HUME LIBRARY 1Y 1 , AS. • Univ.xrf-FJorida *— , :::rs i ■lodney Whitah tant Agricultural 3cono: 1 Economics, U. S. Department of Agricu. . before the Annual Meeting of the relation of Southern Agricultura" Atlanta, Ga. , Jan. 31, 1935 Tie improvement of cotton quality, always a subject of : s claimed renev -ention. 7 r many years regarded as W : .'.I province of the plant breeder and agron I , it is also coming to be a 3 - of the e 1st, as well as of/- the cotton technologist. TTnen, iowever t one at1 the economic standpoint to view quality improvement as a real . the national cotton program and to discern the directions in whic or the distances tc , sould profitably go, he finds no very clear picfru . i ' onfronted iritt the question of what quality really ing that quality hae aly been supposed to be, he finds Leld, a satisfactory understanding of which, notwithstanding cottor. gained in ■ ar re years of . 7-en he is fa questions c degree of control i - can ■ by, and the I ive ;ts involv j cotton of di ities. And finally, tton, it Billing * now being gro-. 1735-35 - 2 - : t the ' to undertake a broad discussion of f to conridt r .ingle of the last question, na. quality trends in the consumption of cotton. I • . amount of boldness, not only because of the • nological knowledge, but also because of the available cotton statistics. I ite of these handicaps, it may be possible to put together some of ieces of accessible information and so outline, at least, something of the available, this might be done for two of the commonly known - , grade and staple, and to a lesser extent for charact* r, r.ce st; jts to be more responsive to breeding and to the seed supply ad better understood than character, it seems appropriate to give sta onsiderat ion here. : .:: ting to discern by statistical means the trends of consumption :-ade, or character, it has to be recognized, of course, tl z likely to be seeing little more tt in trends in the supply. :d of • ;nt of any given quality consumed must equal apt. unt of that quality that is produced. At the of cotton tends to be r in the prict. wr • Ion to other quali . tend, within 1: ad. T , the :ious stap .gths havt iivided I I or group: .7 , all cotton 1 1/8 ..d longer. Thia gr g and ng long : • 1 3/16 i: -nd lo. . T :*t of * lor.. long v Mississippi, i ?alifc. , ~uch cc .inns, ■.n cotton, t ra lone staoles include the Pima of Arizona and its . t Indj Island, and some of the o second group designated as med: .pies, includes . 15/16 of an inch up to 1 3/32 inches, and the third group designated as . races cottons shorter than 15/16 inch. !e upland cotton in the United States has probably -eeded 10 percent of the total crop, and since 1928-29 the supply of :. 1 1/ s and longer >as ranged from about 9 percent to a little les. ent of the total supply. Although the total supply of these long reased both actually and relatively as compared with the total :otton, the production and supoly of upland cotton longer than 15 • ' ■ • s .'. -lined since 1928-29. I of long staple upland cotton has increased during recent "ticul . . 1933-34, when the a. it domestic c< tion and exports r.ted to 6.6 percent of the total disappearance of all staple t only 3.5 percent in 1931-32. I 1. increase in the disappearance of long s: b from a marked increase in domestic ite of dcclinir. arti t bo lengths. I appar r.g staple i cotton plus the con. Lon of Egyptian, sc: •ter than 1 ] , A rican-EgjrpI ., I ruvian, and S and 3d appro:-' 5 percent the total c n of all kinds of ring 1933-34. This j is comparable to . ■ and lese than 6 j .?9-30. .pland cotton has c Ltuted an increasing >f long staple cotton since 1929-30, tut exports ined proportionately. - 4 - Le cotton n of cotton 1 1/8 in^ d longer in both the total tic di :nce 1929-30. But the trend in t ; Lity and disappearance of •ugn cott , ian, and the extra long staples of upland \s been downward for rr.ost lengths dtcu nt years. Staple premi- er these lengths, both actually and as compared "78 inch since 1931. This, to. th the c.-.aller . of :icates a decrease in the demand for long staples, as 'ter lengt: s :' the long staple gr , whereas consumption ".er of the longer staple co: ~a: increased v/ith increasing Les . 7 .g staple cotton is usually considered essential for spinning fine yarns igh strength requirements. One way, therefore, to analyze the • rends in the demand for long staple cotton is to exanine n of fine yarns and extra strength yarns. 3 us :ion of t v e v counts, but no data rn prod f bre-: . trengths. The United r .-)t . :e 1904, i tut about 8 percent of - total 3, and it in of f rid the Lns, is, , • , ..irtin. , , and " goods c of the fabrics in wrich these yarns are . iterials have b< ng those most a '^d by rayon - tition. a is her in a broad . Le and ell as relative pric> . .que of tire acturin - •;■ also tended to cauc' • for lone staple cotton. Much of the tire fabric •.9s until about 1920 was made of coarse yarns containing for the longer staples see.