Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-12
LEAPS AND BOUNDS.
Characterized Mondays Un-
expected Advance in Cotton.
1t Jumped at New York and New Or
leans by Many Points. X
After a While, the Market Quoted for
an Unknown Period.

leaps and bounds on trading 20 to %
points higher and 80 to 40 points at
New Orleans. The Liverpool markets
were almost equally excited. There
spot cotton advanced 10 points or
equivalent to 81 per bale in our nuctua
lions to the basis of 5s. Sd. per pound
for middling cotton which is equivalent
to II. go cents in our markets. Futures
opened there equivalent to IA to IS
points higher in our fluctuations and
closed very feverish at IL to II points
net advance over Saturdays final
prices or equivalent to % and "a points
in our market.
Thus at all points, all previous high
records for cotton options, and also spot
cotton on this seasons crop We're sur
passed. Spot cotton here is held at
about lie cents per pound and 1914
cents at New Orleans, against 9M last
year.
There has not been anything like the
equivalent of these high prices since the
last week of January, 1901, when that
option and SPOT cotton in this market
was forced uD to II cents per pound.
That was the highest record for cotton
since 1880 when it sold in January of
that year in this market ut 12& cents
and about I'd per pound at Liverpool,
after a prolonged season of bull specu-
lation.
The scene on the floor of the F,X
change perhaps surpassed the excite
ment which attended the struggles of
a month of two ago between the bulls
and the bears. 1t was quite evident
that those who were short of the mar
llet had become exceedingly nervous
from the recent steady advance when
the May buying orders came in FROM all
directions and also that the New Or
leans bull leaders ambition to force
prices higher and not yet been fully
satisfied
The shorts in the May option here
We're practically all driven in last week
except spot dealers who intend to make
good their deliveries. That option will
soon expire. The stock of cotton here
of contract grade which was only 81
600 bales month ago, has gradually
been increased to about $4,000 bales
through the recent steady advance in
prices attracting cotton here.
Almost every broker was loaded with
buying orders when the market open
ed and there was a great roar when
trading began. May started at II
points advance to the price of I'LL
and sold up to 11.15 shortly afterwards.
July, which started at 1929, started
at 1910 bid and was bid up to 1850
before there We're any sales. Then the
transactions We're on an enormous
scale, ranging from that price down to
1915 to 1919 and then there was q
break to 1911. The Augusta option,
which closed at 9.97, started at 1920
and 1921 and was as heavily traded
in as July, while the September option
of next years crop, which has only
just been planted and which closed at
9.2S opened IA points higher at 9.42 and
sold up to ga and then broke 10 points
and afterwards rallied to $40. These
three months, July, August and Sep
TENDER, We're those which We're most
heavily dealt in
At New Orleans, the July option
which, Saturday. advanced % points
and closed at 1915, started at 35 points
higher at 1880 and then sold at ITO
and HE, while August which closed at
1859 started % points higher at 1891.
Commission houses immediately re-
fused to accept any more buying or
selling orders in either May or July
until the market quoted down. 1t was
reported that the New Orleans bulls
were very aggressive and We're the
heaviest buyers of July and August
in this market. 1t was significant that
most of the selling came from the To-
cal bull clique. There were perhaps
400, 900 bales traded in this market up
to noon. one house in the first hour
doing straight commission business
and having private wire connections in
the South. trading in about 10000 bales,
buying about 25.000 and selling about
$4,000. This showed the extent to which
the South was interested and traded
in the market.
Later when the New Orleans mar
ket reached 25 points on July and Is
to 20 points on the other options and
it was seen that the bull clique here
was still inclined to sell and check
any immediate advance, things quieted
down.
Pawtucket. r. l.. May 1.-THE dispatch
sent out from Fall River. today, to the
effect that the rise in the price of raw
cotton and the weak condition of the cloth
market may result in a reduction in wages
or curtailmcnt of production in that city, |
is not causing much uneasness among the |
cotton manufacturers of the Blackstone |
valley. AS rule, the mills in this section. |
which employ upwards of 5000 hands, |
manufacture goods of a superior quality |
and are therefore in a better position to |
withstand the present unfavorable condi- |
tons that are in the mills in Fall River. |
The United States Cotton Co. which en- |
ploys 1900 operatives. manufactures quail |
ity of goods similar to those produced in |
Fall River, but the same company also |
makes cloth of 4 superior quality. The |
LonSdale Co, controlled by the Goddards |
and employs 10 coo hands, and the Manvile |
Co, controlled bv the Lippitts. which en- |
ploys 5000 operatives in several mills, both |
produce the higher class of cloth. The |
product of all these larger mills bring a |
Letter rule than that of tie