The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-17
LIVELY WEEK IN
 COTTON MARKET
After a Big Advance Prices
 Turn Down Sharply
BEARS HAVE UPPER HAND
Bulls Have Sent Prices Up On Be- lief In Small Crop and Big De- mand but Confidence Is
 Slightly Shaken.

New York. July 16.-The week in the cotton market has been one of wild trad ing. of sharp setbacks and of spirited rallies. The bullish sentiment on the whole is as pronounced as ever This is due largely to the fact that day after day over large sections of Texas max imum temperatures have been from 100 to 1O7 and there has been practically no break in the drouth It Is some weeks since anything like good rains fell Tn Texas. Tn Oklahoma also the weather has been generally dry and the maximum temperatures have been as high as 100 to 1os. Further rains have fallen in the section east of the Mississippi, where dry weather Is needed in order to enable planters to clean the fields, already in some cases, it is said, badly in the grass The Liverpool market has at times shown strength which has helped to fan the flame of wild speculation here. So have the southern markets. It is to be ob- served, however, that the trading on the most excited days has seldom been as large as in the feverish days of the sully deal of 1904.
 Still 1t was felt at one time that the pace was getting too fast. Therefore enormous liquidation ensued In two days there was reaction of 40 points or more. This acted as sort of safety valve. There was some danger, the bulls feared, that the market would get out of hand. The outside public. has been trad ing more freely and on the sharp breaks strong interests have renewed their buy ing. Meantime the cotton goods trade has improved, spots have been rising and to all appearance many of the mills are but i'll supplied with the raw material. They have been hoping that the speculation would subside and prices with 1t. The great heat at the southwest and recent excessive rains in the central and eastern belts have been powerful factors, how ever, in promoting the rise. New high records for the season have been made. Indeed 1t is many years since prices as high as those latterly recorded have been seen at this time of the year.
 The bull campaign Is based on the hypo- thesis that the crop is to be no more than 100000 bales at best and the con sumption something unprecedented in the history of the cotton business. The ad- vance since last fall however, is over $20 a bale, and many think this amply dis counts all the bullish conditions, even con ceding & deficient crop. Some 1,500,0O0 bales, 1t Is computed, will be carried over into next season. The crop, too, may yet improve materially in August and Sep tember. Such things have been known But 1t is a fact, however, that the bull side is the most popular. Unless the crop outlook vastly improves in the great southwest 1t is contended that prices must rise to a still higher level.
 As the week wore on the bears were steadily becoming more confident and con- tinuing their drives at the market they finally forced the general level back be- low the 12c wark
 Their chief weapon in this late attack was the official report or the government entomologist regarding the boil weevil in Texas. The bears naturally regarded it as favorable, as 1t stated that the boil weevil was not as much in evidence as year ago. The selling was also based partly on confirmed reports in North ern Texas and private reports of rain in Central Texas. For a time firmness wa imparted by the Giles report showing a loss in the average condition of IS per cent since June 24
 Moreover further rains were reported in Mississippi and Georgia where they were far from welcome.