The Van Buren press., 1875-10-12
Cotton
New Orleans Times.


The price 81 cotton touched on last
Friday the lowest point that it has
reached since the war, being 13lc., mid.
ding, New York quotation. This extra
ordinary decline has occurred in the face
of falling off from last year supply OF
337 900 bales, and is just the reverse OF
what was expected at the beginning Of
this year, when it first became evident
that the crop would be short. But all
importan. element of the calculation was
overlooked There was then, and lad
long been, q very light demand for cot.
ton goods. Many mills, both IN this
country and in Europe, were closed ,
others running on" short time, and al
most all holding large stocks, which they
could not sell Under such circumstances
the cnnsumptive demand for cotton fell
far short of what was expected, and what
it would have been under healthy con
dition of trade while the surplus OF stock
thereby left upon the sellers hands
weighed down the market. A glance al
the consumption 6emonatrates that fact
Thus the American mills took this yeal
liz 995 bales less than last year (Ghroni.
Gle fgurcs), and the English mills Liy-
erpool Cotton Brokers Circular, Septem-
ber =. 1879 "a, 400 bales less. maxim an
aggregate falling off of 207 ,0S5 bales in
the consumptive demand of those two
countries alone,
II is remarkable that the price OF
American cotton in Liverpool has deelin
ed 70 much greater extent thar that ol
any other kind. On this point w G
Watts d Co, in their weekly circular ol
August 2z, 1875, say American--mid
ding uplands-have declined nearly 4b
per cent, whereas the decline in fair
Dhollerahs is Z and fair Pernams only
81 l6 per cent, whilst fair Egyptians
show an actual advance of 4s per cent. .
And the reason why American cotton
underwent the greatest decline is appar.
eut when we consider that while the total
Liverpool stock, at the close of the sea.
son, was 62 600 bales less than at that
time last year, the stock of American
cotton there VS. actually 90, $50 bales
larger; or to view the other sile of the
same fact, the total consumptiye demand
of England this year was 80 APO bales
less than last year, while the demand for
American cotton was "a, 900 bales less
What direction the price will take dur
ing the present year is not difficult to
foresee. We might infer an upward
movement simply from the improvement
of trade in general, and the reopening OF
many mills, both at home and abroad.
But there is surer indication than that
afforded by the general law ofprice move.
ments. We have previously called atten-
llon to the fact that all prices are subject
to recurring periods ofrising and falling,
there being a gradual movement from
one extreme to the other The price Of
cotton has passed through three suen
periods since the beginning oftbe seasen
lS10-7l. In that season it began with a
downward tendency that terminated at
li3c. on the 2lst of April, 1871. From
that point there was a gradual rise until
the price reached 26ic on juno 6, 1872
Then began another decline, terminating
November 8, 1873, at l38c, followed by
second rise that ended at 1870 May Is,
1874. The decline which has continued
to tie present time began at the last point
The price may, and possibly will, drop
even lower than it is now, but it is quite
sure to rise during the present season.