COTTON. 107 



press, you will find in the current number a table of abbreviations 

 and figures, which is a copy of the diagram I placed before you. It 

 reads thus : 



Sept 4'32 S. Dec.-Jan., . . 4'2H B. 



Sept.-Oct., . . 4-27 S. Jan.-Feb., . . 4'22 B. 



Oct. -Nov., . . 4-24 B. Feb.-Mar., . . 4'22 B. 



Nov.-Dec., . . ' 4'22 V. Mar. -Apr., etc., . 4 '23. S. 



Alongside these abbreviated months, which are called 'positions,' 

 are figures. The first signifies pence, and the following figures so 

 many sixty-fourth parts of a penny per pound. Thus 4 '27 means 

 4'27/64d. A letter ' B ' alongside this means buyers, and a letter ' S ' 

 sellers at the price. The letter ' V ' means value of the business done 

 and doing. What does this mean exactly? First of all, let it be 

 understood that the standard previously referred to is the ' middling ' 

 grade of American cotton, the standard of the trade. Any cotton 

 expert knows what * middling ' American is, just as well as any ordinary 

 man knows what a shilling-piece is. Cotton is classed into various 

 grades, fixed authoritatively by experts, and for which type standards 

 exist. The ruling standard is always * middling.' There are higher 

 grades, there are lower grades, but the standard is fixed. 



"Therefore, if a merchant sells a contract for future delivery, say 

 in September or October, for 'middling' cotton at a given price, both 

 seller and buyer know perfectly well what they are dealing with. 

 Nothing else is intended, and nothing else can be substituted, except 

 under certain conditions, and, anyhow, the basis is unaltered. It is 

 a safe contract for both. Such contracts, however, are subject to a 

 clause which guarantees that the seller shall not tender any cotton 

 below the next grade lower than 'middling' he may tender as much 

 higher as he pleases. My hearers may reasonably observe, 'Yes, but 

 if he tenders below the standard grade at his option, how is it fair to 

 the buyer?' The answer is, that the buyer in this case has full 

 resource to an arbitration on the samples of the tender, and just as 

 much as the tender is below the standard so is he awarded by experts 

 (subject to a right of appeal to a fixed committee) exactly such monetary 

 compensation as the tender is below the strict contract. But observe 

 it must be within the limit of 'low middling'; anything lower than 

 this is rejected, and a new tender demanded or a penalty exacted. On 

 the other hand, if the season be one in which high grades are com- 

 paratively very plentiful, the seller may tender higher than the standard, 

 and subject to arbitration and appeal as before. Just so much as the 

 tender is better than the standard, at the ruling prices of the day of 



