountably fails to do so. 
 Stored in bulk, it is still more liable to become heated, and re- 
 quires more than ordinary means of ventilation to prevent dam- 
 age. It is purchased deliverable in New Orleans, this season, 
 at the rate of ten dollars per ton of two thousand pounds. To 
 the experienced operator, an examination by the naked eye will 
 not always detect deterioration ; but if subjected to the micro- 
 scope, however, and found bright in color, it is sound ; if in the 
 least discolored, it has brobably been heated or frosted. 
 
 Having brought the seed to the mill, we will now follow it 
 through the various processes of the manufacture. After a 
 thorough sifting to free it from dust and other foreign substances, 
 it passes to the linters. These are very similar to the country 
 gin-stand, differing mainly in this : that, instead of having sixty 
 or eighty saws, they have one hundred and ten, bringing them 
 closer together, say about one-half inch apart, and the teeth 
 very finely set. The linters partially divest the seed of the fibre 
 that has escaped the planter's gin. We say partially, for as yet 
 no process has been devised that will divest the seed of all fibre. 
 The operation is rapidly performed; and from the linters, through 
 condensers, there rolls out a continuous flow of cotton, very 
 short in staple, but generally clean and white. From every ton 
 of seed thus treated there is realized about twenty-two pounds 
 of cotton, known in commerce as linters, generally considered 
 too good for paper stock, but much used in the manufacture 
 of cotton-batting. From the linters it goes to the press, and is 
 
8 
 
 made into bales of from five to six hundred pounds each, and is 
 then ready for market, the best grades selling at from eight to 
 nine cents per pound. 
 
 Having disposed of the cotton gained in the linting process, 
 we will return to the seed, which, as it is dispossessed of its fibre, 
 falls from the linters, and is automatically carried to the huller 
 or decorticator, where in turn it is as rapidly divested of the 
 hull protecting the kernel, as it was of its fibre by the linters. 
 As this is being done both kernel and hull fall into serenes, and 
 are separated ; the hulls, automatically carried to the furnace, 
 supply all the fuel needed, and may be further utilized by leach- 
 ing the ashes making lye, which is sometimes used to clarify 
 the oil. 
 
 To go back to the seed in the screen. After separation from 
 the hulls, and divested of both fibre and skin, the kernel passes 
 through rollers which crush it very fine. Thus crushed, it 
 passes into steam heated cylinders, wherein are revolving arms 
 to agitate the crushed seed, giving it an equal exposure to the 
 heat. When it has attained the stage of temperature best cal- 
 culated to make it yield up its oil, it is put into small woolen 
 bags, and placed between horse-hair mats, backed with leather, 
 having a fluted surface inside, to facilitate the escape of the 
 oil under the hydraulic pressure, to which it is now subjected 
 in the boxes of the presses. 
 
 Each box compresses one press bag of crushed seed at a 
 time, the operation lasting about fifteen minutes. After the 
 immense pressure in the boxes, the residuum, known as the 
 cotton-seed-oil-cake of commerce, is left quite solid and al- 
 most free from moisture, becoming entirely so after exposure 
 for a day or more on racks, preparatory to putting it in sacks 
 of about two hundred pounds each. 
 
 When not thus put up for export, it is dried and crushed 
 into a fine meal, and put into sacks and sold for fertilizing or 
 feeding purposes. As a fertilizer, it compares favorably with 
 guano or any of the phosphates used for that purpose. It is in 
 high favor with, and much used by, our sugar planters, who 
 agree that it gives a rapid and vigorous growth to the cane. 
 In this connection there is the promise of a large outlet for its 
 consumption in Louisiana. For the cake there is always a 
 steady demand for export; the largo European consumption 
 
: 9 
 
 is the best evidence of its value for feeding stock. It is classed 
 as follows : "Choice," "Prime," "Fair Average Country," "Or- 
 dinary" and "Dark," and is sold according to quality or upon 
 the reputation of the brand of each particular mill. The total 
 amount exported for the nine months ending, April 30th, was 
 56,000 tons. 
 
