The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-21
AMERICAN COTTON
 MARKETS CLOSED Exchange Will Not Be Open
 Today or Tomorrow BEARS ARE IN CONTROL Liverpool win He Dominant In Trend of Futures During Early Part of
 wcck--Tbe Spot Sales Are
 Phenomenaiiy Large
BEARS ARE IN CONTROL

New Orleans, Februory 20.-Nith both of the American cotton future markets closed Monday and Tuesday. Liverpool will be dominant in the trend Of futures during the first two business days Of tho week, At New York and New Or
 leans the cotton exchanges will ob#efve Washingtons birthday F ebruary 22. In conformity with well established GUS tom the American exchanges will not open for one days trading. The 22nd is Tuesday, so Monday also will be observed as holiday.
 The cotton market was almost entirely under bear control during the last week and values went the war of the short side to the extent of over a cent pound, or $5 dollars a bale on the old crops, while the new crops lost half cent Except on the closing session Saturday, the market was dull and this helped the bears in their campaign for a fall In prices but their best weapon was the re- port of weakening among southern spo- holders and the poor showing of statis- tics for the week. At number of points in the western and central sections or 'the belt buyers reported it easier to buy cotton at material concessions and this together with a larger movement than expected, probably directly due to in- creased spot trading, and smaller mill takings than looked for gave the bears more courage than they have had be- fore this season
 Against the success of the bears at the weekend were warnings from bullish interests that their operations had cre- ated an extensive and unwieldly short interest in the market, something it has not had since the period which pre- eeded the spectacular bull campaign. Bulls also pointed out that while the movement was larger than last week it was still very small compared with pre-. ceding years. They also called atten- ton to. the fact that while mill takings were comparatively small the highest authorities estimated a full consumption, and that sales of spot cotton for the week in the Liverpool market were phenome- nally large. amounting to 1o3,o0O bales against 42,e00 a year ago, and S7,oO0 two years ago.
 At the weekend interest in the coming week was intense for the bearish opera tions in the English market led to the be- Tiff that shorts would be very aggressive there on Monday and Tuesday owing to the fact that both New Orleans and New York will be closed. Another thing that was being looked forward to was the re- suit of the blizzard which crossed the cotton belt during the latter part of the week. Bears claim it will be of immense benefit to the coming crop because the snow and freezing will mellow the soil and put good planting season into the ground On the other hand, the bulls are confident that the storm will delay plant ing preparations and that 1t indicates a backward season.
 Every scrap of news from southern spot centers will be eagerly seized upon during the coming week az at critical times the course of prices will hinge upon the weakness or firmness of spot holders. Bears predict that the slump In futures of this last week will have the effect of loosening the grip of spot holders, but bulls have faith in the strength of the spot owners, passing their belief on the reports of bankers that less money than usual has been advanced on spot hold. ings and that many lines are not incums bered with loans lat all
 The reported from the belt will be dated March 1 and private bureaus before that date will put out estimates that will probably effect the market one way or another.