The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-08
HOW REUBEN WENT TO TOWN.
And How He Made the Smart New Torkers Pay About $7. GOO, ,o0o
 For His Fun

Washington Post.
 Some months ago a few Southern men head ed by Mir w P Brown of Louisiana. went on to New York with the avowed purpose of buying up all the cotton in sight and taking advantage of the great demand for the staple which they believed would occur later on. They made conceaiment of their plans. They frankly stated the conviction that the crop would be very late on account of weather conditions and prophesied that the great me- tropoiitan wiseacres who were selling right and left for August and September delivery, would be caught with contracts they could not readily fulfill.
 Of course they were rdculed by the great men of the great city They were ignorant hayseeds. desperate gamblers. impudent char iatans. The famous eomputers who sit in their offices near the Cotton Exchange and tell the country all about everything doomed the pro- vincialS to early destruction and thought no more about It. The idea of anybody coming from the remote wilderness hundreds of miles from Hoboken, coming to the very home Of financial and commercial genius with the idea of teaching its anointed prophets and high priestS-why it was too preposterous for con sderation. The oracies had spoken. New York had decided on the crop and had proclaimed it's infallible decrees. Let the Southerners go to their ruin if they would.
 Along in July the great men became aware Of a vague. but persistent, uneasiness. Of course 1t could be nothing serious. To sup pose that they could fall short of perfection in human wisdom was to suppose the extravagant- iy impossible. Nevertheless the provincials went ahead in their temerity. Soon 1t became whispered about that they had actually bought all the cotton then in sight They had bought even the stocks held by number of factories which wanted to close down for repairs and could sell at handsome profit and to great convenience besides. Still. the great metropol- itan authorities could not believe there was any cause for serious anxiety. They could not be mistaken in the end. They had given the matter their august attention. and, of course they must be right The misguided rustics held a great deal of cotton doubt and they would smart for their folly in due time. Was it not always so when the rustics ventured upon liberties with them? Were the lambs not always treated to a close shearing when they wandered into that particular pen? It was to laugh and laugh the anointed ones did right loud and merrily. It was almost pathetic; 1t funny
 And the hilarity ceased on Tuesday when time was up for the delivery of September cotton. The New York magnates who had con racted to furnish the material, found that they didn't have 1t, and couldn't get. except from the Louisiana hayseeds. who had bought 1t. and whose destruction they had so contemp- tuously predicted two months before. The hay seeds had bought the cotton itself with their good money, and had to sell 1t to those who wanted it. The great metropolitan magnates had contracted to deliver certain thing at a certain time. and when the time came they had to buy from the despsed provincials It was question of knowledge, judgment nerve, and the hayseeds won at the expense of the city wiseacres.
 How your genuine New Yorker loves to sheer at-and to despoil-the innocent and credulous rustic! With what fine scorn does he dismiss from respectful consideration every one who has had the misfortune of birth in the outer wildernessi And yet, during the past forty years, Reubens have been going into that town squeezing millions out of the natives, and talk ing pretty much everything they wanted. Their palaces stand on 5th avenue, at New port. at Tuxedo. and when they need more they go down among the New Workers and segre- gate 1t. MT Brown, of New Orleans. will join them If he wants to. New York. is fairly bursting with easy money.