The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-10-17

and that the speculative and consuming
world will feel just as the Frenchman
felt who. on a wager, undertook TO eat
partridge a day for forty days; his ston
acn peremptorily refused, at last. The
advance agent OF Southern prosperity"
also point out that speculation is dead,
and that the farmer is tlals left alone with
the producer. very much as Daniel was left
in the lions den.
Even the most rampant OF the bears al.
nit that there may come time to buy
cotton, but only after the crop is out OF
the hands of the producer. Besides, some
OF the more philosophical members OF the
bear party point out that comparisons with
the prices Of previous years are entirely
| misleading since the purchasing power
OF money has changed. and the same price
no longer means the same thing People
of this school contend that 81 now Is
the same thing as 9la ten years ago, and
they affec, to marvel that cotton should
command so good price with such a ter
rible overproduction. When one asks one
OF these convinced bears how long he
thinks cotton will go under the pressure
Of the movement, he shrugs his shoulders
AID says God only knows And then
he ellis the story of the lous ago hoW con-
signess Of cargoes of coffee refused 10 pay
the freight and left the bankers who held
the bills to also hold the bag. Neverthe-
less n average bear is disposed 10 20
INTO winter quarters, for ne knows, b.
experience. that the huuIer can not be very
distant and the very thought of cold
we've makes him shiver, despite mis- may
nificept coat of fur.
II would not take much to set tha ball
rolling If some really strong lead r
should make his appearance the scenes
would be shifted at once. Whether they
ever will be is quite another question.
The producers OF sugar are just now on
the ARK GUS seat. because of the great de-
cline in the price OF refined sugar. which
they fear is but the forerunner OF an at
tempt TO make low basis for the mar
teting of the Louisiana crop. Il planters
cCuld get the ruling prices for tseir prod
uct they would resi- easy. but they know
only 100 well how little they have 10 eS-
pect from the powerful interests whose
profits lie in manipulating the markets.
so as 10 secure a supply of cheld raw ma
terial. The price OF beet sugar in Lon
don is by no means highs Cd as against
a low price record Of IS id The sugar
planter has the same difficulty as the cot
ton planter in having anything to say about
the value OF his commodity 1t requires
so much money TO make the crop that il
is almost an impcsslbility to hold any
constdi rable proportion of it, The neces-
sity OF the planter is the opportunity
OF the trust. so runs the world away"
Rice has had sharp advance, in eonse-
quence OF the tremendous rains which have
done fearful damage in the Carolinas, aud
in tbs upland districts of Louisiana. The
river planters. having been practically I'M
touched by the storms, are likely to have
good inning The suddenness of the
des Eiction OF tho rice crop by the ele-
merls teaches once more the lesson that
there Is enough Of the element of gambling
IN the farmers life to satisfy the average
man. The fluctuations are not so frequent
but they are very like the movement in
the New York stock market when President
cleveland issued his proclamation on the
Venezuelan question. One such razzle-daz
zle in ten years IS too much for the aver
age man.