 We will now return to the oil, which, under the hydraulic 
 pressure, has been running from the boxes into a tank prepared 
 to receive it. If intended for sale or export in the crude state, 
 it is run directly thence into barrels. Far the largest propor- 
 tion, however, is transferred to other tanks for clarification. 
 This is chiefly effected by precipitation, a strong alkali being 
 used, generally caustic soda. Every oil refiner has his own pe- 
 culiar process supposed to be known only to himself for this 
 part of the manufacture. The deposit resulting without the use 
 of alkali, is termed "foots :" the precipitate obtained with it, is 
 known as "soap stock." After the process of precipitation, the 
 oil becomes the refined Cotton Seed, Oil of commerce, and clas- 
 ses, " Prime " and " Off Oil." The crude oil classes, " Choice," 
 " Prime," " lumbers One and Two," " Foots " and " Soap 
 Stock." The soap stock meets with a ready sale for domestic 
 consumption, as well as for export; not infrequently the mill is 
 Lghted with a gas made from it on the premises. 
 
 The oil is the most important and most valuable product of 
 the cotton seed, one ton of seed giving thirty -five gallons of 
 crude oil, about eighteen per cent, of which is lost in the refin- 
 ing process. The oil is said to be largely used by painters, but 
 is not considered desirable, as it drys too slowly ; nor is it 
 used as a lubricator, being too gummy for the purpose. Of all 
 the vegetable oils known, cotton seed oil is the most available 
 substitute for the olive oil of Italy, France and Spain. To those 
 countries is exported a large proportion of our production. For 
 the year ending August 31st, 1879, there was exported to the 
 Continent, from the port of New Orleans alone, seventy-three 
 thousand seven hundred and eighty-two barrels of Prime, re- 
 fined, and Off cotton-seed oil (of which Italy took 40,000 bar- 
 rels), and to Liverpool, eight thousand four hundred and five 
 barrels, and coastwise only fifty-two hundred and sixty-three 
 barrels. From the 1st of September, 1879, to April 24th, 1880, 
 say nine months, the exports from this port were : to the Conti- 
 
10 
 
 nent, sixty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-three barrels 
 of prime and off oil, and coastwise, fifty- two hundred and twenty- 
 seven barrels. Now it is not for us to assert that Italy converts 
 our cotton seed oil into a spurious product of the olive, but the 
 suggestive fact remains that she takes annually forty to fifty 
 thousand barrels of it from us, and the world must draw its own 
 conclusions. We, of Louisiana, have a shrewd suspicion that 
 from the Continent it is distributed over the world as u Olive 
 Oil," and truly it seems such in jolor, taste and excellence. 
 Fortunately for the South, olive oil is one of the few articles of 
 commerce, the demand for which has exceeded the production. 
 Cotton seed oil comes in very opportunely to fill the gap ; takes 
 a new name, serves a useful purpose ; tastes well, and is uncon- 
 sciously, if not cheerfully, accepted everywhere as the genuine 
 article. The world should be thankful that it can be cheaply 
 supplied with so desirable a substitute. Our monopoly of it as 
 such is likely to be a long one, our only competitor in the in- 
 dustry being that far off ancient land, Egypt; but her produc- 
 tion is comparatively limited, and never likely to injure the busi- 
 ness in this country. I am, however, able to say that another 
 and more legitimate demand for our oil is beginning to make 
 itself known, and bids fair to become an increasing one. It 
 originates in the needs of the world for the glycerine of com- 
 merce, extensively used by the manufacturers of tobacco and 
 cigars, by compounders of liquors, medicines, and ointments, 
 and by the manufacturers of toilet soaps. It is one of the prop- 
 erties of glycerine never to become hard, and it is, therefore, 
 used in printers' rollers or any elastic substance requiring to be 
 kept in a pliable condition. It is also the basis of nitro-glyce- 
 rine and of various other explosive compounds. Cotton seed 
 oil is the best material known for making glycerine. One gal- 
 lon of crude oil returns three and one-half pounds of pure gly- 
 cerine. With the best material at our door, and with the finest 
 climate in the world to work it up, New Orleans should become 
 the chief seat of its manufacture, and control the markets of the 
 world. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, for the 
 following item regarding a new process to extract oil from cot- 
 ton seed : 
 
