Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-02
COTTON CONSPIRACY.

The idea that the New York spectators will endeavor to bull the cotton market in order to induce fuller exports is thus set out by the New York Home Journal:
 Cotton is kingl Never was the poten- cy of the greatest export crop of the United States more thoroughly demon strated than in the course of the com mercial and financial operations of the week ending with the disastrous panic Of last Saturday,
 "One of the greatest combinations of the century has been recently effected Tn order to depress the market price or the fleecy staple which clothes the people ol the earth The resources Of the old world, combined with the capital en- ergy and intelligence of this commercial center, all backed by prominent metro politan newspapers, entered the nstS 10 main or destroy the value Of the man crop of the southern states. lncidentally the assault is upon the chief resource or otIr country for the liquidation of the bal ance of trade and for the prevention or the exportation of gold to pay our foreign indebtedness. The planters or the soulh made a good fight to maintain the price of their cotton at the point that would compensate for the decrease in acreage and the phenomenally short yield of the staple but their efforts were as ineftec- tual as the heroic charge of Lees army at Gettysburg. It was the world agalnst the south. The interests of the. Wealthy spinners at Manchester being Identical with those of the mill owners of the east, it was an easy task to combine English and American capital to make an on- slaught the effect of which dominated the situation on Wall street and stagnated the movement of stocks and bonds, Ihere cannot be too much stress placed upon the conspiracy for the depression or COL ton prices, because in exact ratio 10 the fall is the loss to the general govern ment of that debt-paying ability which exportation of the one crop indispensable to England gives it.
 "The crop of American cotton for the year ending September, 1894, was nearly 10 GOO. 900 bales, and the English manufac- turers of cloths and yarns were able to depress prices to the point of 4B cents in this market on account of the necessities Of the planters as well as the general de- pression of business then prevailing throughout the world. Today the most ardent bull does not estimate the growing crop at over 6,S00000 bales, and that at a season when, on account of the revival of trade, consumption must necessarily be vastly in excess of that of the past three years The effect of the artificial depression of cotton prices is most SC rious menace to the balance of trade.
 "Estimating the foreign consumption
  country by last weeks shrinkage of cent per pound Is $20,000,000. The enor- nous operations in cotton have over shadowed Wall street transactions Room traders manipulated the market to their advantage. The fears Of re sumption of gold shipments kept invest ors out of the market, while prudent po- litical economists demoraliZed the gener- al public by demonstrating that the abil- ity of this country to pay Its foreign debts has been materially diminished by lower prices for the small crop of it's most valuable staple. The unparalleled activity in the cotton market for some weeks past, accompanied by sharp fiuc- tuations, does not appear to have de- stroyed confidence in still higher prices. in strict accordance with the law of SUD- ply and demand; and there appears to be a disposition on the part of the plant CTS to hold their crops. as America has not the opportunity to dictate terms to England. There has been much twaddle written about the necessity of forcing cotton prices down. so as to tempt the foreign buyer and thus supply this mar ket with exchange at a lower price. Why not pass a law to keep the nose of the western farmer to the grindstone by holding wheat and corn at the seaports at prices to conform with the ideas of buyers in Europe?"