Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-03-21
MEMPHIS COTTON EXCHANGE.
It's maintenance and Benefits Already
and 10 be Der1ved-Facts and
Figures from Hts Twelfth
Annual Report.

ITS Maintenance and Benefits Already
4 and 10 be Der1Ved-Facts and
l Figures from Hts Twelfth
Annual Report.
The magnolia does not bloom in the
polar region, and throne OF ice, with
tapestry Of snow, 30 beautiful and so
pure, would melt quickly away in the
torrid zone. st. Louis, Missouri, estab
lished cotton exchange. It's a fact,
reader, but it does not prosper, if we
may Judge of its stability from the fol-
lowing excerpt of the st. Louis Demo
crdt of the seventeenth Instant: "The
longer the proposition of establishing
the cotton exchange upon permanent
basis is before the community the great
er the number of friends made for the
measure. AS matters now are it is i'm
possible that cotton exchange, such an
one as st. Louis needs, can be MAIN
tained. If all the cotton dealers in st.
Louis were to become members of the
cotton exchange at the present rate Of
membership, $50 per annum, not more
than $4,000 would be secured. But,
in the first place, all of the
cotton men Of the city will not JOIN the
cotton exchange at that price, and in
the second place 5000 will not be money
enough to pay the expenses OF the cot
ton exchange next year. There are
those who suggest that the initiation fee
should be dropped to S5, and annual dues
placed at $15-that a vigorous commit
tee should be appointed to drum up
members on this basis. Let US suppose
this plan adopted. The cotton men, say
one hundred in number, would all come
in, without doubt, realizing about $l700.
Then, if a committee could be found
who would be willing to share the time
needed for making thorough canvass
Of business-houses for the first two
months of the year, it is possible three
hundred members might be obtained,
which would bring in $4,000, or $7700 al
together. The exchange might possibly
squeeze along on this sum for year, but
at the expiration of the year, what then ?
The three hundred members who had
transacted no business at the cotton ex-
change would lapse. Would the
committee do two months more
begging to supply their places
with other men? Not very likely.
The result, then, would be that the men,
bership of the exchange would simply
dwindle to cotton men proper, and the
rate of membership would have to be in
creased again, and this would drive off
part Of the cotton men, reducing receipts
10 $500 or $4,000, and membership to
seventy or eighty persons. To avoid all
of this trouble, the cotton exchange
should decide to issue one hundred and
fifty full paid memberships, at five hun
dred dollars each, to be placed among
such firms of the city as are most directly
benefited by the cotton trade, outside of
those who make the selling and buy
ing OF cotton q main feature of their
business"
AS to the above article, we have but |
little to say, nor need this be long. st. |
Louis is great and prosperous city, |
whose citizens Of enterprise and activi- |
ty have labored quite Zealously to build
up and control a cotton exchange and a |
cotton market. But it takes a cotton |
market to require cotton exchange, for
the latter institution may be deemed |
commercial luxury which none but first |
class markets should expect, and can |
enjoy. ''As matters now are" says the |
Democrat, "it is impossible that cot |
ton exchange, such an one as st. Louis |
needs, can be maintained" Unless hu- |
man activity be able to subvert the laws
Of nature, ''matters" will not be likely |
to permit st. Louis securing such a COM |
mercial bonanza. That city is beyond |
the cotton limits, and when the MiHsis- |
sippi river runs up from the gulf to KeO-
kuk, or some other place in that section,
st. Louis may secure a cotton |
trade, and found staple ex-
change for the sale of the pearly staple. |
Her cotton business now is but the drift |
caught in the bsckwater of commerce,
and is too piratical to warrant further |
and a continuation Of determined effort |
on the part Of her merchants. Great in |
deed as have been her efforts to secure |
cotton, the general sentiment is that her |
cotton inducements guarantee nothing |
permanent in the future. And in this |
connection we would speak of
THE MEMPHIS COTTON MARKET,
which is the natural basin for the pro, |
duct grown throughout the great cotton |
country bordering the Mississippi and |
many of its tributaries. In the Mem
phis market there is no fictitious quota.
lions and no sacrificial liberslity Of offer
in order to secure cotton. The quota
tions daily are from actual sales, and
based upon the new and reliable Amer
lean classification as adopted by the
National cotton exchange. AS we said
above it takes cotton market to require
a cotton exchange. To Memphis such
an institution is at once q commercial
necessity and commercial luxury. To
st. Louis, such is an iDjudiciOus luxury,
for which her commercial discretion
should never sigh. To her it is not
need, and it may always be want, but
"That every l1Grt is not the same o! Cesar,
The Heart of Brutus yearns to think uponPr
The angels of paradise should not sigh
for the violets of this earth, though the
dwellers of this sphere may want or
may need the virtue Of the former. The
Memphis cotton exchange has one hum
dred and twenty-nine members, the an.
Iusl membership being 500. The sum
derived from this source alone Is suffi-
cient to defray the annual expenses of
our exchange. See, then, that such an
institution in St. Louis cost as much
more, and this, too, with disparity in
the relative cotton business Of the city
that admits of no comparison. Surely
such an institution Is luxury to st. L
Louis, ana 80 would be anything not
indigenous to the commercial charac-
ter, location and pursuits Of that cline
and city. Our merchants took hold of
the Memphis cotton exchange with
avidity, and would now as soon think of
ulSISueluR WAl14 LAAC customary
and food as to discard the cotton ex.
change or fail to maintain its useful
ness. In fact, they support nothing
with more reliability or Hberality than
they do the cotton exchange. Yet it
does not cost much to maintain it. The
fig and the orange grow in q warm
cline, but they would not flourish
in a cold region, unless protected
by greenhouse. st. Louis may as well
expect to grow the orange and the fig, in
open air, as to maintain q prosperous
cotton exchange which, to her, is
plant only fiOurishing, and that but for
. while in her commercial hothouse. It
can never attain to full size and have
the active, vigorous and prosperous
growth Of the Memphis cotton exchange,
the attendance upon which is always
full. Indeed, we doubt il any exchange
In fha ETnffaa 2fata Ia bat |