-r.s to have declined . ;1 though d the sarne period the total requirement for • is industry 1 urse increased tremendously. In 1931-32, it is about 85,000 bales, or 21 percent of the total cotton consumed in e tire fabri -nsisted of staples 1 1/8 inches and longer. Sea Island, Lch were at one time used extensively by this industry d in the making of tires, except for high speed trucks and busses. 7 cad is a Lch long staple cotcon constitutes the bulk of ents, I -f thread probably amounted tc : - Le 8e - ar " , bales of raw cotton in 1933, and it is estimated • year 1932, about 38,000 bales of Egyptian cotton were used for . Although the ore n of thread fluctuates considerably I -^ar , en no ap 'd trend in total thread 1919. T -.tie apparent ..in the t t the pre for . taple B essential will r , e, i in io f total c • ption in the United States. Any ext D and . COttc: . Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation http://archive.org/details/trendquaOOunit • - in the Unit lone ~'~ r lengtl Ld obviously be tted to decli: . urent that the supply of long staple is no re -ate to meet re s for fine and extra strength yarns, the natural will be : : medium count yarns in which the medium staples "d, to use long staples in those kinds of goods that provide Lt, either through improvement of the quality I goods or through reductions in manufacturing costs. In fad , /es for long staple upland cotton and an appraisal of trends in ^icate that this is talcing place to some extent at the . )ly of taples increases and as this increase exerts pressur :. staple pre- . the factors that determine the selection le length of cotton for a particular kind of fabric be of ice. 7 ical cotton mill appears net to deem it advisable -3 a particu". lexible organization, and once a actorily, the management is ordinarily ility of raw cotton used, although such changes •:s usually necessitate t". porarily in poor running and 1 whi • costs .' also giv to dissati. n - ? - ideal taple at of an individual . !d be one so "ion of a giver. , if a Bhort :osts would •"'tan offset the decreased cost goods, or that if longer cotton were used, the increased counterbalance the reduction in • . Although mill executives generally recogr.: :y also realize the difficulty of determining a' ly lengths. q changes ay also cause changes in _-ed in accordance with the above stated principle. , increases in labor costs result; 'om shorter hours or higher wag- aid tend to make it profitable for mills to use longer staple cotton. •nges Li -inery such as long-draft spinning equipment • geous ■ -lis to use longer cotton, and this seems to be taking .-. ■ oresent time, at least to a limited extent. Differences .r~cs of this type, make it difficu L1 - to w v -'aade as prer for ■■ . 7 taple length on manufact -osts ods is not c Jit about, . A i prob -ult to change ta " cd s occ d quality of the fabr Lev . r.taple length night also be expected to increase the _;oods now made from the longer staples, "but this possibility does use of the apparent lack of elasticity In the demand . .trial fabrics made from long staple cotton* Many of 'rials are used for purposes in which style plays an important part, ; ce are of only minor importance. Industrial fabri ! titute only a small part of the cost of the finished product in which , :his reason small price changes in the fabric often have umption* The discussion of Increasing supplies of lor.g staple cotton lends naturally r. of the trends indicated for medium staple lengths, or those inch to 1 3/32 inches, because this is the group of staples :aples will displace if such substitutions occur. Cotton falling with- • -3 group lias constituted rr.cre than 50 percent of the total supply of American .-e 1532-3". . 1933-3** tile quantity of these lengths consti- . 55 percent of the total supply, as compared with only 38 percent . The total supply of these staples available during the past 7 years has bales in 1=29-30 to 11,500,000 bales in 1932-33. these staples has increased from about 36 percent of the total upland cotton in I929-3O to nearly 56 percent in 1933~3^« * n length: es, domestic cc :ion exceeds - the shorter lengths 1 very greatly exceed domestic c ption. Alth: is a leal of overlapping in the use of different sta for fferent kinds of fabrics, th Le lengths can be said, in general, to be manufactured into • UOs which are used extensively in such fab: :e fabri -r, bed she * , it goo . 7 i in the pr .ging - -Os was generally upward from 1899» .3 con. ~-cnt of total yarn production in I . they constituted U7 percent of the total* Following , the propor* . ' medium yarns decreased to k2 per- >r certain products, such as hosiery and underwear, "ceen affected by rayon competition, and some of s may be Lndustrial purposes such as bags, and the con- von in these has been affected c; competition from paper and : r, th : verse influence of the substitution of other fibers for cotton . :r.ade fr taple lengtaa lias been offset to Increases in consumption for such industrial products . - to replace medium staples with longer staples, as the supply r . , .