The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-04-04
A CORNER IN JUTE BUTTS
THE ONLY AVENUE OF ESCAPE
FOR PLANTERS

1t ls TO Buy Cotton BagRing Now Be-
fore the Trust Puts Up the Price
When 1t Gets the Market More Fully
in It's Control.
NEW YORK, April 3.--"Still waters run
deep, and at present so courses the current
OF trade in jute butts. The bagging trust
people are getting in some fine work. that
is liable to show big results within the next
few months They are playing their cards
so artfully that the unwary are liable to be-
caught in their trap. There are three ele-
ments in the jute butt trade, namely: Im-
porters of the butts, manufacturers of iute
bRgging, who are the buyers OF the butts;
and the brokers, or middle men between
importers and manufacturers
AS MUTE AS NICE.
just now the brokers and manufac urers
are as mute as mice, and even the importers
are rather uncommunicatIve. Hence il in
difficult to get at the true inwardness of the
present situation. Diligent investigation
has, however, revealed tnis much to the
MORNING NEWS correspondent-iute butts
are practically cornered. That is to say,
the butts are sold by the importers for
future delivery, Just as cotton is traded on
in the New York cotton exchange such
sales are made for several months already,
and at present the outstanding contracts
for delivery are sufficient to take every
bale OF butts that can possibly arrive here
by importation between now and June |.
AT that date the season Of the curren! crop
of butts ends, and no new supply
can be bad until the next crop
natures, the beginning of which is in Octo-
Der. Therefore all the butts not now in
stock which will be available for the man
stfo ,f
ton crop, are those that will arrive between
now and June T. and every bale Of en-
has already been bought by the ba rging
manufacturers All the bagging manu-
facturers are said TO be in the trust, except
the Ludlow company. There is a low grade
of butts, too poor TO be used in making
bagging, except by being sparingly mixed
with the good quality.
THESE ALSO BOUGHT UP
These are usually sold to paper manufac-
turers, and it is said that the hagg.ng trust
people have even bought up al these low
grade butts from the paper makers. The
present price Of bagging is not high, which
Is due to the willy manipulation of the trust.
SO long AS the price is held below the figure
at which bagging can be profitably i'm
ported, namely, about IL cents, the trust
will have nothing to fear from that source,
and the game is to keep the price below that
mark until it is too late to import pagging
for the next cotton crop.
ONLY CHANCE FOR THE PLANTERS.
The only way to defeat the scheme is for
the south to buy bagging now at present
prices, and thereby get the necessary sup
ply at moderate cost, or else force the trust
to show its hand before it is too late to i'm
port bagging or to devise a satisfactory
substitute. The current supply Of jute butts
is said to be smaller than usual at this
season, because of large proportion Of the
present crop having gone to England and
Calcutta which would have come here but
for fear during the recent presidential
campaign of tariff reduction on imported
tagging in case of democratic victory.
vantage to the trust