The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-10-25

4 - C1sANA&S
E 40 ~
Ilihois has Alaw upon Its stasuies makin!
III Tina lie ofspss Tor any person or peFscn'
'"cornet> u mAFket9a Do s~estein atspies
gold, raflroad Stocks, Sc. Thisiaw hasFbeer
for some time a dead letter upon the statutes
of the State, but the evils resulting from
-tgrafr ana stock ganIottng bave,-cf late beer
so glaring and invel we'd so many in ruin, thai
Judge Jameson of Chicago thinks it Isl ahoul
time some steps should be taken to enforce
sensation when he recently quoted the stat
ute in the presence Of Grand jury and
charged them to consider any evidences they
may. receive that 1t has been violated by grain
gamblers, and to act feariessly and promptly
to vindicate the laws. In his charge, the
Judge said: "The thing which we know as
a scorner' in the market might be briefly de-
scribed as a process of driving unsophistica-
ting dealers in grain, stock and the like into
a corral a nd relieving them of their purses"
This is putting the case in a very strong light,
but the Judge will diacover it is one of those
crimes against the peace of society which is
very difficult to punish by law r'''' '#i "f
"A corner" usually consists Of several per-
sons, and their operations necessarily are con-
Quoted with the utmost secrecy. 4 If the Chr
cage Grand Jurymen propose to find out who
those persons are aud all about their plans for
manipulating the d market, we are I'M
cline" to- think, after q little experience
they will come to the conclusion that, on the
whole, life is too short for the job. Fancy q
grand juryman perambulating up and down
the business street of any city in the union
endeayoring to discover who was in This or
that corner. He would have bis labors for
his pains and return to his home no wiser
than when he left it. There is no question
that the ''corner' is obstructive to the regu-
lar operations Of commerce. and is the cause
of the ruin Of thousands of l~nsuspecting
men. But to break every corner that is
formed would require an espionage over and
a meddling with the business OF others that
in the end would work even wors effects
than the corner itself. II is true the evils of
over speculation are disastrous to society and
the country, but the remedy ,or them must
be found not In the passage OF laws against
in the exercise Ct a sounu COM
mertial opinion. The merchants themselves, |
and all those whose business is affected in |
j1riously by excessive speculation, can, with
proper effort, stop it by a vigorous expression
condemnation at their respective boards of
ira e. The banks can also do mnch toward
i~rres'ing the evil by refusing to supply the
nea : necessary to prosecute them. Until
,hese forces are put in motion against the
Evil it is useless to enact laws for its suppress
sion. If we cannot even stop gambling at
fairs it is not to be expected the aver
lge layman can put down "corners'in wheat,
1our, provisions. or stocks even though he be
armed with a law as binding as that of Iii.
Dois. The commercial world will look with
40 little interest upon Judge Jaineson's eff
TO coln e crime in the great city of Chi
,ago. Should he be successful we shall con
,lude the first day of the millennium has ar
lived.