The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-09-29
COTTON PRICES SOAR,
FUTURES JUMPED NEARLY A
CENT FRIDAY.
Belief In Short Crop Becomes Wide
spread--StOrm Damages i'm South
west Followed by Wild Speculation
In New York.

New York, Sept. 24.-A rise of so
points in cotton and a sudden up-
shoot Of speculation have come al
most like thunder clap from a clear
sky. The tropical storm with tidal
waves, high winds and heavy damage
in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkan-
sas as well as Tennessee and Alabama.
has stirred the cotton world from GEN.
tre to circumference. Justus Patten
has given out bullish interviews and
is long of the market. Some of his
holdings Of December and January
he is understood to have reduced on
the sharp rise. but he is credited with
buying distant months like March and
May. Other buyers have included
Eugene Scales, Frank B. Hayne, Will
liam H. Brown and John W. Gates,
as we'll, 1t appears, as prominent to-
bacco interests. There is a story, too,
that very prominent cotton men have
bought heavily Of cotton yarns.
1t Is rare to see the price Of cotton
above 13 cents so early in the sea-
on. Even 10000 which saw tie
inception and wind-up Of the Gully
deal, did not record so early in the
crop year prices as high as they have
been. In September, 1903, middling
upland cotton at New York ranged
from 11.20 to 1850 cents and the ex-
traordinary prices Of the season were
not reached until about the middle Of
the following March. when 1895 cents
was touched here. futures at the
same time mounting to about 1850
In September. 1904. middling upland
here was 1850 to lilo. In the same
month of 1905 it was 1915 to 1895;
in 1905, 9.70 to $50 and in 1907 11.7B
to 1885, the highest prices In Septem-
ber seen up to that time. But on
Thursday of the present week this
quotation was overtopped. On that
day 1885 was reached. Some Of the
more radical bulls are predicted any
where from Is to II cents. Eugene
Scales has predicted 20 cents. That
was the price which Daniel J. Sully
aimed at in the spring Of 1904. He
got within about 1-2 cents of it.
Whatever may await the cotton
speculative world, it is enough to say
now that speculation has greatly
brOadened within the last week. 1t
should be borne in mind, however,
that the receipts have been very
large. The movement into sight is
even larger than that Of last year in
the high record crop. Bears think
present prices discount all the bull
arguments. But it is insisted that
the big crop movement is merely
hurrying forward Of prematurely
open cotton under the stimulus of at
tractive prices. Briefly, the bull argu-
ment is that the crop is not more than
10,5O0,00O to 100000 bales and
that the worlds consumption of the
American fibre is likely to be 49,
100000 to 13,5OO,OOO bales. The spin
dies in the South have nearly trebled
within 10 years. The census figures
showed that consumption in the Uni
ted States last season ending August
81 was 5,0S5.38O bales against 4,539,-
O90 in the same time last year and
that the number Of active spindles in
this country. North and South. reach
ed 27,783.4a1. against 27,505,422 for
the same time in the previous year.
The stock at New York is steadily de-
creasing and October, which was re-
Gently at a discount Of 10 points un-
der January has overtaken that
month. Some think the speculation,
however. is getting too wild and the
market overbought and would not be
surprised to see at least a temporary
sharp setback through the liquidation
Of long cotton.