The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-09
THE UPS AND DOWNsOF COTTON

and wise enough this year not 70 listen
either 10 the New Orleans II New
| York speculatorS who have heretofore
| managed to control the price Of cotton
in their own interest. Early in the fail
| Eeill. who Dragged some years ago that
| while the farmers lost several million
dsllars BY listening 10 his predictions,
the English spinners made exactly the
amount the American farmers lost, tried
to put the price Of this short crop AZ i've
cents by predicting Il very big crop. lie
would have succeeded if the press. MGR
chants, bankcrs and farmers OF the
South had not united to prevent the con-
tcmplated robbery Of Southern farmers.
In our local department for two or
three days we have been printing teie-
grams from a New York cotton house
advising farmers 10 sell their cotton
now. that the bottom had fallen out,
and that the time had come to dispose Of
all the cotton in the country before The
price went still lower. Before these
telegrams, we have for W months been
printing letters and kilograms from n"
same firm pointing out that the cotton
crop would not reach nine million bales
and urging farmers to hold their cotton
for better prices. They have flooded the
ing the market, and their mass of evl-
dcnce pointing to a short crop and expos
ing the Vaccinations of Neul and theEng-
lish spinners, has helped in the fight
for better cotton prices. All OF a sudden.
with no change in conditions and with
no reason worthy the name, this firm
turns in and telcgraphs TO everybody
newspapers, farmers, spectators and
mill-owners-that the bottom has drop
ped out and that cotton will be lower,
hoping, of course, to prccipltatc Ia rush
of the staple to the markets at once.
Their long and apparently consistent
effort to bull the market made many
feel that their present advice was dis
interested, and further South this ad-
y - th " - ~ AoHAA
ers who thereby hoped to depress the
market, but their effort failed.
Why did this firm flop over" so sud
denly? An explanation is offered in an
interview with an Intelligent cotton man,
printed elsewhere. The Columbia State
says it received the bear assault tele-
grams, "but declined to print them, dis
trusting the honesty of this sudden cen
version from roaring bulls 70 rampant
bears The State adds, $50 long as
the South keeps its head it can control
the market. The one thing that viii
force a slump is evidence Of preparation
for 4 fool crop Of Il dozen million bales"
The Atlanta Constitution gives this
explanations:
a private telegram TO The Constitu-
ton from a we'll known Albanian now
in New York, and 4 man in nowisc
interested in the cotton business,
states that it is the general belief in
New York that the brokers' who are re-
" lilS ST Ol H(
market. carefully laid their plans in
advance, and that the probability is that
they expect to buy cotton back as their
customers sell and make a rich pull on
the upturn. Another interesting eX-
PLANTATION is to the effect that the firm
is heavily short and that it has adopted
this method of bringing the market TO
its tignreS.
Our people should keep in mind the
fact that cotton was never statistical
ly stronger than it was today, and they
should make liberal allowance for at
tacks engineered by interested brok-
ers who are always ready to play hot
on one side and cold on another whenever
it seems best for them to do So"
Our advice to the farmers is the same
Your cotton to market. Cotton is worth
eight cents to the mills which are max
ing lots of money and would make big
money under present conditions If they
had to pay nine cents for cotton. 1t
has been gratifying to see that the farm
ers have been reading and thinking and
refusing to let Neill or any other spec
ulators and ma%nipulatorS cause them to
sell their cotton at less than it is worth.
The English mill owners have tried cv-
cry means of breaking the price known
to them. As Il last resort the roaring bulls
of New York seem to be using their Of
forts as rampant bears to press down
the price Of cotton. Owing to their bull
lsh prominence, there was fear that their
onslaught might succeed. 1t has faii ID.
Let the farmers congratulate themselves
on their good sense in O beng inf1u-
cnced by the gamblers. There i, but
one thing that can prevent eight. cen. cot
ton, and that is the planting of a big
crop for next season. That would undo
all the good work.
Since the above was in type we have
received a telegram from Price, McCor-
mick 4 Co., giving the reasons for their
recent, advice. 1t is printed in full on