-as been discussed. This sai ..dency would seem to :o the replacement of short staples by medium staples, cupply of medium staples, and consequent declines in premium . ases ir. :.. consumption of textiles requiring medium dole, reeras to become less of a factor as fineness . .at wor . at reJ' the proportion of short staple cott' uced , is c bed by c..- . . the figures showi. -0, cotto shorter than 15/16 inch consti- percc . the total supply, wh in 193 taple a less than 37 p<- - — 35 about Ul •-crease came about the production of has been ac led by a nar. Le leng' ... as a reminder that close at to be given 1 t Hum at r.hort - 10 - that tl 8x1 this adv.- • LI be • .s if the supply of this cotton continues to _e. j ; .isappt .- of short staples lias been downward between - . nearly 60 percent of the total disappearance was shorter than 15/16 - -. this group of staples constituted less than J>S percent of • • - staples are of necessity used mainly in co?r ; counts 0; yarn, that , 21s and U quantities are used for mattress stuff i: . -textile purposes. The proportion that such y.-\rns total production decreased from the beginning of the century, when - i to about 58 percent, to I91U but since that time there has been roduction now seems stabilized at about one-half of total These coarse yarns contain substantial quantities of cotton of the ta 1 lengths, and for some uses, such as thread, the coarsest y the longest staples consumed. On the other hand, such yarns are not tton, because for certain products, such as ->snabur~r, and ties of cotton waste and some linters are used. , cotton used in coar sonsisl of sh yarns are used for such purposes as narrow sheeting:, I 5h ,000 bales of cotton were used in 19331 der - : .' 350,000 bales; cotton flannel, r r^ 275,000 bales; 75.0C0 bal ; rl , ;5,000; osnaburgs, 120, C ; .;, U5, and twine and cordage more than 200,0 ) bal . 1 ra7r ;roup of fabrics amounted to more than , O,0CX -st tw — tic con - 11 - 1 -se coar? t be said to constitute a rith r< to the adv: it aple lengl nt, because, a. roportion of -as is incre; , reraiums will probably depend largely upon the ad- :osts c e staples for the production of such standard household articles beets, I othing materials as overalls, and such industrial Eh re is, of course, no reason to doubt that better she-tings Le from 1 l/lo inches cotton than from 7/8 inch cotton, but the question of vital concern to cotton producers is first, whether the majority of consum lals badly enough to pay the extra price, nnd second, how much » costs can be reduced by using 1 l/b inches cotton for blue dc similar goods rather than 1JZ inch. Eh ihort staples also enter into our export trade in large quantity . :le length of cotton exported is substantially lesc than the aver- r cotton consumed in the United States. Short staples are used in forei r the manufacture of comparatively coarse fabrics which are used al- .tirely for clothing by Europeans and Orientals, of whom, at least, most a comparatively low standard of living. That the exportation rtion of medium staples would improve our competitive position Laxly Indian cotton, rob able because of the ad- -ng such cotton as compared with the shorter Indian cotton, but :ial premiums for fa ■ quality cloth in these cou I Stat<_ . 7 :o t ton A LatiO : tries, such J . India, and 3 tur&lly ial because the demand for fabri : e countries .ed low priced Lal« 7-- relative abor in t. is to -cost ad e to b( from using ati . -:. .een lare ^ n » , a fa. be lnor .. less promising than :-d Ln chc.- ter. LI t • and the quality of finished fabrics. But the . rofitable to pendent more costs and pr ^r . the variety of cotton planted. Levelopment of mill iDle the use of Loi c bter , .for fine finished ,-ood; , the Drighl ;•' • .3 str • , uniformity - • mely in -^ in 5 utility - P le cularly • staple group. I ortation hales of foreign staples is • racter elemenl aired - . : - ... • .re cor , id fin, yarns. - bself in yarn. Ln rl . ,. rfeC t. ad in manufacturing; costs : ..._• utput. It i. • mat of quality. A limited numt r i in th • ' nilla en5>ha81 Lty in the supplies of cott, mee* . past 6 y the longer staples to increase and for of to deer lee. 1 been accompanied by a decline in the .taple lengths longer than 7/8 inch, and in reduction in discounts fop cotton a* 7/S • this narrowing of premiuma and discounts, a tendency for mills in thia country to use relatively larger • ties c. ■ medium and of long staple cotton up to i out 1 3/16 inch. . ,ara to have been accounted for to a considerable extent b; % .... staples for short staplea in the production of . fabr J8. The decrease in the consumption o: - long .3 resulted partly from a falling off In the demand for goc . re relative!. rocessing coats per unit of , Lfh Bilk and r ; d and partly also from chi ter. . ' -i 1 ^' ..nection with programs designed to improve the staple 1 of co: reduced, it mast be recognized I ~ jf .re produced, si . remium acted " <*•? «• fl ~ ent rence between the cost of proces. ' > n reduction of mediu coarse fabrics ,f goods mode from short I t. ■Ji N i V 1 lS£ ,TY 0F FLORIDA IMIIIIIIIIIII 3 1262 08918 7230 '