The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-10-31
CHANGES IN THE COTTON TRADE.
From the New York Post.l

Contracts for the future delivery of staple
productions were first made soon after the
wars of Napoleon. at Stettin, on the Baltic:
The articles dealt in were grain and rapeseed
oil. This method of doing business was sug-
gested by the military contracts OF the Frencn
occupation, and by the stock transactions oil
london and Paris. The merchants of Bremen
and Hamburg adopted the contract system as
soon as teegraphic communication was opened
on the continent, and when England Joined
the continental system by submarine cable,
the German merchants at Liverpool adopted
the "flrm offer" method in their hourly trans.
actions with the continent. Agents were place
to them these " firm offers" were made.
The changes in the price of cotton during
our late war lent additional zest and impetus
to this mode of transactlng business, aud,
mercurial as the cotton market ever had been,
It was rendered more so by this Innovation.
The effect of any changes In political or mer,
camille affairs was felt at once. and the gooo
old times of lelsurely commission business
by correspondence passed away. Purchases
aud sales ito arrive" by telegraph, were at
once added to the ''frm ofers,' and the
whole machinery thus created now rules the
cotton, the grain, provisions and petroleum
exchanges of Europe and America. Firms
unwilling to conform to the new system began
to lose their most valuable commercial
cOQQ6CIlOuS, uuu dt ldoI lCluVIoheiy JiSiuSe'
The present and immediate future being con-
tinually anticipated, or, In technical phrase,
udlscounted," the future contract business In
creased daily, aud now greatly exceeds the So
called sspot" or immediate delivery business.
In correspondence, the daily quotations ceased
to be interesting except so far as they related
to actual private transactions, and unless one
had sufficient strength OF mind aud boldness
to canvass the future OF politics, finances and
crops. his letters were laid aside with provok-
ing Indifference.
0ne-half OF the business of the telegraph, on
LAND and In the sea, now turns upon transac-
tIcns anticipating the future, and more than
half the time of our active merchants is spent
In the open thoroughfares and on exchange,
In shaping their course according TO the vary
ing values of the staple In which they deal.
Solid grocery articles alone are free from this
change, but the indications are that they will
soon Yield to the new order Of things.
The ssfuture" cotton business, s0-called, IN
this city, already exceeds that of Liverpool.
A spinner may sell quantity Of goods TO de-
liver at any future time, and can Immediately
cover his contract by buying proportlonate
number of bales Of cotton. A planter may
consider certain price to be remunerative,
and can instantly dispose of his entire crop
many days before 1t is picked or glnned. The
cotton business, 80 far as the handling Of the
article itself Is concerned, is evidently about
to leave this city to some extent and return to
to the cotton ports, where the European spin
ner prefers to buy. But these future" con-
tracts are an important substitute, and by
means OF them the cotton business OF New
York will be fully maintained.