Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-08-06
9flistellauepns &eadiug.
From the N. Y. Evening Post.
THE PRICE OF COTTON.
WHAT THE "BEARs" SAY ABOUT IT-TE
VIEWS OF THE BULLS.

The naughty "bear," as the person is called
who by artificial means attempts to lower the
price Of anything, and the antic "bull," the
name in commercial circles to him who labors
for speculative purposes to raise prices, are
just now carrying on their nefarous perform
ances in the Cotton Exchange. Unfortu-
nately, their acts are of public importance, in
asmuch as the result of the game they are
playing with another directly affects the price
of the principal agricultural staple of this
country, namely, cotton, and indirectly,
through the increased or diminished purchas-
ing power of this staple, the sale of all other
commodities likely to be useful to the grow
ers of cotton or attractive in their eyes.
These two cliques Of speculative gentlemen,
the "bulls" and the "bears," have reasons as
plenty as blackberries for their opposing
courses. The "bears," who have already sue
ceeded in bringing the price of middling cot
ton down from nineteen cents in May to the
present price of sixteen and one.half cents,
assert as the reasons for this decline:
First. That the amount of the cotton crop
for the last two years has been four millions
of bales annually; ; that the crop this year will
be equally large, and hence that no scarcity
can fairly be anticipated.
Second That the panic of last year is now
felt as severely by the manufacturing interests
as it was last autumn by those who deal chief
ly in money.
Third That the low price at which cotton
goods are now sold, justi6es the decline which
has already taken place in the price Of the
raw material and also affords them substan-
tial ground for the belief that the prices of
unmanufactured cotton will fall still lower.
On the other hand, their opponents, the
"bulls," say:
First. That the large yield of four millions
of bales Of cotton last year was due to for
tunate combination of the greatest number of
acres Of land ever known to be planted with
cotton, the most extensive use Of fertilizers,
and an exceedingly favorable season whereas
this year the amount of land planted with
cotton, as officially reported, is less than last
year by ten per centum the use of fertilizers
has been very small-in very many cases none
have been used-and the operations of boil
worms, army worms, foods and early frosts
will reduce the yield, such as it is likely to
be, enormously.
Second That even if the yield per acre is
as large as last year, the less number of acres
planted this year will reduce the amount of
the crop by half million bales, and should
the worms manifest unusual activity, or should
the weather be unfavorable, the entire crop of
cotton is not likely to amount to more than
three millions of bales.
Third. That the entire stock of cotton now
on hand throughout the world is only very
little in excess of the total amount held last
year at this time, when middIing cotton was
selling at twenty-one cents pound in New
York and, in addition, the stock of cotton
now on hand in the United States-a very
small amount and rapidly disappearing under
the constant demand Of spinners and export
ers-will be entirely consumed before its
place can be supplied by cotton raised this
year, owing to the backwardness Of the new
crop.
Fourth. That it is not American cotton
which now makes up the bulk of the stock
held in Liverpool, but Indian cotton; and
whenever American cotton can be bought at
nine pence or under in Liverpool the large
English consumers Of raw cotton take the
American product and absolutely neglect the
article raised in India.
Fifth. That no such financial or industrial
panic ever can be permanent in this countryl
and hence there will soon be general reviva,
of business in the United States that although
on the average, only one-third of our cotton
crop is used at home, the notorious scarcity of
domestic goods throughout all the village
shops of the land will require the full average
amount of cotton to be consumed in home
manufactures for their supply and hence the
average price in Great Britain for middling
cotton will be from nine to nine and one-half
pence a pound, which will create a steady
market in this city for the new crop at the
rate of from eighteen to nineteen cents a
pound in American currency-this supposi-
tion only holding good in case the new crop is
proportiopally as large as that of last year,
but if not proportionslly so large, then the
new crop will bring twenty-five cents pound
and more
We have thus permitted the wild and do.
mestic animals of the Cotton Exchange to
speak their mind fully. The organization to
which they belong is of doubtful utility to all
concerned except themselves. Last year we
we're obliged to belabor the "bulls," who had
raised the price of cotton in New York three
or four cents above the price in England,
where are the markets which ultimately estab-
lsh the price of this great staple. This year
the "bears" perhaps recruited from the last
years "bulls'-are at fault in seeking to
lower the price of cotton by combinations
among themselves, or other artificial means.
We should regard it as great misfortune
to all parts of our country if it turned out to
be necessary to sell the new crop of cotton at
low prices. Without putting too much faith in
the reported ravages of the worms, it is doubt
less true that the smaller area planted this
year than last, will result in a smaller crop
and if this diminished crop was sold at pres
ent prices, the loss in our export trade would
amount to more than hundred millions of
dollars, not to speak of the corresponding
loss on the twelve hundred thousand bales
which will be required for home use. But
there are signs which indicate to US that we
shall be preserved from so heavy blow.
For one thing, trade is reviving in Great
Britain, if the latest report of the English
Board of Trade is to be believed, which says
that the exports of that country for the month
of June, 1874 we're only one-half per centum
less than in 1873. In this country there are
some faint indications of revival of manu-
featuring industries although as yet the prin-
cipal proof of this consists in the invariable
recovery which has always followed every
period of business paralysis in this country.
Last of all, the prospective decrease in the
amount of the new crop OF cotton must, ac-
cording to the natural laws of trade, lead to
higher prices per pound. There will certain
ly be good demand, and that being assum-
ed, the smaller the quantity to be sold, the
higher will be the price. An increase in