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, 
