TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12129, 27 February 1905, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

• An interesting'account of Cotton iqanipulations in tho cotGambling, ton market in America by a "cotton king" named W. P. Brown Js given in. tho " Daily Express." Beside this gentleman, Daniel Sully, who was the " star speculator" last year, and who once started buying up cotton merely to amuse Borne ladies whom he was showing round the exchange, is declared to be a child. Some years ago Brown made £1,000,000 by a " corner," and last year his profits amounted to nearly as much, while he is credited with buying 88,900 bales in one day, to save one of his speculations, for which he paid £1,350,700 in cash. The "Express" points out that this year's crop was estimated at 12,000,000 bales, and that if 2,000,000 of these could be held or destroyed, tho remaining 10,000,000 would be worth no- less than £120,000,000. . By the middle of January, according to tho "Express," Brown had formed a company with a capital of £20,000,000 to hold the surplus of the crop, with the hope of making the huge pi .St of £30,000,000. Brown's first move was to alarm the growers, so when the sise of the crop was known, and prices went quickly down, the growers were told that prices would fall so low that even the cost of production would not bo realised. Panic meetings were held, and it was suggested to the growers that the surplus crop should be burnt. This advice was actually followed, and J large quantities of the cotton wero burnt, but the indignation which this action aroused led the gamblers to change their tactics, and they joined in the chorus of condemnation. Soon after this Brown took matters into his own hands. He issued a long statement to the farmers, merchants, and bankers of the Southern States, lamenting the fall in the price pf cotton, and suggesting the formation of a gigantic cotton growing trust, which would prevent any attempt to sell . cotton naturally. Every man who raised a bale of cotton waa to join, and each member of the trust was to pledge himself not to sell another bale of this year's crops until much higher prices were reached. At tho same time all growers were to sign an agreement to promise to reduqer their acreage next year by 20 per cent.; and a penalty of £l.per bale was to be imposed.on all who broke their agreements. The "Express" remarks that if such a plan were carried out it would result in unprecedented distress among

the Lanca-hir*' and American cotton workers, "but this Is a detail whyeh. does not count for anything with spectilativ* gamblers." It is to •Void the distres- which an operation of this kind may lead to that the British Cotton Growers' Associationhas been formed to establish cotton growing in various parts of the Empire. The extraordinary phyThe steal powers of certain ' Mountaineer animals and inflects in . Mouse. proportion' to their - si_e, haa been a subject often dwelt on by science. The j Hon. Gilbert Coleridge, discussing in j the "Fortnightly" the red-less j bravery and adventurousness, of the! mouse, appropriately dedicates his study to the Alpine Club. Even a I mouselet, for * the adventurer under obserration in this case was very small and of tender years, is per- i forming feats that might make a mountaineer green with envy. He attempt- J od a green shiny wainscot, to mount which was "like scaling an icefall in : slippers, without an ice axe." A bookcase he thought nothing of; and "he carried into his operations a spirit of recklessness which would-shock even a , hardened rock climber, for when tired of ascending the frowning battlements of books, he simply let go and flopped upon the floor." This little creature's antics were in no way constrained or under the influence of fear. In' the true spirit of the climber, ho courted difficulty and danger for the sheer pleasure of the thing. A mouse has some natural advantages over a man. "His feet, as well as his hands, aro prehensile, and he has a tail. By pressing the latter against a perpendicular surface Tie assists his toe-cling by forming a sort of tripod for a support." Yet mountaineering man again balances thiß by calling in the aid of an alpenstock, as wc(l as by roping together in a style -unknown as yet to i the indomitable mouse. A more important difference was shown when, after a wonderful exhibition of agility in climbing an oak door, this mouselet grew tired and fell from a height that on the human scale would not have been less than 200 feet from tho ground. "I hastened across the expecting to see him a lifeless lump, j but, to my astonishment, he arose and scuttled off as. fast as his legs could carry him to the sombre recess under a j wardrobe. Then I began to realiso what a benefit it would bo to alpine climbers to be light, to have elastic bones, and to be protected by a hide of thick fur." His adventurousness brought the cat upon him, however, j and he went tho way of all mice. Still, the essayist meditates that' the old simile for courageousness, "as bold asj a lion," is in reality a mere copy-book j phrase. "Hunters assure us that he is not so bold as he looks, and that a j tiger, or even a wild pig, can give him points in personal bravery. I am con-! fidont that the true form of the phrase should be 'as bold as a mouse,' ani| that when peoplo say that a man 'ha* not the courage of a mouse 1 , they aro not injuring the man's reputation for at least normal bravery." E*an Roberts, the Welsh reItalian vivalist, is excused by the Sports. "Spectator!! for , forbidding his converts to follow the multitude to play, football, on the ground that the rough play, the money element, and other undesirable things connected with the game in some counties, might fairly class it amongst matters dangerous to the godly. Direct church patronage has never been, able quite to eliminate air undesirable element* from sport. So Mr W. Heywobd, giving in his "Palio and Ponte'' an account of the sports of Central Italy, j held always on Saint Days, and in the nature of religious commemorations, has to chronicle, one after the other, games ] that the difficulties of th? hot Italian, temperament brought Co a standstill. The last time that the "Elmofa" was played in old Siena was on All Saint*' Day, 1291—when the match went off with such fury and violence that "thero were slain ten gentlemen, besides many of the baser sort," and, still worse slaughter might have followed, had not "Messer Pino, the Potesta, forced bis way into the melee with his folic," and compelled the players to lay; down iheir 'too convenient arms of staves arid stones. After this the Elmora was forbidden, ■. and the milder feame of the Pugna, with fists only, had' to satisfy Siena's holiday humour. Its gentleness, and cheerfulness were such that we hear ' only of "bruised sides, cut for-heads, dislocated and - 'broken bones, hands, i arms, ribs, and x jaws," yet here* too, j ! occasional battles were fought which the Potesta and the Signori found it hard to! stop," and one day the fight raged till the Bishop with all the priests and friars, bearing Jhe cross before them, came into tho oampo and made their way into the midst between the com T batants." The Battaglia de Saasi, of j Perugia, '"the fiercest game in Italy,* \ 'played by stone-throwers v against men with staves and shields, was another i sport not calculated to awaken] saintly feelings**;. This was abolished by the influence of Fra Bernardino of Siena, early in the .fifteenth century. But Pisa's noble "Ponto," a mimio battle on the central bridge between the dwellers on the northern and southern banks oi the Airno, was a finely ordered affair, fought with dignity and splendour, and with- less than usual pf that confusion wrought by holding as a first principle of sport that the end justifies the mean*. | But even now such a contest as tho horse-race for the Palio" at Siena is more fight and struggle than race. ! "They do not take defeat easily. , The jockeys strike out furiously at their competitors, and it occurs to a spectator who has time to think, that the sufferings of the horses must be considerable, though each poor beast has. been blessed at a solemn service before the game begins, and commended to the intercession of the patron saint to be preserved from bodily harm.''