THE COTTON MARKET

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 27

THE COTTON MARKET

-a» MR PATTEN'S POSITION. NEW YORK, April 19. The Attorney-general of New York State is proceeding against Messrs Snyne and W. Brown, who are members of Patten's " bull pool," in connection with their agreement to purchase 150,000 bales of cotton for delivery in March and July. The Attorney-general alleges that the operators are combining to buy all the unused cotton in the United States crops for 1909 and 1910. The proceedings have caused a sensation, the action being unprecedented. April 21. Messrs Knight, Yancey, and Co., a firm of Alabama cotton brokers, are bankrupt. Their liabilities are three million dollars, and their assets half a million, including equities. April 22. Mr Patten predicts that the cotton mills of America and Europe will close in August unless they pay his price. It is estimated by men acquainted with the " bull " market that 142,000 bales of cotton are held by the " bears " of New York, but this is inadequate to enable them to meet their liabilities. LONDON, April 22. At a conference at Manchester, the executive of the spinners and card-room hands resolved that the masters' proposals were unjustifiable, and that the acceptance of a reduction in wages could not be recommended. • The masters will give notice of a reduction in wages on May 5. Sixteen thousand operatives will be involved.

To a representative of the Daily Mail Mr Patten recently gave the story of his life and of his great " deal" in wheat last vear, and also related his views on cotton and other things. Born in 1852, five miles from Sandwich, De Kalb County, Illinois, M,r Patten, who is the son of a small farmer, is one of the wealthiest men in the city of millionaires. Before he "cornered" wheat last year he was a millionaire, and it is quite possible that cotton will make him a millionaire twice over before the year is- out. Something in the breadth of his forehead and the set of his blue-grey eyes reminds one of Cecil Rhodes—still more does his broad outlook- on life. Years of strenuous trading in " the pit" have thinned his hair and turned his moustache grey. He talks like a man desparately in earnest, tells a good story, and laughs with an unrestrained roar. His frame is large—the body of a man horn to the soil, —his manner is sympathetic, and his ruling passion is a desire to treat his fellows honestly and to be rightly understood by the world. He takes great pride in his wheat deal of last year. He disclaims the character of "the gambler, declaring that he bought wheat on knowledge that came to him from a lifelong acquaintance with the trade. He said he knew that wheat was going to be and he bought at prices that other men thought foolish He bought wheat, and saw it rise and rise, and he sold before 't reached top price, because he would not ■play Shyloek to the millers who wanted it. Here is his justification of what some men call his " gamble with the food of the people":—"I cornered wheat with less than 10,00fh00fr bushels—other men have tried it with 40,000,000 bushels, and havefailed. I succeeded because I was right. KI had not held up wheat do you know what would have happened? The country would t i,ave gone dry. They would have sold wheat to the last bushel. That's what they did in Kansas City—sold out, drained themselves, dry. They said, ; ' Give Patten all the wheat he wants,' and I took it—all they had,: They had to buy back. Yes, sir, I actually shipped wheat back, to Kansas City—like coals to Newcastle. They paid freight on it both ways." Did they thank you ? he was. asked.. "They were - not what you would call grateful. But they acknowledged the merit of my position-. They saw I hadn't been exorbitant. "Work doesn't worry mp," said Mr Patten when he was asked how he stood the strain of this big fight. "The strain comes from the criticism, not from the fight itself. Everything I did and said was grossly exaggerated. Your own British pulpits 'were about the worst. "** *• speculation that makes progress. What would life be if it was all on one level, if there was nothing ahead, nothing to look for? Variety makes life worth living.'' Do you speculate in other trades? .",* : °. not - I saw conditions favoured high prices in the provision trade. I wouldn't touch it. They would have said. Fattens putting up the price of provisions.' I didn't buy a single pool on board this ship. Had I done so. they would have said, ' Flatten can't help gambling. As soon as he sets on board he starts betting on the ship's run.' " That prices are going. to be higher all round is an article of Mr Patten's faith. The world is growing extravagant. The level of civilisation is rising. " It's the old story of supply and demand. If you ask for more than the- world can supply prices are bound to go up." FUTURE OF COTTON TRADE. Does that apply to cotton? "Cotton!" Mr Patten nearly shot out of his chair at the word. "Do you know that the demand for cotton to-day i 3 enormous, and that it is growing every day? Do you know that 350,000 bales of cotton went into motor tyres alone last year? Arid hoods for motors used up more of it. They even make blankets of cotton. I had a fine pair on my bed at a loading hotel in New York the other night, and I met the man who makes them. He is going to sand me a pair. Do you know that the Southern States use up three-fourths of all the cotton they produce? "Where is the cotton to come from? The. area in Egypt cannot be enlarged. You cannot grow cotton in sand. India is the only country where the area of cotton can bo increased, and the quality is not fine.

