A Corner in Cotton

Summary

In an incisive critique of gilded-age ennui and burgeoning social consciousness, 'A Corner in Cotton' charts the transformative odyssey of Peggy Ainslee, a Wall Street scion adrift in the superficial currents of high society. Disenchanted by her privileged yet vacuous existence, Peggy embarks on a mission of urban philanthropy, guided by the earnest settlement worker Charles Hathaway. This nascent idealism clashes sharply with her impending, purely social engagement to the feckless Algie Sherwood, a union jeopardized by the machinations of the envious Isabelle Rawlston and Peggy's burgeoning commitment to altruism. A birthday gift of Consolidated Cotton stock, initially intended for her charitable endeavors, becomes an unlikely weapon when her financier father, in a ruthless display of market power, attempts to corner the cotton market, aiming to crush defiant Southern growers like Colonel Robert Carter. Peggy, witnessing the raw injustice and potential devastation to the mill hands, assumes a clandestine identity within the Southern mills—a harrowing experience that brings her face-to-face with both exploitation and the gallantry of John Carter, the Colonel's son. Informed of her father's predatory manipulations, Peggy orchestrates a audacious counter-strike on the stock exchange, leveraging her modest holdings to dismantle his corner, thereby rescuing the Southern economy and exposing the moral bankruptcy of unchecked capitalism. Her triumph not only forces a profound reckoning for her father but also forges an unexpected bond with the Carters, culminating in a powerful synthesis of Northern capital and Southern agrarianism, and a blossoming romance rooted in shared principle.

Synopsis

Peggy Ainslee, the daughter of a wealthy broker, tires of the empty life of society, and determines on a mission of charity and uplift in the poor quarters of New York City. She confers with Charles Hathaway, a settlement worker, who conducts her on several tours among the needy. Peggy is engaged to marry Algie Sherwood, a social idler, and it is arranged to announce their engagement at a birthday party given in her honor. Isabelle Rawlston is also in love with Sherwood, and determines to break up his match with Peggy. On the night of the birthday party Isabelle intimates to Sherwood that Peggy's interest in Hathaway is one other than charity. He becomes jealous and tells Peggy she must give up her settlement work. She refuses and returns the engagement ring. Peggy receives from her father, for her birthday gift, stock in Consolidated Cotton, valued at $50,000. This she puts away, intending to use it in her charities. The next day her father tells her that he has just learned of the deplorable financial conditions among the owners of the cotton mills in the south, and that he has written to Colonel Robert Carter, one of the big cotton growers, and offered to aid him. Colonel Carter, who is proud and haughty, becomes indignant when he receives the letter from the Wall Street broker, and turns down his proffer of assistance. This puzzles Peggy, and she decides to go south and investigate conditions at first hand. Arriving in the south she obtains a position as a mill hand. Her beauty attracts the attention of the foreman in the Carter mill, and he tells Peggy she must remain after work, as he wishes to see her. He attempts to force his attentions upon her, and a struggle ensues. John Carter, son of the owner, enters at the critical moment and rescues Peggy. The foreman is discharged and the gallantry of young Carter makes an appeal to Peggy. The boll weevil is discovered in the cotton, and this, together with a shortage in the crop, threatens ruin for Colonel Carter. For the second time be refuses financial aid from Peggy's father, and the broker decides to crush him by cornering the cotton market. Peggy learns of her father's manipulations and hurries to New York. With her $50,000 worth of stock for a nucleus she begins a fight on the exchange, in which she is triumphant over her father. He is dumbfounded when he learns the identity of his antagonist. Peggy explains the hardships he would have worked among the mill hands had he been successful. She induces him to take a trip south with her, when they meet the Carters. The two men profit through the meeting, and come to a complete understanding on economic questions and conditions. Young Carter learns that Peggy was the one that "broke"' the corner and saved his family from ruin. The two decide to exchange cotton bolls for orange blossoms.