The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-16
COTTON MARKET
 VERY IRREGULAR Prices Advance At Opening,
 Then Decline FALL MONTHS ARE HIGHER October Options Advance Slightly, Bur Bears Hammer That Month Until the Loss for the Day Is
 40 Points.

New York, August 15.-(Special) 1.-The cotton market opened steady at un- changed prices to an advance of points on scattered covering. Prices eased off some or 5 points right after the open ing, but the market rallied again during the middle of the morning with October selling at 9.21, or the highest price since the break of last Wednesday. The de- mand seemed to come chiefly from shorts probably evening up for over the week end. Later reports are that only 600 bales of yesterdays spot sales in sa- vannah are to come to New York for de- livery on August contracts.
 Discounting a large crop, an early movement and poor trade demand, Liver pool has, apparently, at last come to face the problems immutably linked with an insufficient supply of tenderable cotton' hence the steady undertone of the foreign market yesterday in spite of the bearish comment cabled abroad by cisatlantic 'shorts." In the aggregate the New Or leans interest is small, because of the severe restrictions placed upon outside speculation and the antagonism of the farmer to present day values for fall de- liveries. Meanwhile current tendencies point to an improving spot market in the south, although actual cotton values were shaved yesterday. For the first time in many weeks exporters are in the market for supplies and are willing buyers of f. o. b. cotton for delivery in New Orleans in October at 75 points in October futures for ! Liverpool good middling, at 63 points on : for Liverpool fully middling, and at A points on for Liverpool middling. This basis is significant, since Liverpool mid ding is no better than a full style of American strict low middling. Mer- chants generally do not appear inclined to sell commitments of Liverpool fully good middling on any practical basis. Yesterdays advices from Texas indi- cated that demand was keeping pace with offerings, and that buyers were paying 10 cents and above for average receipts.
 The foreigner, having anticipated a rec ord-breaking early movement, has evil dently begun to figure out the meaning of only 1,476 new bales at Galveston to date. The record movement for August is 196000, and the relative slowness with which new cotton is reaching Galveston has raised question over the prospect of breaking the record this August.
 There was nothing in the evidence show- ing any real weakening on the part or the bull manipulators or that the pro- gramme upon which they have been work ing all along has been abandoned or is even in danger of being abandoned. True, shorts insisted that the big "longs' were anxiously awaiting an opportunity for lQuidatition, but themselves were at times hard pressed for excuses with which to explain the short covering going on. Simultaneously, friends of the staple as- serted that the ''long' interest in October was protected by "short' interest in the later months and that it was now merely a question of financing margins until pending squeeze in October there and heavy movement in the south during the later months should work the interest out on profitable basis.
 The market closed steady, with prices 40 points lower to points higher.
 Receipts at the ports today, 4095 bales, aganist 1909 last week and 23O9 last year. For the week, 10000 bales, against 2037 last week and 1o,97S last year. Today's receipts at New Orleans, 257 bales, against 50 last year, and at Houston, 3349 bales against S2S last year.