New-York tribune., 1903-03-05
COTTON GOES DOWN.
The Close the LoueSt of tile Day
Sales of 500, 900 Bales.
GREAT EXCITEMENT ON THE EXCHANGE.

The bull forces on the Cotton Exchange, who
| for many weeks have been carrying all before
| them and have been advancing prices almost at
| WILL suffered a severe check yesterday. 1t was
| a day of intense excitement on the usually
| semi-somnoIent exchange and the trading post
| was surrounded all day by vociferous ana
! wildly gestiCulatng thronS of brokers, whose
| shouts and screams could be heard in the main
| corridor of the building, two stories below.
| The market opened about 10 points down, on
| lower Liverpool cables. and a flood of selling
orders from Liverpool. from New-orleans and
| for local account poured in from the very start
| Support from the bull party rallied the
| market several puints, but the selling con-
| tinued with unCeasinG persistency and in
| great volume and prices yielded materially
| By / o'clock the March. which had closed
| on Tuesday at 1915, was selling at
| 996 cents pound. decline of 90 points. or 81
! a bale from Tuesdays last price; the May
| option touched 9SS. 81 points lower than Tues
! days close. and the July at 9.ti}. against
| 9S2 cents OF the preceding day. Many stop loss
| orders were uncovered the way down. ana
| the selling for this account added impetus to
the decline Heavy buying by the bulls and
| some covering by shorts did not avail to stem
| the downward current. and prices closed at the
| lowest of the day. the total sales having been
| about Sn0OCN bales.
|
| points or 81 80 bale: May. 3' points, and July.
! % points The market at the close was in a
| state of decentralization, with the bears predict
| ing further decline to-day, which would work
| the undong of the bull clique.
| The last quarter hour of trading perhaps
| the most exciting period of the day Appar-
| emily the calmest man the floor Daniel
J. Sully. the bull leader, who. his feet planted
| widely apart. his hands in his pockets
|
stood on the circular platform surround
| ing the pit, silently surveying the scene and
| listening to the turmoil amid which his profits
| seemed rapidly crunbling away. When the
| closing bell sounded Mr.. Sully held half min
| ute conference with of his brokers' and
| then quietly left the room and building and
| started uptown. Earlier in the day Mr.. SulIy
| for a while personally took part in the Dit
| operations bidding up cotton; but during most
| of the time he onlooker
| Those who prophesy a further heavy break in
| the market assert that the cotton coming Into
| slght Is much greater in quantity than Is nor
| nal and more than has been calculated upon
| One consideration. however. experts say, may
oVerturn all caculatiOns-the possibility that the
| high prices for nearby months may have forced
| cotton into sight which would not have come out
| normally till later, and that the crop will he
| found to be exhausted in the early summer
| months.
| The point Is also made that prev;oue brr
| campaigns have been engineered by speculators
put that Mr.. Sullys hackers are the New
| Hhsiahu cotton manufacturers themselves
"hose proHtS from the success of their market
! OPERATIONS on the bull side would much more
| than Offset the losses which they would incur
| lnroush having to pay high prices for their
raw material. losses which would nrohab b1,, bo
| largely diminished through the advancement IN
| n he
! Theodore H. Price was seen at his of7ce af,or
| the close of the market and made the fnlIop,ino
| statement
| 1T has been sensational cotton market TO-
| udy. Inc adVlces from Liverpool were exceed
| lhsly o!scouraslng to the bulls, and resulted in
| an opening decline in New-YOrk of about ~
points, as compared with the last nights close
| The bulls, however, took heart and bid tho
| market up to about 1904 for May change in
| sentiment, however seems to have come over
| the speculative public, and as the Southern snot
| markets were weaker and the trade was with
| out the support of consumers the bulls in their
| eHorts to support the market had to encounter
| very general selling on the part not only of
| others Of their less confident confraternity but
| on the part of speculative short sellers as we'll
| Shortly after the luncheon hour, despite vigor-
| GUS buying generally attributed to the New
| England syndicate, the market commenced to
| break badly, and before the close had declined
| some "a points compared with the opening
| the lowest prices on May and July contracts
| being nearly 40 points, So bale, below the
| highest figures touched yesterday. Such a de-
| cline as this generally Chills bullish enthusiasm
effectively, and those VINO are long of cotton are
| now showing more concern about the necessity
| Of procuring margins to protect their holdings
| than in regard to the acquisition of more cot
| ton. After such decline reaction is nat
| urally to be expected, and there has been some
! little buying this afternoon upon the theory of
| this reaction.
| "a private cable from Alexandria to me from
| the leading operator there advises me that he
| and his friends have sold out their holdings,
| anticipating a decline. The operations of this
| Alexandrian clique have been second in i'm
| portance only to those of the New-York clique,
| and have largely assisted the latter to advance
| prices in New-York 1t would appear that the
| situation depends for its support almost
| entirely upon the ability of the hullish faction
| in New-York to support prices. and avert
| further decline. Many rumors are current to
! the effect that the New-Orleans clique have
| quidated largely. but to this | have no
| precise information. except that I understand
| that Mr.. Brown, of New Orleans, has this
| afternoon telegraphed some of his friends
| in New-York advising them to buy cotton. 1t
] is undeniable, however, that the influences X
/ traneous to the cotton market, but acting upon
ii, nevertheless. with some degree of effective
ness not calculated to enthuse specuIa tors.
Money is growing daily tighter and the feeling
| of pessimism in Wall Street is becoming al
most physically tangible
Montgomery, Ala. March 4.-Farmers of
| Montgomery County sold 2,3OO bales Of cotton
here yesterday at 10 cents a pound. The amount
| maid for he cotton S115OOO in