The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-04-20

! futures on the cotton exchanges Of
! the country that it is necessary for
the mill owners to buy for future de-
! livery in order to hedge against the
uncertainties of the future market
! price in order that they can make
! their contracts, but 1t is seen it would
| not be necessary for them to hedge
! for more than the entire amount of
| the cotton consumed by the manufac-
turers of the country, which under no
! circumstances exceeds 100000 bales;
but the bill does not prohibit the pur-
! chase of cotton for future delivery,
so that if the mill owners desires to
make his purchase Of cotton on the
| exchanges before the cotton crop is
actually gathered, If it is bona fide
transaction for legitimate purposes,
there is nothing in the bill that will
prevent him from doing so.
The statistics show that the amount
Of cotton received in New York City
for the year 1923 amounted to 81
577 bales; for the year 1904 to 49,
1913 bales; for the year 1904-5 to 3S,
575 bales; for the year 1867 to 3d.
118 bales. The average for these FIVE
years amounts to about $4,000 bales
that were handled in New York City
but the transactions on the New York
Cotton Exchange amount to 100000,
600 bales.
Gambling.
It seems to me conc1usively shown
from these figures that the transac-
tons on the New York Cotton Ex
change were practically ali gambling
transactions and not in the interest
of legitimate business. There was a
time after the New York Cotton Ex-
change was organized, in 1870, when
there was a legitimate cotton market
in New York, and the transactions
on the New York Cotton Exchange
were in the main actual sales of cot
ton, but the through bill of lading de-
stroyed the New York cotton market
it costs $3.50 a bale to store cotton
IN New York City, and when the mill
man in the East could buy his cot
ton in the South and ship it directly
10 his mill on the through bill of
lading he was unwilling to pay the
cost of storage and additional hand
ling charges that would be assessed
against the cotton if he purchased it
in New York City. The result was
that the legitimate sale of cotton in
New York has practically ceased, and
the New York Cotton Exchange has
been forced by these conditions to
deal in future sales for gambling pur-
poses or go out of business. 1t often
occurs that spot cotton in the South
at the railroad station sells for us
much as L cent a pound higher than
the price of cotton on the exchange
in New York, which is conclusive
that the prices on the New York ex-
change are not governed by the law
of supply and demand, but the illegit-
innate operations of the bulls and
bears on the exchanges.
King Cotton.
The cotton crop Is one of the great
est agricultural products of our coun-
try. 1t brings more gold back into
the country than any other commodity
we export. The South is largely de-
| pendent on it for it's prosperity. To
me it appears absolutely immoral and
unjust to allow an organization to
continue the business of gambling in
! cotton futures and through their man
ipulations to seriously affect the price
Of this great agricultural product by
manipulations that are not dependent
upon the law of supply and demand,
but largely upon the amount of money
that the bear side of the market may
| control one day or the bull side con
troll the next.
There is no exchange for the sale
OF pig iron in the United States, and
yet every morning you can take up a
| daily paper and know what is the
price of pig iron in the different mar
kets of the United States. There is
no exchange for the sale of wool in
the country, and yet the daily papers
give you the price Of wool all over
the world every morning. Cotton
| quotations could be obtained the same
way were the exchanges entirely abol-
ished, but, as l said before, this bill
| does not seek to destroy the cotton
| exchange that is doing a legitimate
| business and where cotton is actually
bought and sold, but only seeks to
! prevent the gambling in future cotton.
! The price Of any commodity should
be fixed by the buyer and seller. II
is not fair to have it fixed by men
on an exchange that are not interest
ed in the product itself in any way.
| I therefore believe that it is entire
! " proper for the government of the
United States to prohibit the inter
state use of the mail, telegraph wires
and the telephone wires to persons
gambling in this great agricultural
product to the material detriment of
the people who produce and the peo-
pie who use it. I am therefore earn
estly in favor of the passage Of the
| bill.
|