 " The latest treatment of cotton-seed kernel is to leach it 
 
11 
 
 with naphtha, by which method ten to fifteen per cent, more oil 
 is extracted than can be had by pressing ; the naphtha is dis- 
 tilled off, to be used again, and the kernel is then treated with 
 super-heated steam, which leaves it a perfectly dry, sweet, nu- 
 tritious and digestible food for animals. It is alleged that in 
 France methods have been discovered for procuring a valuable 
 blue dyestuff from cotton-seed." 
 
 I am in duty bound to say that our best authorities, in the 
 South, do not regard it as likely to prove successful. 
 
 Let us now consider and estimate the value of the whole pro- 
 duct for the year ending, September 1st, 1880, From data in 
 my possession it appears that the forty -one mills, now in opera- 
 tion, have the capacity, and it is estimated will this year con- 
 sume an average of ten thousand tons of seed each. This will 
 make their combined consumption four hundred and ten thou- 
 sand tons, paid for at the rate often dollars per ton. Here, to 
 begin with, is an increase of national wealth, amounting to four 
 millions one hundred thousand dollars, and all secured without 
 the addition of a single expense that would not have been in- 
 curred had the extraction of cotton-seed oil never been known. 
 Taking my estimate of the consumption of seed by the forty-one 
 mills this season as a basis, the proportion and value of the total 
 product may be summed up as follows : 
 
 410,000 tons seed yielding 35 gallons crude oil to the ton, is 
 
 14,350,000 gallons, worth 30 cents per gallon $4,305,000 
 
 Same amount seed yielding 22 ftw. cotton to the ton, is 9,020,000 
 
 Ibs. cotton, worth 8 cents per ft> 721,600 
 
 And yielding also 750 Ibs. oil cake to the ton, is 137,277 tons of 
 
 cake, at $20 per ton 2,745,540 
 
 Makes the total value of the manufactured products $7,772,140 
 
 Deduct the sum paid for the seed, say 4,100,000 
 
 And there remains for value gained in manipulation of seed . . . $3,672,140 
 Though a large portion of this sum has been disbursed in the 
 process of manufacture, it is none the less a positive gain in 
 wealth, and, with the sum paid for the seed, makes a grand total 
 of seven millions seven hundred and seventy-two thousand one 
 hundred and forty dollars as the result of the industry. 
 
 This does not include the gains arising from the almost end- 
 less ramifications of the manufacture, Let us enumerate some 
 
12 
 
 of them. There is the freight paid to railroads and steamboats ; 
 the increase of marine tonnage brought to our wharves ; and in 
 one way and another the wages paid to thousands of laborers; 
 besides the large demand created for sacks and bagging, it being 
 not unusual for one mill to have in use 300,000 sacks at a time. 
 Much more might be specified, but we think enough has been 
 said to convince the most skeptical of the far-reaching impor- 
 tance of the fabrication. 
 
