Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-10-14
THE CRIME OF "CORNERING.' -
iambing in Grain Judicfally Denounced
IN ChicaSo-A Comprenonsive Charge to
the Grand Jury.

the Grand Jury.
A special dispatch from Chicago says !:
The nefarious business of grain gambling
is threatened with annihilation here in its
own particular abode. The statutes of the
state provide severe penalties for the crime
Of "cornering and forcstalling the grain
market, but hitherto the law has been per
mitted to lie as dead letter. The disas-
trous effects of the recent corner, however,
have aroused the courts, and Wednesday the
matter was presented to the grand jury of
tho criminal court by Judge Jameson in
the following ringing charge:
GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY Be
sides the statutes against gambling, selling
liquor to minors, and acts of violence to
person or property, which form the sub.
ject of your ordinary deliberations, l wish
to call your attention to one which l will
now read "Whoever contracts to have
or give to himself the option to sell or
buy at future any grain OR other COM
modify, stock Of any railroad or other
corporation, or gold, Or forcstalls the mar
ket by spreading false rumors to influence
the price Of commodities therein, or cor
Gers the market, or tries to do so III rela-
tion to any of such commodities, shall be
fined not less than $40 nor moro than
1000, or confined in the county jail not
exceeding one year, or both" Gre
vised Statutes Illinois, chapter 50, Sec
tion 1907 BY this section arc de-
nounced three separate misdemeanOrs-the
sale of options, forestalling the market,
and cornering the market. All these have
either in name or spirit been always in
terdicted by the common law, and that OF
forestalling was, at a very early day, made
punishable in England by statute. Over
century ago movement arose in Eng
the freedom of trade, and these statutes
common law has remained both there and
in this country unchanged, though fallen
into disusc. The exiScncies Of the times
induced our Legislature few years since
to re-cnact tho statute against forestalling
and to add to it those touching "options"
and Corners" which 1 have read-of-
fences to which the criminal ingenuity of
our ancestors seems not to have been
equal. The first offence is the illegal sale
Of options for future delivery of grain and
other commodities. The fact that
property is sold to be deliv-
cred at future day does not
make the contract illegal, although
it is not at tho time possessed or
owned by the seller, or that the time of it's
delivery is left within fixed limits, optional
with the buyer or seller, though in one
sense any such sale is 4 sale Of an option
apparently within tho statute. What
makes it gambling contract is the intent
of the parties that there shall not bo y de-
livery of the commodity sold, but pay
mcnt OF differences by the party losing
upon the rise Or fall OF the market. OF
this intent the jury are to be the judges,
and it may be inferred directly from the
terms of the contract Or indirectly from
the course of dealing of the parties.
pickering against Cease, 70 Ill.,, 1923 :;
Walcott against Heath, 79 Ill 433
Pixlcy against Boynton. 20, ILL.,, 351). BY
this legislation the General Assembly
had no purpose to interdict bona fide
sales of commodities, but only such
as are colorado or fraudulent, con-
trived by both parties rs cover
merely for gambling transactions. The
offence o! forestalling originally consisted
in the buying Or contracting for merchan.
disc CT victuals coming to market, or dis
suading persons from bringing their goods
or provisions there, or inducing Them to
raise their prices. C Wharton, Grim.
Law. 1S49.) Our statute has narrowed
the offence, SO that it covers only forestall
ing the market by spreading false rumors
to influence the price of commodities
therein. The obvious purpose of the
Legislature in making this provision was
to protect the people, the consumers as
we'll as innocent traders, from the damage
resulting from unnatural and fictitious
fluctuations Of prices, brought about by
the false suggestions of interested persons.
The offence of concerning the market is
not, so far as am aware, mentioned in
the books, but it is ono Of numerous
family Of frauds, of which the various
members in their fight with society assume
an infilitude of shapes and cOlors.
To detect and punish these, notwith-
standing the novelty and apparent inno-
cencc of their disguises, is the first busi.
ness of courts ofjusticc. The thing which
we know as 4 "corner" in tho market
might be briefly described as process of
driving unsuspcctiDg dealers in grain,
stock and the like, into a corral and re-
licving them Of their purses. The essence
of the oftcnsc consists in the party securing
COZ tract for the future delivery of some
commodity at his option, and then by ell
crossing the stock of such commodity in
the market, making it impossible for the
other party to complete his contract by
purchasing Of his adversary at his own
price, or paying in cash tho difference
fixed by such adversary. AS was said of
another great wrong, if this is not
wrong then nothing is wrong. Pub
lie rumor on the STREET and in the
press justifics me in saying that these
oflenses are rife among us, aud in asking
you, if evidence to that effect shOlld reach
you, to make them the subject OF inquiry,
your duty and mine is plain. However
powerful the combination to defy the laws
and however difficult to detect and punish
the crimes, we rank ourselves with the |
criminal if We fail to bring the terror Of
the law to bear upon him. For one, re-
fuse not to hear what fills the ears of all to |
the discrcdit of the business men and |
methods of this city. The crimes indicated |
arc being committed. 1t imports much |
that the validity Of our statute and its |
sufiiciency to reach the guilty par
ties should be early tested. If
the spread of gambling has in
fected our business men tho con-
sequences cannot be disastrous. The course |
of business, instead of proceeding quietly |
and healthiiy, will become broken by fits |
of fever and panic unlawful gains will
&c preferred to the slow profits of legiti-
mate trade our farmers, partaking Of the
prevalent spirit, will hold back their crops
in expectation of corner processes, bor-
rowing money Oa mortgages to carry on
their operations, instead of realizing by \
the sales of farm products. 1t is said that
these phenomena are already apparent,
and they are charged to be the effects of