COTTON 267 



It is seen here that the variation from lowest to 

 highest prices has remained quite the same since 

 1826, with the exception of the period of War and 

 Reconstruction. Of course this is a significant 

 fact ; for while all other great products of the land 

 have decreased in selling price, cotton remains 

 the same (within normal fluctuations) during the 

 entire period. This fact tells more forcibly than 

 all others of the kingship of this imperial crop and 

 the hold it has on all the world a kingdom that 

 includes all land and sea in its borders, that num- 

 bers all people as subjects, and is richer than any 

 rival crop. 



FLUCTUATION IN PRICES 



Normally and theoretically, the law of supply 

 and demand regulates the yearly, monthly, and 

 daily price of cotton. With the advent of the Cot- 

 ton Exchange this has to a certain extent been 

 modified: its machinery has given us a more deli- 

 cate movement in price fluctuations. It is the 

 constant anticipation almost every minute of the 

 play of this law on the Exchange that keeps the 

 "ticker" busy in suggesting movements and es- 

 tablishing prices for the staple. At times some 

 force, with little or with much power, may work 

 counter to this law with such intensity and 

 strength as to force the price up or down, but 

 only for the time being, the pendulum of prices 

 shoving back, showing by its act its determination 

 that the law shall not long remain disturbed. It 

 is this feature of the cotton market that works 

 to the disadvantage of both farmer and spinner, 

 creating unstable situations, depressing prices for 

 the farmer, advancing them for the manufacturer, 