 Turning to the future, let us see what of promise there is in 
 it. Estimating the cotton crop of 1879-80 at five millions five 
 hundred thousand bales, averaging four hundred and fifty 
 pounds each, and you have two billions four hundred and seven- 
 ty-five millions of pounds of cotton. Now as every pound of 
 cotton on an average infers three and one-half pounds of seed, 
 the arithmetical sequence is eight billions five hundred and sixty- 
 two millions pounds of seed. Allow for planting, feeding, fer- 
 tilizing and waste, one-half an exceedingly liberal proportion 
 and there remain four billions two hundred and eighty-one 
 millions pounds of seed nominally available for the manufacture 
 of oil, equal to (less the estimated consumption of the year) one 
 million seven hundred and thirty thousand tons of seed, an ap- 
 parent surplus sufficient for the wants of one hundred and thirty- 
 seven additional mills. I am the more careful to say apparent 
 surplus, because, while figures may not lie, they are often falla- 
 cious. What is true in the abstract may be false in the concrete. 
 There is in fact this surplus from the territory as a whole, but 
 it is not practically true as applied to Louisiana and to the val- 
 ley of the Mississippi, the mills there not having hitherto been 
 able to secure seed sufficient to run them more than eight 
 months of the year. The fallacy involved in the surplus of one 
 million seven hundred and thirty thousand tons is neither hard 
 nor far to find. It is in the lack of transportation facilities and 
 their unequal distribution over the broad area of cotton culture. 
 Sooner or later this difficulty will be remedied. When the 
 South becomes netted and fretted with railroads, then we may 
 expect that every ton of surplus seed will be utilized and help 
 to swell the tide of general prosperity. The Mississippi Eiver, 
 with its navigable tributaries, provide the fullest and cheapest 
 transportation for all the products of the great valley they drain. 
 Hence the larger proportion of the mills are found clustering on 
 
13 
 
 her banks, and if, with such water and railway facilities, the 
 mills have not been able to fully stock themselves, it may be 
 true that, for the present, the industry has attained the maxi- 
 mum of its production in Louisiana and Mississippi. It, there- 
 fore, behooves capitalists to be cautious, at least for the present, 
 where they invest their means in the manufacture of cotton-seed 
 oil. We know that where there is gold, no matter how great 
 the difficulties, men will seek it. As the products of cotton seed 
 come into more general use they will increase in value, and as 
 soon as they do so, railroads will be built to bring them to a 
 market. 
 
 I come last to consider the subject as connected with our 
 profession. Viewed from this standpoint, we are more immedi- 
 ately concerned with the average mill of to-day, but in discuss- 
 ing it, the drift of my remarks will naturally tend toward the 
 ideal mill of the future. As regards precautions and appliances 
 tending to improve the physical hazard, it is well we should 
 know all about them, and keep abreast of every invention in that 
 direction. 
 
 The consideration of the mill itself, as well as the discussion 
 of precautions and appliances, will afford us the opportunity of 
 putting on record a few suggestions that may be useful to our 
 profession, and perhaps may benefit those who may invest their 
 capital in the business hereafter. 
 
 The buildings and machinery, representing a large pecuniary 
 value, should, for that reason, if possible, be entirely free from 
 exposure. The buildings should be as neaily fire-proof as pos- 
 sible ; brick is conceded to be the most suitable building mate- 
 rial, and supplemented with slate or metal roofing, best secures 
 that result. The space allotted to each department of the manu- 
 facture should be ample, and walls and ceilings should be 
 smoothly coated with fire-proof mineral paint, which would fa- 
 cilitate the removal, if it did not prevent the accumulation, of 
 dust and fibre, always an element of danger. The plan of the 
 building should contemplate a division of the risk, and this 
 has been found not incompatible with convenience and economy 
 in carrying on the business, thus tending to greater safety, and, 
 in case of fire, securing salvage. The main building 
 and machinery can, in a measure, be substantially separated 
 from the storage of the seed, sacks, bagging and manufactured 
 
14 
 
 products. All safeguards and all improved appliances to ex- 
 tinguish fires, should be supplied and kept in order. Aside from 
 what would seem the selfish interest of our profession, allow me 
 to urge some reasons why we may with propriety make these 
 suggestions. For the loss of his property the assured may be 
 indemnified, but to the nation, for material wealth gone to smoke 
 and ashes, there is, in one sense, no indemnity; it is lost forever. 
 There is, besides, the economic fact that every increase of ex- 
 posure involves an increase of premium which can be saved. 
 Consideration is very properly due to the insurance capital that 
 protects the industry, and, on the other hand, proper regard 
 should be had for the personal safety of the operatives, especially 
 in view of their responsibilities as heads of families, to whom 
 any interruption in their daily labor is a calamity. Incentives 
 of this nature are sustained by the reflection that every man 
 owes to society an example of prudence and consideration for 
 others. 
 
