^^^piiiiiiiishcd demand for j^arns and goods." The Hhortness of the crop of 1803, wheu 



HB) con.sumptiou of American (otton began to overtake the supply, resulted in an 



I advance of prices in spite of the financial panic of the year and labor troubles in 



\ the New England mill district. To the enormous crop of 1894, again surfeiting the 



market with the raw material, are attributed the low prices in the financial year 



1894-95. One of the results of the business depression among the New England 



i manufacturers in 1893 and 1894 was such a reduction in the consumption of cotton 



j in New England that we sent, say Messrs. Ellison & Co. (1894), at least 300,000 to 



400,000 bah's more to Liverpool than would otherwise have been received, and 



j thereby kept that market constantly overstocked, so much so that it was a common 



! Baling that Liverpool had obtained her share out of an 8,000,000-bale crop. 



The United States Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, in their report 

 on the '^Condition of cotton growers in the United States, the present prices of cot- 

 ton, and the remedy," published a few months ago, say in regard to the causes of the 

 low prices : "It is admitted that the obvious, apparent, and proximate cau«e is over- 

 production. Since, in the main, with deviations produced by abnormal conditions, 

 price is regulated by supply and demand — a full supply with relatively diminished 

 (Uiiiand bringing low prices, and a great and active demand with relatively diminished 

 supply bringing higher prices — where there is an annual increasing supply there 

 ; ought also to be, to maintain prices, an annual increasing demand." The object 

 of the Senate committee's investigatir ns was to discover how far prices had been 

 affected by the speculation in " futures," or by one of the ''deviations produced by 

 •buormal conditions." 



The following table exhibits the comparative prices in the decades 1841 to 1850 

 ftnd 1886 to 1895, the two periods when prices reached the lowest level in the markets 

 of the United States and Liverpool: 



Table XII. — Showing comparative stocks of cotton in Europe — lowest and highest prices 

 in the United States and Liverpool for two decades. 



1886-1805. 



1886. 

 1887. 

 1888. 

 188a. 

 1890. 

 1891. 

 1892. 

 1893. 

 1894. 

 1895' 



575, 

 505, 

 046, 

 938, 

 311, 

 652, 

 035, 

 700, 

 549, 

 476, 



942, 



935, 



868, 



1, 291, 



1, 384, 



1, 947, 



2, 253, 



1, 963, 

 1,832, 



2, 484, 



9^ 'SilO 



9i -©11 



9H'a)12i 



lOi @12| 



7|8®10| 



7t^'g)10 

 6| ® 8^ 

 5A® 7i 



8f\,® 9| 

 8i 'a)10| 



81 mok 



9i ®11 



9/B®n 



7H®10 



6H® m 



6| ® 8,=\, 

 4J -S* 7 



8k '& ^ 

 8| ®10i 

 8| ®10 

 9A®11 

 9r\®lli§ 

 7i ®10i 

 6| ® 8^ 

 "' -a* 10 



4H®5ft 

 5i^®6 

 5^ 0)6 

 5§ ®6} 



4i«.®5i 



.®4H 



' The figures for 1895 are to July 1. 



