The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-13
The COTTON SITUATION.
STRONG FIGHT BEING MADE on
PRICES.
Manufacturers and Spectators Band
ed Together to Depress Cotton Mar
ket While Farmers Are Marketing
Their Crop.

New York, Oct. S.-There is a
struggle for possession of the marks,
In which thus far this season the bulls
nave had the advantage. 1t has been
nlN and tuck here during the past
week. On the one hand big receipts.
ho"eVer' hedge selling by the South
ana some decline in spot markets
nave Elilitated against a rise in "fu
'ures' On the other hand the ex-
ports are enormous. exceeding those
Oh last year thus far, some cotton
goods have advanced in price Amer
lean spinners who had been holding
aioof FOR some time have bought
more freely and OF late there have :,
been fears that another tropical storm,
might strike the Mississippi valley
and probably bring with II the first
Killing frost of the season. This ones
ton of the first frost is one whose inn
psrtance it would be hard to exag-
2erate. Sometimes IL comes in th~
second week of October and Some.
times not until the last week in that
month and in some parts not until
the second week OF November. In
1905. however, 1t happened I'm parts
or tennessee, Mississippi. Georgia and
the Carolinas on October IL and Oc-
tober IL. During the past month ana
a half. however, the weather cond;-
lions on the whole have been excep-
tionally favorable, so much so that
picking has been, unusually active and
SO has the marketing of the crop.
especially as $50 to SIS a bale has
been strong incentive for the farm.
er to sell as fast as possible.
. The big movement and the heavy
selling by the South against the act
ual cotton and the unusually high
prices for this time of the year hay,s
been stumbling blocks to many who
might otherwise have felt disposed to-
push things on the bull side I'm
East India the crop prospects are
good. In Philadelphia yarns have
been dull and sharp breaks in the
stock market have not been withour
a certain moral effect. But it is ;m--x
possible to disguise the fact that Eusv
rope has gone ahead and bought with
free hand despite the unusual dear
ness of the price.
European exporters and spinnerx
nave evidently been alarmed by the
pad crop reports from Washington. !
The latest was that of last Monday
watch put the condition at 5s.5 per
cent. as against 10-year average OF
oil per cent. This Offset the fact that
the ginning up to September 25 w.s
ABOUT the same in quantity as that for
the same period last season ON the<
high record crop. The market had :
evidently become overbought and for
time prices sagged under the weight
or very heavy liquidation. Moreover.
SO Ear as figures go. the bulls win get
no further help from the government 4
reports until the December crop es,i-G
mate appears.
Meantime. however. they argue
that 1T is mere question of supply.
and demand. They believe that the
crop is not over 1I.0oO, 900 to 11.5Oo.-
600 bales at the most. while they look
for consumption we'll over 1s,000.-a
600 bales with the local results. as
they conceive. OF very much higher Z
prices before the end of the season.
Bears predict 12.50o,ooo bales added
to 100000 bales carried over from
last season.
The question for the future to de-
termine is whether the effects of AZ
short or moderate crop will or will
not be neutralixed by curtailment orr
production which some American andR
foreign spinners are now beginning
to threaten and which bull leaders
are treating as mere buncombe. TheN.
Southern farmer. it Is claimed, is un-
usually well off owing to the big
prices he is getting for cotton amt
cotton seed. and il prices are reduced
Will resort to a holding back cam
paign as they did some years ago As
the case stands ii is seaon that
seems likely to be crowded with
events of more than usual interest.
Today a moderate net decline was
due to report that spinners in ses-
sion at Charlotte, y. c., had unani-
mously recommended curtailment Of
production. raiding by local bears ana
scattered liquidation.
MORE MONEY FOR WINTHROP