The age-herald., 1900-07-22
FUTURE OF THE
 COTTON MARKET
Some Folk Think They See 15- Cent Cotton Ahead, and There
 Are Restless Nights for Many
From the New York Evening Sun.


 in the financial district these days con corning the future of the wheat and cot ton markets, both of which are displaying such unusual activity just at present. Cot ton is now selling for more than it has be- fore in a decade, and wheat is apparently trying to reach the dollar mark Under these circumstances it is not to be won dered at that there is a difference of opin- ion concerning the road that lies before them, and that some of the older men can not see how present prices are to be main- tained. They say that some one is trying to corner the cotton market, and they do not expect to see the buying continued.
 Its very peculiar said one of the old time members of the Cotton Exchange last evening; that nothing is so fascinating to the average speculator as a corner. There never has been and probably never will be a successful corner in anything that grows out of the ground, and yet 10-cent cotton and $1 wheat have been the dreams of operators for the past ten years. Well, l see they've got 10-cent cotton, and now the question Is how long are they going to keep it there and who is going to buy when these people who have cotton attempt to sell. But little points of this kind never seem to bother the men who are anxious to have their names connected with a ldulOuS utdl AllQ tue most u0lnlelllSlDte part of these corners is that the men who run them know that every previous att tempt has ended disastrously. This never seems to have any weight with them. It's always the last corner that's going to suc- ceed and place the manipulator's name as the first on new honor roll of fortune. Not over month ago we had a failure of an attempt of this sort in the New York Exchange, and now some fellows in New orleans are trying their hand at it. It's the old story. It's thing for everybody to talk about while it's going on and easy enough if you get things right to mark prices Gp.
 Here cotton has gone up nearly cents pound in two weeks, and the price is so high that you can't get anybody to touch it. Why, all the mills in the country will shut down before they will pay 10 cents for cotton, for the simple reason that they cannot sell the goods at any such figure as that. There has not been any demand for cotton in two months, and even when prices dropped a cent pound spinners could not afford to buy. The big mills at Fall River have had to cut down the price of goods because they got orders for only about 10 per cent of what they were turn ing out every week. And yet the price of raw material is being forced upward, and nobody buys it. Some day a man who owns a few bales of cotton will try to sell, and when he finds the price is higher than any 
 the market, and the house of cards Will begin to tumble.
 "Now, it would be an interesting thing for a scientist to discover just what sort Of a bee it is that buzzes dollar wheat and It. cent cotton in a mans bonnet, ome folks say it is riches, but the cost of running a deal is out of all proportion to the returns and the worry is something to turn mans hair gray. When one is obliged to control every market of the world, at least all the important ones, that handle that particular staple, it is not like running factory, which you can lock up and know it is safe when you leave it at night. And, as l said, the cost is enormous. Even when the deal goes through safely there Is not much money left for the man who engineered it. When old Hutch cornered wheat and succeeded in sending the price to S2 a bush el, he lost $2000,000 trying to get rid of the wheat he had left And that was about as successful deal as any we read about. In cotton it has been the same way, only a great deal worse. There was a corner way back in 1891 run by a man of the name of Steinstrand in Liverpool, and Schaefer in New Orleans.
 "They had everything their own way, cotton famine and all that sort of thing, but just when the plum was ripe for the picking, somebody gave the market a poke and away it went. Before they could get out, the price was down cent pound;
 
 their rashness. Then in 1896 a New Yorker took a hand at it with about the same re- suit. He was one of the brightest most successful operators that ever came on the floor of this exchange, but he made a mis- take and peculiar one. He bought heavi- ly of the July and August futures because he thought there was going to be a short, age, and then sold the new crop that was coming on the next year. If he had bought half as much of the old and the same amount of the new crop he would have made several million dollars But as 1t was, the next crop was small and the months he was short of began to advance. His long cotton did not help him any and before he could get out he was reported to have lost $1, GOO or $2,000, 000 He died not many months after.
 About the same time a Frenchman in New Orleans took fling, and he lost his money and died from the blow. So it's hard to see how anybody could start to corner a staple for the money there is in It. Perhaps it's for fame. If that's the reason, there is not very much glory in it, for these men are remembered either be- cause of a sensational failure resulting from their operations, or from sense of pity for the loss of their private fortunes. If it is not for fame or money, perhaps It is a spirit of adventure. They have been successful where nearly every one else fails, and they are anxious to try their hand at the impossible It is nothing less than an attempt 10 peat nature, ana any thing of the kind appears to have great fascination for some adventurous spirits. And so altogether, it's a subject for scien- tific Investigation
 "This year the cornering bee seems to be humming busily. Here the assignee has hardly made an accounting of assets and liabilities of the firm that failed here last month trying to corner cotton, when an- other corner Is sprung on the market. And this one has made things lively, tell you. In New Orleans they are marking up prices Ac a clip, and there seems to be no end to the process. The men who are short are feeling mighty uncomfortable, and they have visions of 15 and 2O-cent cotton before them or the prospect of what is known as .nrivate settlement when they are com pelLd to pay about anything the man in control is pleased to demand. Of course it will all come out right in the end, unless nature cuts up more capers and Kills the oon,ine crop of cotton in the South. Then m one knows what might happen. But all