The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 31, 1916, Page 6

HANDLING COTION AT STATE WARE- HOUSE. progress. on October 27 and November 5, 1915, respectxvely. All five -buildings were completed in December. The compress room is about two hundred by four hundred feet, with a “saw tooth” roof and wmdows famng north, making an ideally lighted receiv- ing and handling room. Ten thousand bales of “flat” or uncompressed cotton. can-be received and ‘held in this room - “on the head” until it is compressed. All cotton is compressed on arrival at the plant unless otherwise ordered. Three Morse compresses and a “Stan- dard” high density press are now installed. The Morse compresses are designed to compress cotton to a mini- mum density of 22% pounds to the cubic foot, with an average of about 24 pounds to the cubic foot. The “Standard” high density press will com- press cotton to a density of 33 to 85 pounds to the cubic foot, turning out a bale of uniform dxmenswns, 48 inches long by 24 inches wide and 20 to' 24° inches thick, as compared with bales of ordinary compressed cotton, which are from 54 to 64 inches long and 28 to 36 inches wide and 20 to 24 inches thi¢k. The smaller “high density” bale enables. the exporter to secure a reduction in ocean freight rate of from 15 to 20 per cent CITY WHARVES ALSO CONTROLLED BY STATE The wharf and through cotton ware- house would have been completed by March, 1916, but high water in the Miss- issippi river at an‘ unusual season delayed = construction work - and they probably will not .be completed for several months. Until their completion cotton ordered delivered to ships is being re-loaded into cars and switched over the Public Belt railroad to shipside at the. city wharves, which also are controlled. by. the port:commission. . The wharyes proper will be aboyt forty feet wide by two thousand. feet long, with trestle. . approaches connecting with the shore and the railroad yards at each end. The wharf will carry two ‘tracks which will make it possible to transfer through billed cotton direct from Louisiana has shown the wheat grow- ers of the northwest the right road to Isn’t it time for the “progres- sive” northwest to get busy? cars to ships. Immedxately adJommg 1t will be the wharfhouse for assemblmg cargoes at shipside so as to. give .quick dispatch to vessels. Tt will be 1518 feet long by 138 feet wide, two stories high, of reinforced concrete construction, with automatic sprinklers throughout, and will carry 75,000 bales of cotton “on the head” ‘at shipside.. It will be equipped with cranes for handling cotton direct from either floor into the holds of ships at the wharf. This weighing, mspectlon and samphngb system, being official, gives ‘the ware- houses. a unique and very important advantage over other cotton centers which should make it popular with out- of-town patrons, particularly storers of small lots who have no represenfatlves of their own in New Orleans. It means also a saving in duplication of work by both buyers and sellers, and consequently a_further reduction in cost of handling. With the exeception of the weighers, inspectors and samplers, all employes of the warehouses drawing salaries of over $75 a month have been and will continue to be selected accord.mg to rtings they may obtain in civil service examinations. INSURANCE RATES ON COTTON ARE REDUCED ‘When-the wharf is completed and the four electric : centrifugal pumps, with a capacity of a thousand gallons a minute each, are installed, the insurance rate on cotton will be 26 cents per'$100 a year, or ‘about 15 cents per bale per year, on the basis of the present market for cotton. - Among the fire protectwn features of the warehouses are: Fireproof con-- struction, walls of solid reinforced con- crete and steel, with rolling steel doors at all openings; automatic spnnk]er system throughout, even on the conneet- ing runways; hydrant and monitor pro- techon, three sources of water snpply, coming from two twelve-inch mains con- necting with city main gridiron system at ‘two separate points; private supply from four 1000-gallon-a-minute = each electric centrifugal pumps, and connec- tions on wharf for fire boats and tugs mtheha.rbor.v Addedhothesemnstlict £ daily supervision, inspection and report to . the- manager of condition of all sprinkler and other fire fighting appar- atus, and the distribution and separation of the units they are designed to protect. The " plans for the entire warehouse undertaking are arranged and the ground space is conveniently available” for future extensions to provide largely increased storage at ‘both the. cotton warehouses and the grain elevator as it is found necessary or desirable. The initial operations of the warehouse have been so .gratifying to the port commission that other-additions may be considered " at any time. PUBLIC ELEVATORS ARE INFLUENCE IN TRADE ROUTES These warchouses have proven that they are a potent influence on trade routes and that they offer many advan- tages to different classes of persons engaged in the cotton trade. They are available to and offer greatly reduced storage ‘and handling charges alike to the cotton grower, the banker in the smalil interior towns, the trader at inland con- centration points, to the New Orleans factors, traders, expeorters, manufactur- ers and spinners, for deliveries on future: contracts, and to New England and European dealers and manufacturers. Since the warehouses were first opened “for business the entire plant has been under the management of F. Prevost Breckenridge, and under his administra- tion many improvements in equipments and methods of handling cotton and other cammodxtaes, that each season are seek- mg the warehouses in steadily increas- ing volume, have been brught into use. - During the last cotton season the warehouses. handled more than 250,000 bales, and the indications are that they will handle more .than double that amount this seasom. . . HOW STORAGE RATES' HAVE BEEN REDUCED It will . be inhrsfingtnknow' Storage receipts that actually mean storage, thh the guarantee uf the state behind them to make them bankable; the control by the growers of ~ their own product until it is sold; honest weights and honest g'radmg—these are some of the advantages of state-owned tenmwal warehouses. ING AT THE STATE s}"%g}VED DOCKS. OLD WAY OF HANDLING COTTON the substantial reduction- in storage charges that has been accomplished by the establishment of these warehouses, which is best. illustrated by the follow- ing table of comparatlve figures: Past Public Chgs. W’h’se. Regular: Sterage Tariff on Con- . signed Cotton, Uncompressed. 5 ; Cents per bale " Buyer ............. 60 85 Reduction ... A 31% " Per cent reduction ... 274 0% Regular Storage Tariff on Con- signed Cotton, Compressed— Seller. s 58 356 2 55 Per cent reduction ........ . 40.6% Short Storage Tmn‘ on F. O. B. Cotton— A Seller SRR 2956., 28 Buyer i st 15% 12 i Total ... 44%%* . 4o** Reduction AR O 4% Per -cent reduction........ 11).1% '!\nr d-ys’ stomgemdepot. **Five days’ sha-agenrwehoue. GRAIN TEBMINAIS T0O, - ‘PART OF STATE PLAN. pmentxtwi!l cost about 81,500,000 and will be of the - ‘mostappmeddesignmdcmt‘mch‘ on. . Particular wbention w:ll