Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-11-10
YORK, c., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1922.

ficial trading pit, the price per pound
: and month of delivery named in the
contract are Immediately marked on
the blackboard of the exchange, and
this quotation is then flashed by wire
to all parts of the cotton world as the
latest official price paid for cotton for
future delivery. Contracts thus bought
and sold are called futures"
Futures" excite in man the passion
to gamble on the outcome of the fu-
ture. The majority of traders and in
fact brokers themselves see so little OF
raw cotton that they lose apprccia-
ton OF its merits, and do not seem
to know or care whether they are
trading in cotton or chalk marks.
Their consuming purpose is to grab
profits on contracts as quickly as
possible.
The future exchange, as we see is
the gambling side of the cotton busi-
ness, and, therefore, the rotten side.
1t is more of a sham than an essential
cotton market, clearing house for
gambling in fictitious cotton. 1t has
certain beneficial features which will
be shown later.
AS an illustration Of how some busi-
ness men regard the vocation OF
broker and speculator, story comes to
my mind about a cotton broker who
went to considerable effort to compile
and print an elaborate booklet on cot
ton speculation and prices, endeavor-
ing to show his clients what he knew
thousand copies to them, and then
waited to receive their complimentary
remarks. The first reply was from
business man in Texas, who returned
the booklet with the following words
written across the title-page: why
don't you go to work?" Although the
broker would laugh when telling this
story, he confessed that the words
aroused in him deep chagrin.
Markets, like individuals, cannot
move in an orderly way without a
recognized leader, some leading market
to guide the smaller markets in quot
ing prices. The New York Cotton Ex-
change, although from 1000 to 5000
miles from the eastern and western
sections of the cotton belt, and hand
ling less than five per cent. of the
whole crop, holds the distinction of be-
ing the all-powerful leader Of cotton
prices. It's sway over the southern
spot markets is so far-reaching and
inexorable, that. cotton merchants in
those markets cannot afford to buck
this Influence and keep solvent. Conse-
Gucntly when prices at New York de-
cline, prices in the southern spot
markets invariably decline.
Accept New York Prices.
Why this power? Because the COM
rnercial world accepts the New York
Cotton Exchange as the head of opera
tions, the official trading center Of the
cotton world tho index Of supply and
demand And the powers behind the
exchange have the money and or
ganization to hold this recognition, in
spite Of the fact that it is an ignorant
dclusion.
The Liverpool Cotton Association
was the mighty leader of prices until
the outbreak of the World War This
leadership resulted from the fact that
threc-fourths of the cotton raised in
| a 70
chiefly to England and also because
London was the money and tradc-ac-
ccptance market of the world. Liver
pool wGs more or less the dictator of
prices. IL prices at Liverpool declined,
but American markets failed to follow,
London fnanCicrs, who were the source
Of most of the loans on cotton stocks,
would often get busy by calling the
loans. forcing up rates on money, and
in this way compelling American
holders to dump cotton and break the
American market, The financial
powers of England employed every
means to wrest cotton from American
growers as chcapiy as human ingcnu-
ity could get it. Southern planters re-
ccived 20 cents pound, as an aver
age, for their products for 80 years
after the organization Of this asso-
citation. Thus, kept in poverty, they
were forced to sell the greater portion
of their crop in the autumn, at or be-
low the cost of production. Naturally,
they were slaves of perennial debt.
The war changed this monopoly and
shifted the balance of power from Lon
don to New York, the present money
market of the world American con-
sumption of cotton has increased so
per cent. in five years. American mills
now consume as much of the southern
crop as foreign mills combined.
If English interests attempt con-
spiracy to force down prices, they can
no longer effectively employ the ma
chincry of Liverpool and the aid of
London bankers to do the trick, but
must secure the support Of New York
interests and manipulate the New
York Cotton Exchange by wholesale