The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-16
PRICES CAREER IN COTTON.

It Is not many years since Theodore IT. Price was a cotton clerk in Virginia learn ing the difference between ordinary. "middlng' and good mddling. When he came to New York he had great deal of knowledge of the Souths staple product. and he had unbounded confidence in himself. Smart young men who snow marked talent in any particular branch of industry are not likely to go unnottced in New York. and MT Price was able to organize a firm which soon took hlgh rank. It was the house of Price Me Cormick & Co. The Mccormick was one of the sons of the maker of reapers. The Co" was George Crockcr of San Fran cisco and New York one of the largest stockholders in the Southern PaClHG ktil- Way,
 The firm was to do a general banking and broker8g gr business. dt&!inS in stocks. bonds grain and cotton. M". Prize kn'W cotton better than he knew any thing else and when in the summer of lS@, drouS ht ruined the crop of the Southwest he saw an 1ppolI nifty to win fame ana fortune in shtrt or Ter. At that time con ditions in the south were dCplorabt". inc crops for several wars had been very larre. but the price had been rcarfully low Walls wen, up from all sections that the price was below the cost 3i pro duction. All the great dumping grounds Of cotton-Iiverpool, Havrc, Bremen New Orle anS-Werr choked With pateS
 Neill His Nemesis.
 Worse than al else was the fact that Liverpool absolutely drIninIt"d lh" cot ion market and d'rtHted prices Whether the yield was lalgc nr small 1t S'rh'h to he impoS>ibl. frr the planters to get a fair return for the lint. 1T the price dil not sui the Liverpool br"EerS a' nc M1.t. hrstC.' sIEGnrl.e they ceased huElnS and drew out of the market unM' the nlanters were forced to let go and sac rifice their bales. HelrY M. N'iil of New orleans, acted as guide. phloS'phrr ana friend of the British cotton men. lie is sued circulars upon which they Tell'd TOT their information regarding tn" growing cron Many many tImtS \eill was out rIgeouslv wrong. but his errors were Of a kind that brought profit. to the British cotton men. hears predicted the yield of ls92-'9m w"ud be the greatest ever known fr'c'. pas ing his deductions on fact. predicted one of approximately 9ol:~J bales A crop of that size meant disaster. Prlce hau a few millions back of him. The bears bad hundreds of millions. PrtC" Startfi nut to arouse sentiment among the pro- ducars He flooded the south with htGr- ature regarding the curtailmeht or tIe cron the needs of the spinners, the oI- portunity to appreciate values, 1T Ihe nlanters would go slow ana not auInp inc crop on the market in lump tte t invaded Liverpool and Manchester VII T his information regarding the drought in the South. Thousands of dollars were Iishmen the truth regarding the crop
 Englishmen Scoffed.
 But the Englishmen scoffed. they pre- ferred to depend upon Neill. whom they natd for his services. rather than thls newcomer, who gave his services Gra- tuitously. ,.
 But Price. despite the tremendous op- position he mad engendered forced values m From a level of about 5.S0 in Au- gust. 1899 the market advanced to above ' cents in December.
 This had been accomplished only ater the most violent of fits and starts. Al tinnes if seemed as though tn" market was going to the dogs. When the bears would find soft spot they would start raidine. and Price. the bull leader. would he compeled tn step in ana pols''r up tha market Many times he had to step into tho breach As the season advanced the movement of the crop went to con-