The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-30
FALSE COTTON REPORTS.
New Orleans Exchange Compelled fc
 Suspend Business.


 New Orleans, Sept. 29.-The sensation al scenes on the Cotton Exchange to- day, caused by the sudden advances in cotton, on false reports supposed to have enmnated in Liverpool, were fol lowed late this afternoon by the follow ing official statement:
 Tn consequence of false cablegrams from Liverpool, giving enormous ad- vances in that market, large transac- ticns were made in the New Orleans fu- lures to-day with points all over the country at heavy improvements in prices Discovery of the falsity of the cablegram created inextricable confu- sion, necessitating a suspension of bus mess temporarily in order to enable brokers and commission merchants to straighten their accounts with corres- pondents Between the hours of SEQ and 8.35 five cablegrams were receiving between 2:23 and 2:24 D. m. LiverpooD time continuous declines of five sixty lOul lllS. Ol say III etli lo SNO ef''N Si-~ half sixty-fourths. The Liverpool mar ket was then reported as advancing, and from S:55 a. m. to 10:1O a. m. New or leans time, dispatches were received showing an aggregate advance of S6- 64ths, or a ne. advance between S:2O and 1O:10 a. m. Of S3 1-2 sixty fourths, equal to about 1-2 cents per pound. Such an unheard of advance created | the widest excitement and before con- 1 tradictory advices could be obtained | large blocks of cotton exchanged hands. That the interests of all parties might be protected the board of directors of | the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, uri- | der the rules ordered a suspension or | business and subsequently, under pro- | per legal advice, declared all transac- tions in cotton both spot and futures, based on the false quotations, null and void The justice of this position will be apparent.
 "All of the Liverpool dispatches quoted came through the regular channel, the commercial news bureau of the Western Union Telegraph com pany which has been the news conduc- tor for the various southern exchanges for more than quarter of century past The explanation of the company is that the changes reported were to be construed as against the closing price of yesterday, but as the nvariable cus- | tom heretofore has been to give all changes in the Liverpool market com pared with the dispatch immediately preceding the explanation is not only unsatisfactory, but indicates negligence | somewhere little short of criminal. II will be readily understood as before | stated that the confusion created by such an unheard of condition or af- fairs was without precedent, and ln view of the uncertainties caused there by, it was deemed by the board of di- rectors as proper and just to declare suspension of the future business in or der to permit brokers to remain in theii offices and attend without delay to ad' iusting matters with their correspond ents. This is the sole reason for the temporary suspension which does not in the least involve the ability or ca pability of the members of this eX change to care with ease and prompt ness for any and all business entrusted to them. JOHN PARKER,
 HENRY HESTER, Sec. Pres.
 New Orleans Cotton Exchange,
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