Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-08-21
FINANCE AND TRADE.
OFFTcEJ7 THE DAILY APPEAL,
MENP His, August 20, 1870.

MENF ans. August 20, 1870.
a GAMBLING IN oTToN 1
The commercial readers of the APPEAL
viii bear testimony how persistent has
been our efforts to suppress a vice which
has worked so deleteriousiy upon the in
terests OF the planters OF the SOuth-in-
deed, upon every one at all engaged in
the legitimate purchase and sale of cotton.
Among the frst 20 raise our voice against
80 iHegitimate a mode Of business as this
buying and selling cotton to deliver, we
are grstided to see so many of the lesding
journals oftbe South coming promptly to
work and aid in its suppression.
The Columbus iGa) Enquirer of a re-
cent date, on this subject remarks, that
there is reason 70 fear that the cotton
planters viii be cheated during the com-
ing season, even more than usual, by the
spectators and. gamblers who Operate
upon the staple. The war in Europe and
lis effects upon money and stocks will be
msdea great 'bugsbOo' to produce fluc-
tustions and thus enhance the spoils of
the gamblers. Really the war should
affect cotton but little, and would only
slightly affect it, but for the Intervention
OF men who conspire to make It subserv-
lent to their own interests. They cannot
control the events of the war, but they
hope to give such q urn 10 its financial
and commercial perturbations as to put
money IN their purses, at the expense
OF the men who have toiled through the
year in making the cotton crop, hoping to
get for il its true value, as determined by
the supply and demand OF the world. We
have long been of the opinion that the
laws should restrain the operations Of in
terlopers who come between the producer
and the consumer, with moneyed facili-
ties, or with fraudulent combinations, to
break the Just relations Of the supply and
demand Of any important commodity of
commerce." To this, all honest men viii
say "amen." And also this, which we
AXE from the columns OF the Liverpool
Courier: Not a day too 500 an effort Is
now being made by the merchants and
bankers of Liverpool to check the wild
and unprincipled speculation hat has
seized the cotton market. It paralyzes
Legitimate trade, prevents honest speculs-
tion, and dislOcates the ordinary course
of business. 1t is gambling in its lowest
and most demOralizing phase, but if it
were an affair in which only the COM
batants suffered, we might leave them to.
fight their battles. The system,
however, affects the mercantile reputation
of Liverpool, as well as its substantial
interests indirectly, too, it p~tejudices the
manufacturing industry OF the kingdom,
and is therefore Of national concern.
When men use a staple article OF com
merce as the shuttle-cock of speculation,
depressing or elevsting the value Of the
raw material by combination and con-
spirscy, confidence is destroyed and the
stability of trade shaken. The ramifca-
tions Of the mischief are so widespread,
extending from the merchsnt at the top
TO the operative at the bottom Of the
scale, that it becomes the duty of every
fair dealing member of the community to
endeavor to arrest its progress. In this
spirit we are disposed to regard the agita-
ton now commenced by the merchants
Of Liverpool. The firms who have taken
up the subject include some OF the most
influential in the country, and represent
the commercial interests Of every quarter
OF the globe, There is no intention to
hamper trade or prevent legitimate spec
u~lation; enterprise is one thing, reckless
ness another. Even speculation must be
confined within certain limits of response
bility, and spectators should lot DO in
3 position to make their adventures sue
Yet this is the power now
welded by operators in cotton. Without
having a baleof cotton intheir possession, |
or paying a shilling on their vast transac-
lions, they can keep on buying and sell
ing to such an enormous extent that the
answers r~esponsively to their tao
lies. If men desire that cotton shall go
lowA, they can sell bale after bale, thou
sand after thousand, till the market is
and of course prices fall in pro-
to the excess thrown on the mar
zet. If men sold only what they pos
or paid for what they bought, the
,vil would soon rectify itself But these
elements of legitimacy are wholly absent
n the gambling transaction in the cotton
The holder is at the mercy OF the
lp~eculstor, and the man who has nothing,
ave an easy conscience, is master of the
situation. He stands in no apprehension
# losing by his adventures, for he has no
,otton on hand, and can persevere in his
ales until the quotation is reduced to the
that suits his book. It is very diff
erent with the man whose bales are in
he warehouse or at sea; depreciation in
-alue means substantial loss in his case;
nd now he is justly alarmed when he
lnds his produce liable to be deprecated
y spectators, banded together to ruin
i'm. Legitimate trade is impractieable
q presence Of this disturbing element.
foresight, experience and
ven capital, are of no valae, for the
bears , may neutralize every calculation,
nd oUtbid the largest of the
capitalists by a series of fictitious sales"