Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-01-05

has been some covering Of shorts, who
sold for forward delivery. and some
buying by both spinner; ard export in
ter, SIS, but there is no snap [" IN" d.
mand. and spot markets are "fiaf stall
and unprofita BILE" Sales here for IN.
week do not exceed 1000 bales. ana in
| New Orleans ana other southern
centres are not proportionately larger.
| This is a time of year wien there IL
usually large business, but nobody
can transact business in declining
market. Buyers ana sellers are apart.
Buyers say they are without orders or
| that demand is at Suc;1 low limits that
| they cannot get the cotton. Factors
say there is almost no inquiry and tina!
cotton is harder to sell than at any
| time this season, III site of III" fact
| that prices are below the cost Of pro-
| ducing. All that is needed is st"adi-
| ness and buyers ana sellers would
| gladly witness such development
| Buyers say they would be pleased with
| an advance that would bring out spo,
| cotton because they are gloomy over
| the situation.
They have bought large quantities of
futures as hedge az lin.t their short
sales to the mills and for export They
| have thousands Of dollars tied up in
margins on the contracts and vet thcr
are unable to buy spots on basis tina
will permit them to Undo their hedges
by dIsposing If their futures. One man
1lpne has 500, 600 tel ~ in margins.
and is able to buy nra .t;cally no spot
cotton lie Will not Ic ;,lls 20 bay ur-
less tn" market goes VI to suffcien.
bysil1
and even then he is likely to experience
| some loss bet ausc Of The fact that the
| decline in spots actually and lot as
| shown by tn. mere board li.ur,.s. ma
not been as extensiv'. as the loss in
contracts.
The disposition to sell cotton here. i
not 1T all pronounced. Th.rc il snnl,
business doing all the time. but thi.
represents the sale of the cotton Of 4
Few Who are forced through stress OF
| circumstances to sell ~ WHO 10 net
| care 10 worry along any further. Mo-
| more than IL Thousand tales of good
often is offered for sale. despite the
| fact that there are 10. 600 bales Of un-
sold cotton here. Shippers who sent
he cotton here ar. advising that it BE-
held until further notic. The lower
prices go tn" more determined holders
appear 10 be.
There is but one de"elnpmont wat
can furnish much assistance t. hold
crs Of cotton. ana that is ii better de
mand for thu actual stuff The lack o"
any snap to the buying has been re-
sponsiDle for much of the ease with
which both spot and contract prices
have been forced to 4 lower level Flu
lures cannot be depressed unless tho
spot markets yield somewhat in pro-
portion. and in the same measure tu-
lures cannot BE advan"cd parm"ncNtlv
without 4 good demand for spot cotton.
Opinion is that spInntrs will soon buy
more freely. Cables from Liverpool
say there is heavy buying Of deferred
futures by spinn"rs as An Investment.
and it is highly probable that a similar
development VIII eynntuate on this
side There j. q large short intlrost
already. nccrsSit"tinG considerable
shipment OF cotton FOR delivery during
january. Some If these spot shorts
gave already houeht The cotton with
which to fill these deliveries. being in
duced 20 do So Ivy the large decline
and the profit shown on the invest
ment especially whore there was no cf-
fort On their part Ia hedge their sales
ny purchases # contracts. There is
much discussion regarding reduction
of acreage n NJ season. and the fact
that the movement of the crop is not
large enough to bear out the govern
nent figures. Cotton is now selling at
less than ;hc cost of production. 1t
will be impossible for small farmers,
and they grow the bulk Of the crop. to
secure advances from the banks or
factors next season for the cultivation
Of their cr Us because if cotton is sell
ing below the cost Of production. 1T
ting out money on such conditions
would be about on Il parity with pour
ing water through sieve or eating
SOUP with a fork. Factors here Will
not make advances on the basis Of the
present price without adequate col
lateral and the small man who has TO
born ow on d large scale usually has
very little negotiable collateral material
on hand. Instead of trying to grow
another lurg" crop. ii is held that il
would he better to carry over l.0io,oo0
or even 20U0.oUU bales of the present
crop, ana plant next season with a
view to raising about twenty per cent.
less than during the current year. The
South has aSitated this question many
times before but there is more de
tcrmincd spirit now than ever. and Ii
is; believed that banks and cotton fac
tors can tolCe the reduction, whether
planters are willing or not.
The amount of cotton brought into
sight the past week has been less than
tor the corresponding period last sea-
son. ana the December movement i
Lighter than for the same mouth last
ynar TIL" decrease is not large but it
is regarded as remarkable that the
movement of a crop. estimated al
practically l., 5"G.0Co bales. should no'
be as lar.;e Tor the fourth month of thr
marketing season as that of the crop
of last year. which proved to be only Il
sm:l, an'nu;t in excess Of 10000 900
bales Ii Il argued that the cotton is
not moving freely b"cauS" Of the alb
sencp of an active spot demand and
uuwiliucnnSs Of spot holders to sell.
There is. ne doubt. some ground for
both claims. but still the fact remains