 This paper would be incomplete if I did not allude to the 
 different hazards peculiar to the fabrication, which exist in most 
 of the mills now working, but they can in a measure be avoided, 
 as I will proceed to explain. In the linters the danger has been 
 greatly lessened by the attachment of condensers which dis- 
 charge the cotton in a comparatively compact form, somewhat 
 similar to batting, thus decreasing dust and floating fibre. An- 
 other safeguard is found in the thorough sifting of the seed be- 
 fore going to the linters, and has a fourfold advantage : it removes 
 a great deal of dust before the hulling process begins ; it saves 
 much wear and tear to the teeth of the saws; it lessens the 
 danger of fire from contact of foreign substances with them, and 
 it improves the quality of all the products. Next in order as an 
 element of danger, we may rank spontaneous combustion. All 
 vegetable seeds and oils have a natural proclivity in this direc- 
 tion. It may be caused by the lack of proper ventilation of the 
 seed stored in bulk, or it may be due to a want of care and 
 cleanliness in the disposition of the waste and rubbish, insepa- 
 rable from the manufacture. Another source of danger is found 
 in the friction incidental to bands and journals, but easily reme- 
 died by the use of proper lubricating oils and constant cleanli- 
 ness. It is as well to say that the lack of systematic vigilance 
 and intelligent attention, on the part of the superintendent, to 
 
15 
 
 the daily and hourly working of the mill, has also sometimes 
 ended in disaster, and should be guarded against. We have 
 now enumerated the most common sources of danger. From 
 my investigation of them I am encouraged to believe that they 
 can be materially lessened. 
 
 We now come to consider the best method of extinguishing 
 fires. Before proceeding with this part of the subject, I will 
 state that I have found a very general concurrence of opinion 
 among the managers of mills to this effect; that no measures 
 adopted to extinguish fires, whether by steam, water, or water 
 charged with carbonic acid gas, can be safely depended upon for 
 effective service, unless supplemented by a disciplined organiza- 
 tion of the employees of the factory to carry them out. 
 
 From my own observation, it is safe to make two assertions, 
 the truth of which I think will be generally conceded. First, 
 that eighty per cent, of all fires are discovered in their incipi- 
 ency, and would never have originated had proper precautions 
 been taken to prevent them. Second, that when they did origi- 
 nate, they could easily have been extinguished had the requisite 
 appliances been ready at hand. I say this more particularly 
 with reference to cotton-seed oil mills, but substantially the 
 same remarks will apply to all manufacturing risks. 
 
 Of all the methods of extinguishing fires, I am most favora- 
 bly impressed with that of water charged with carbonic acid 
 gas; not, however, dispensing with a plentiful supply of common 
 water and the proper apparatus to utilize it. Water can be 
 charged with five hundred times its own bulk of carbonic acid 
 gas, and thus combined is very effective in extinguishing fires ; 
 for, as is well known, fire cannot exist in the presence of its two 
 great antagonistic elements, water and carbonic acid gas. This 
 is particularly true as applied to what may be termed surface 
 fires, and oils are always such. Carbonic acid gas apparatus has 
 these advantages : it costs less, and is more apt to keep in order 
 than water-appliances. The stationary chemical tank, holding j 
 say, not less than four hundred gallons, is now being generally 
 introduced into manufacturing establishments. Assuming the 
 tank to be in position near the engineer, and connecting with 
 every department of the mill by stand-pipes and rubber hose, it 
 can be almost instantly utilized by signal from a bell or electric 
 button. The signal once given, it can be operated by a single 
 
