Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-02-28

4
mated the so-called pool to maintain
a parity between the spot and the fu-
ture market.
But suppose American cotton mills
: were placed at slight disadvantage
by bull support Of the market. Can
the Attorney General be excused for
, protecting even them at the cost of
millions to American commerce?
When we consider that the United
| States raises 69.9 per cent Of the
worlds supply Of cotton and con-
sumes only 24.7 per cent the magni-
tude of the injury done to American
commerce and American business by
the effort to depress the price of cot
ton is apparent. That his act did not
reduce the price of cotton at the time
more than 2 cents per pound is due
to the stubbornness with which
Hayne, Brown, Scales and others
bought all actual cotton offered, In
stead of accepting settlement of mar
gins, which is trick of the trade to
sell large quantities of cotton not in
existence. Such a decline was con-
fidcntly anticipated. A week before
Brown and Hayne knew that they
were going to be prosecuted "bear"
firm, in trying to get certain party
to sell the market said:
know something is going to hap
pen that will cause break in the
market Of from 100 to 200 points.
Suppose the break had material
lied. The result would have been
on a basis,of a 10000, ,0OO-bale crop.
and at a 2-cent decline, to give 70. :
eign spnners about $9O,0OO,o0O to
save about S30,000,00O, ostensibly to
American spinners, really to Wall
street gamblers. Will the time never
come when government representa-
tives and officers can see other inter.
eSts than those that are centered in
New York? Is the ard-workine, re-
spectacle citizen Of the United States
to be held up by the government and
fleeced under it's protecting armo
The enormity Of the Attorney Gen
erals act did not fully appear until
the. present crop was brought into
sight.
The worlds consumption of cot
ton, as stated in Bulletin 113, page
2S, Of the Department of AgriculE
ture, is 21.000,OOO bales. On the
same page we find the statement:
1t appears probable that 14,50O,-
900 bales Of American cotton can be
absorbed during the year ending Au-
gust 81, 1912.
In other words, the present crop
will barely meet the demand, condi-
tions being normal In other cotton
raising countries But conditions are
not normal in other cotton raising
countries.
In India, for instance, the cron IS
conceded tn be short about 800, 900
bales, and we have heard nothing of
a large crop in any other part of the
world. We raise, as heretofore stated,
approximately 70 per cent, and this
represents say 100000 bales The
other cotton-producing countries
raise 30 per cent, or G,400,000 bales.
The total, then, will be 21, 900
bales as against a consumption OF
81 100000. But India, as stated, is
100000 bales short, which, taken
from the total supply, would seem
to indicate shortage in the world s
supply Of the crop of something like
100000 bales of cotton. We need
81 100000 bales of cotton; we have
only 100000 bales with which to
supply them. In the face Of these
facts cotton. has been hammered
down to s cents per pound, Q cents
below the cost of production, by a
merciless set Of vampires.
Meaning no disrespect, but in crit
icism Of the narrowness Of the At
torney Generals view and the short
sightedness OF his policy, l charge
that he, more than all other combin-
ed agencies, Is responsible for this
condition. His prosecution of the
so-called bull element OF the ex-
change has driven out competition
and made the market a one-sided af-
fair. No single operator can affect
prices on the exchange; and no sane
"bull' operator would enter combi-
nation while he or his fellows were
under prosecution by the Federal
courts charged with this very Of
will, but for the bulls to combine