What is a cotton broker? How did he make money

n Georgia, the midpoint of salaries reported for the position (50th percentile) is $52,344. The 75th percentile (the rate below which 75% of salary data falls) is $80,995. The 25th percentile (the rate below which 25% of the data falls) is $38,900.

In the Pre-Civil War South, most cotton planters relied on cotton factors (also known as cotton brokers) to sell their crops for them.

This factor was usually located in an urban center of commerce, such as Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans, or Savannah (harbor cities; there was not yet a network of railroads), where they could most efficiently tend to business matters for their rural clients. Prior to the American Civil War, the states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi were producing more than half of the world's cotton, but Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas produced large amounts also.[1] At the same time, the port of New Orleans exported the most cotton, followed by the port of Mobile.[2]

Cotton factors also frequently purchased goods for their clients, and even handled shipment of those goods to the clients, among other services.