PRINCIPLES OF VALUE AND PRICE 481 



collected under this section except for the balance of the amount remaining 

 unpaid as provided for in this section. 



SEC. 5. That the sum of $1,000,000, or so much thereof as may be 

 necessary, is hereby appropriated and made immediately available, under 

 the direction of the said board, for the purpose of carrying into effect the 

 provisions of sections 2 and 3 of this act 



MR. SMITH, of Georgia: Mr. President, we have brought to the 

 attention of the Senate certain facts which involve especially the 

 welfare of twenty millions of people, citizens of our country, and 

 the welfare of the entire country. We have shown to the Senate that 

 the loss of our European market for cotton has left this country with 

 a crop of 15,000,000 bales, and with a market of for 5,000,000 bales 

 destroyed by the European war. We have shown that our own citi- 

 zens have in no way been responsible for this condition; that it is 

 not a normal case of overproduction and under-demand, but is a 

 normal production with the demand destroyed by a foreign war. 

 This bill varies but little from the amendment that was offered to 

 the war-tax bill. The important change is that, instead of simply 

 specifying 10 cents a pound as the price at which the government 

 was to exchange the bonds for 5,000,000 bales of cotton, it provides 

 that the exchange is to be made at the market price, not to exceed 

 10 cents a pound. In presenting it, I wish to say that, in my opinion, 

 the withdrawal of 5,000,000 bales from the market would put the price 

 on all the balance of the cotton at about 10 cents a pound. We 

 brought to the attention of the Senate the fact that a week before 

 war was declared in Europe middling lint cotton was selling for 13^ 

 cents a pound: that for the past five years it sold for an average of 

 12 f cents a pound, and for the past ten years for over 12 cents a 

 pound average. 



152. CORNERING THE MARKET 1 



In the middle of April the price of wheat rose, after some weeks 

 of spectacular advances, to war and famine figures. Millers actually 

 in the Kansas wheat belt were forced to pay $i . 50 per bushel. The 

 Liverpool market recorded the highest price in thirty years. The 

 Chicago price of $i . 29! for wheat to be delivered in May has been 

 exceeded only five times since the period of our depreciated currency. 

 The exciting cause of this rocket advance was the speculation for the 



1 Adapted from the American Review of Reviews, XXXIX, May 1909, 529-30. 