"Take the United States crop. LaS year it was 13,000,000 hales. This seasoi it is 9,800,000. During the coming yeai America wants 13,300,000 bales. Can it gel it? "You. have heard of the boll weevil? You are going to hear a good deal a'boufc it soon. The boll weevil (iarva of a moth which destroys the cotton plant) is extending its territory. It is now all through Texas, Louisiana, and South Mississippi, and it is going to spread all through the cotton country, but especially in the wooded country east of the Mississippi, because ;t j hibernates in rotten wooo.. They cannot I stop it, and I don't know what the end will be. "I AM IN COTTON." " I tell you theire are possibilities ahead in the cotton trade, that will astonish the spinners. America has got to raise 14,000,U00 bales this year to keep the price down ot 12£ cents per pound. If there ia more drought than.usual or excessive rains, there is going to be a strange market in cotton. " Yes, I'm in cotton, and have been for many years. But I have not come to England on account of cotton. No, 1 am here for a rest. My partner, Mr Pierce, was taking a two months' vactaion ia Europe with his wife and gave me just three days before the ship sailed to make up my mind to come too. Mr Pierce buys and sells wheat, and knows more about it than any man in the United States. All Idois to give my advioa when people ask for it. "I work hard, but i i too hard- I get to my office at 9 and leave at 4, with an hour for lunch. On Saturdays I get away at 12. I cannot afford to do clerk's work or dictate letters. A man in a big trada must leave that to others. "Have I made enough money? Did! you ever know a man who had? Making' money is just a habit. Get it and you cannot get rid of it. Look at Carnegie! Ho gave us £2,000,000 in steel stock to form a fund for pensioning professors. I am on the committee. Well. sir. whaA did but hold that stock after he gave it until half a year's dividend was due. Then he cut off the coupons and handed the stock to us. "There' is just as much chance for a' young man to make money as ever thera was —more chances, I should say. Let hin* work hard and live within his income-, and! the chance will come if he is shrewd enough. " I am not a teetotaller, though practically, one. I have had just one drink on board this ship. A man in a big trade must keep away from alcohol. He must have a normal brain. Alcohol gives you courage, and you do the wrong thing, bieoause you're net afraid of it as you ought 'NOT A GREAT SPENDER. " What do I do with my money? I don't spend much personally. A couple of motor ear® give ine fresh air. ,1 am on the board of a couple of hospitals. I am putting up a gymnasium at Chicago University. They call me the boss of Evanston, the place where Chicago sleeps. I was mayor one year because no one else would ' run ' for me. There are one or two fanatics who come to me when they want money to heln people who are in trouble, and generally get it; and I spent £I2OO last year to run down the ballot-box frauds on the , west side. " I haven't read the novel ' The Pit.' I started it, and drooned it because it was so extravagant. Yes, I go into the wheat pit sometimes, but not often, because when I do bhey say, 'Patten's ia the pit.' I would like to be there more often. I have been in it all my life, and I like the excitement."