16 
 
 person, and will deliver a powerful stream, in less than a quar- 
 ter of a minute, in any part of the building. One of these tanks 
 in the Eagle and Phoenix Cotton Mill, at Columbus, Ga., recent- 
 ly did very great service in a serious emergency, and was the 
 means of extinguishing what might have proved a disastrous 
 fire. However, it is well to remember that it is only at the 
 inception of a fire that chemical apparatus render the most 
 valuable service; for when a certain degree of heat is 
 reached within a burning building, the carbonic acid gascease s 
 to be effective. For this reason I have coupled with my recom- 
 mendation of ther adoption, the necessity also of a plentiful sup- 
 ply of common water, and the appliances necessary to utilize it; 
 then, if the carbonic acid gas proves insufficient, the water (al- 
 ways a desirable adjunct), remains available. The modes of 
 utilizing steam or water as a means of protection, have been so 
 often treated of that I do not think it necessary to discuss them 
 here. 
 
 We have spoken of appliances, and it is, therefore, proper that 
 we should say a few words in reference to precautions. It seems 
 almost presumptuous in one who has had no personal experience 
 with either one or the other to discuss them. Availing myself of 
 the knowledge of 'others, I will, nevertheless, make mention of the 
 more obvious and necessary ones. 
 
 If it be true, that an organization of the employees is desirable 
 to make appliances effective, it is not the less true that the superin- 
 tendent should be fully empowered to prescribe, introduce, and 
 have entire control of, all precautions his experience may dictate. 
 Too often, from ignorance or parsimony, he is restricted in carrying 
 out his own ideas of what is needful. This should not be. He is 
 most responsible for the safety of the property, and should be au- 
 thorized to use his own best judgment in all that concerns its pro- 
 tection. The 1 inters being the most frequent source of danger, 
 should never be left unwatched while the machinery is in motion. 
 The walls and ceilings of the lint room should be kept free from 
 any accumulation of dust or fibre. Of course, there should be a 
 night watchman, whose vigilance should be controlled by some of 
 the various devices for that purpose. 
 
 I beg to say that I had hoped, in the investigation of my subject, 
 to gather such statistics as would enable me to arrive at an ade- 
 quate rate of premium for Cotton-Seed Oil Mills, but the imperfect 
 
data I have secured does not justify my drawing any conclusions. 
 So far as my information shows, the average rate of premium, now 
 paid on all the mills, is 3J per cent. ; but an average rate is not a 
 fair criterion upon which to base the rate for any particular mill, 
 for if there be a class of hazards where each particular risk should 
 stand on its own merits, it is the cotton-seed oil mill. It would be 
 in the interest of correct underwriting to adopt a basis rate of say 
 2J per cent, for standard mills, and to graduate from that figure up 
 to 5 per cent. , in proportion as each mill falls short of, or approxi- 
 mates, the standard. This would be just to the assured, just to the 
 assurer, and would be an incentive to improvement in the character 
 of all the mills. 
 
 It will interest you to know that since the war fourteen mills in 
 all have been destroyed by fire, distributed as follows : In Louisi- 
 ana, four; Mississippi, four; Texas, two ; Arkansas, two; Tennes- 
 see, two ; an average of one mill per annum. The origin of the 
 fires so far as I have been able to ascertain, were, one from gross 
 carelessness, two from spontaneous combustion, three from lack of 
 proper precautions in the lint room, one from incendiarism, two 
 from the addition of cotton ginning as a business, and five from 
 causes unknown. Permit me to say that, in view of the increase of 
 this industry in the future, it is hoped that with the progress now 
 making in improvements and appliances, the insurance capital of 
 the country will be justified in protecting it at reasonable rates of 
 premium. 
 
 In conclusion, gentlemen, I must apologize for having devoted 
 so large a proportion of my paper to the origin and history of cot- 
 ton-seed oil. But as a Louisianian I am constrained to make, at 
 least, a note of the share her citizens have had in the enterprise ; to 
 pay a tribute to the memory and worth of those who are gone ; and 
 to record with pride the value of the services rendered by all. By 
 their foresight, genius and industry they conferred a great blessing 
 on their country, and deserve well of it for having done so. 
 
 HEKRY Y. OGDEN. 
 
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