The Memphis union appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1862-1862, 1862-07-31
4he cotton Crisis and Trade Of Engla.a

Dy Gay JUSLlned py the event. IhlS great an
terest is at last fairly aroused and alarmed
Last week we recorded an advance of absut
twenty per cent in the value of all kinds of
cotton IN the week just closed the rise
has been OF nearly equal amount. The Liver
pool market has been wild" and degree of
excitement only paralleled within the memory
Of the Oldest dealers by that of the previous
week has prevailed. 1t is now certain that
further large decrease will occur in the pro-
duetion of goods, as the price of. the raw ma
| terial has reached prohibitive point consid-
cred IN relation TO the rates obtainable by
| manufacturers for their goods. This means,
of course, that there viii be further consid-
erable reduction of employment, and pro-
| portionate increase of paupersm amongst the
| operatives shut out of the mills. The total
stock Of cotton in port at Liverpool is now
computed at only 1885, 430 bales, against !, ,l07,-
| 430 at the corresponding date of last year.
Just at the close of the week the speculation
| betrayed SOME signs of tagging, as is natural,
considering the enormous advance which has
| taken place within so short a period. Those
| of the spectators who distrust the chapter of
accidents have shown disposition to realize
! their profits, mindful, perhaps, of the crash
which would be produed tpere ioeH coined
Ttaaor of mediation OF other form of arrange,
naent IN AnseTica TO be disseminated by the
not TOO perdetotts telegraph. Although those
! buyers who have large realized profits to fall
back upon have run up the market with great
srdor during the last few days, the impression
has become general, that to buy or hold cotton
on speculation at its present prices means
| gambling in its most reckless form, compared
! with which time bargains in consols become a
sober sort of business, and even transactions in
| Spanish certificates are almost free from risk.
Cotton stands at this moment in the market
at thrice its normal value, and as the prices of
manufactured goods have Jagged far behind,
though raised to point sufficient to seriously
check consumption abroad, it is highly proba.
BILE that, rs soon ssthe spectators have become
tired of dealing with one another, and the ex-
isting mania has gone the way natural to all
manias, the silence of death will fall upon the
Liverpool cotton market
We cannot pretend prophetically to affirm
that there will be any material relapse in pri-
ees, for, apart from the improbabEe contingency
Of a sudden settlement of the struggle in
America there is no prospect of any but
limited supply, and it is upon the absence of
supply that the rise in the price is mainly
based Still it is clear enough that the specu-
lators will soon be left to play among them.
selves with the remaining stock of cotton.
Apart from the hazard of the game, the man
ufacturers will be obliged to fold their hands
and look on, for the spectators have at last
succeeded in shouldering them out of the mar
ket. To put the matter in its simplest form,
the manufacturer viii be able to calculate with
absolute certainty that he has only to go on
working cotton at its present prices and SELL
ing the goods made from it at their present
, prices, and he win infallibly succeed in max
ing loss of many thousands year, without
carrying on by any means extensive transac-
tions. Consequently, upon the sensibly COM
rnercial principle that it is better not to do
business at all than to do it at loss, spinners
| and manufacturers. will suspend their produc-
ton much more largely than they have hith-
erto done and viii leave the cotton specula-
tors to kick the ball about among themselves.
Thesmore prudent of the latter are apparently
becoming alive to the approach of period of
complete inaction, and are not forgetful of the
dangers involved in the vast amount of spec
uIation now in existence.
1t is of little avail now, however, to join in
chorus of censure of the employers. We
spoke pretty freely, especially some time ago,
, | when the adoption of remedies and precau-
/ tions would have entirely prevented the pres
4 ens collapse of the trade; now it is vain to
g indulge in reproaches or recriminations. The
& most lamentsble feature is that even now,
: when the trade is starving, talking and writ
t | ing are all the fashion, while OF remedial
i action there is absolutely none.
e Among the London mercantile community,
9 by whom the dangerous position of the cotton
s interest has always been more Justly and prac-
. tcally appreciated than in the northern seats
g of the trade, there are men of high position
Q and large means who are prepared to embark
o heartily and extensively in the sort of enter
prise needed, and, what is more, to draw the
moneyed public after them, provided only the
/, | cotton men. will put their own shoulders uni.
: | tedly to the wheel. This is an indispensable
4 preliminary, and the cotton men do not move
Their apathy is such that they viii not res
pond even if respectable association ap-
proaches them and says, We are organizing
cotton agencies all over India; supply us with
i the means" Just the same sort of answer il
u given to another association, which says, VIZ
y have successfully commenced cotton growing
2 in Jamaica: the frst;crop of our experimental
a plantations is before you, and has been growI
! at profit, as may be seen by our accounts
: which you are welcome to inspect. Give us
Z then, the means for extending our operations
: and furnishing you in q few months with
large supply"
It would really appear that, when relic
comes to the cotton trade, it will not COM
2 from the efforts of the Manchester men, no
u yet from public meetings or public companies
e but simply from the slow, yet sure, operation
70 of those infaIlible laws of commerce whicl
= some of the advocates of the manufacturer
- now so strangely contemn. There is one plail
TACT staring US IN the lace which Is WOfG
? twelvemonth of speechmaking and tul
! weight of letter writing Is ssorth trebI
its Ordinary price Each mail from Englant
q win din this IN the ears Of merchants dealer
~ and producers in every part of the world an
u will add fresh assurances that not only is th
y / last crop of American cotton daily becomini
less available, and less likely ever to be avail
able, but that there viii be no American Gro
at worth speaking of next season. The chance
~ az inHndstion of cotton from the old slave-rid
d. den source is rapidly disappearing, and th
inducefnent to grow the article elsewhere in
ge creases in proportion. III rise of some 20
al per cent above its normal value does not in
at crease the supply of n commodity which wi
p, grow over vast belt of the globe, there is n
IN, truth in the laws of trade, or of supply and d.