Cotton Trading in Chicago

Chicago, long the world market for grain and livestock, has hitherto shown scant interest in cotton. This month, however, trading in cotton was for the first time in history inaugurated on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Production of cotton is more and more moving westward into the southwest; already Texas is overwhelmingly the leading cotton-producing state. Chicago brokers claim that the cotton market should accordingly move westward to Chicago. Yet the Chicago, like the New York, cotton market will presumably handle little actual cotton, and be primarily a "hedging" market in cotton contracts. Under these circumstances, nearness to the cotton fields is of minor importance.

The real .significance of the move is the struggle of the Chicago Board of Trade for existence. The wheat market is moving from Chicago into Canada, despite the unusual Chicago activity this year. The cereal and meat business is already hag-ridden by Government interference and agricultural cooperation. The waning business on the Chicago Board in cereals and provisions may thus be supplemented by the newly undertaken business in cotton.