The grades, for white cotton, as established by usage and confirmed by Governmental standardization are:
| Middling Fair | Strict Low Middling |
| Strict Good Middling | Low Middling |
| Good Middling | Strict Good Ordinary |
| Strict Middling | Good Ordinary |
| Middling |
For yellow tinged stock the grades are:
| Strict Good Middling | Middling |
| Good Middling | Strict Low Middling |
| Strict Middling | Low Middling |
For yellow stained and blue stained there are only three grades quoted, good middling, strict middling, and middling, the inference here being that stained cotton below the basic grade, is unsuited for most commercial purposes.
With cotton selling around thirty cents a pound, the difference between the cost per pound of middling fair, the highest market grade of white cotton, and good ordinary, the lowest market grade, may 19 amount to twelve or thirteen cents. The value of the shipment, and its use as a basis for credit, is dependent upon its proper classification.
The large cotton buyers purchase for the account of mills, for exporters, or for clients abroad. They are usually firms of strong financial standing, and as we have seen, they are bankers or factors themselves, financing growers or small buyers during the growing of the crop, and the first concentration of the cotton. But when the large movement of cotton is on, it is frequently necessary that they, like the local banks, must be financed in order that they may execute their orders, or, as is frequently the case, accept cotton sent to them on consignment. Cotton sent on consignment must be stored until a market is found for it, and in order that proper storage facilities may be supplied, the provision of suitable warehouse facilities is an important matter.
Warehousing as
Industry’s Great Need
Until recently, warehousing in its relations to the textile trade, had not been developed to the extent which might have been expected in those methods which would make it of the greatest use and advantage to textile interests. By means of the facilities which could properly be afforded by warehouses, manufacturers, or merchants should be able, at times of favorable markets, to lay in large stocks of materials, and to finance them safely and easily.
Today, this need is being met in constantly increasing measure by the Independent Warehouses, Inc., affiliated with the Textile Banking Co., and having, like the latter, the support of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, and the Liberty National Bank of New York.