Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-27

Legislation vs.. Speculation.
The New York Legislature is busy
endeavoring to suppress by legislation
speculative corners" in the necessaries
Of life, but so far have not made much
Roadway towards a satisfactory solution
of the problem. 1t is generally conceded
that CORNERS" work an injury to public
interests if not to public morals. Never
theless ''corners" are based on purchases
for which the purchaser is supposed to
be responsible, and no law a be passed.
or if passed easily be enforced, to pre-
vent a man investing his own money, or
mO1ey which he can control, as he sees
fit. Therein lies the great difficulty Ia
l~egislating against this species of specu-
l3tion.
The only point on which legislation
can possibly reach corners is by at
lacking speculation in futures" This
kind of speculation is clearly illegal.
Sellers dispose of what they have not,
and buyers purchase what they never
expect to have delivered. This is a mere
speculation upon chances, and is a con-
tract for which no valid consideration is
either given or received, and is, there
fore, contrary to public policy and is
void. In this State, it is expressly pro-
hibited by the Code of Georgia, which
declares in section 263S that "ExecutOry
contracts for the sale of goods to be de-
livered at a future day when both par
ties are aware that the seller expects to
purchase, himself, to fulfill his contract,
and no skill or labor or expense enters
into the consideration, but the same is a
pure speculation upon chances, is con-
trary to the policy Of the law, and can
be enforced by neither party"
This is the law of Georgia against
specializing in futures" Its provisions
are plain, and it has been already en-
forced in the courts. Still it is almost a
dead letter. Even If the seller is unable
to control the article he sells-and there
fore virtually own it-not one buyer in
a hundred would ever be willing to bring
the subject before the courts for various
reasons. Future contracts are regarded
by the business world as legIti-
mate operations, and the husi-
-o- -,- -uh1 -1vI1 GoSI - rnant
any obligations which would be
created thereby, or would endeavor to
avoid losses by pleading the illegality of
the contract, would lose both his stand
ing and his credit. BE deliberately enters
into a contract, fully aware Of its ille-
gality, and the business world regards
1t as dishonest for him, when the
market goes against him and he meets
with losses rather than gains, to en-
deavor to take advantage of his own
wrong doing.
For this resson the law of Georgia
against speculation in futures" is prac-
tically a dead letter, and will always so
remain, and the same result has also been
experienced in other States. Illinois has
a similar law, providing that whoever
contracts to have or give to himself or
another the option to sell or buy at q
future time any grain or other COM
modify, stock Of any railroad or other
company, or gold, or fOrestalls the mar
ket by spreading false rumors to infu
ence the price therein, or corners the
market, or attempts to do so, in relation
to any such commodities, shall be fined
not less than ten dollars or more than one
thousand dollars, or confined in the
county jail not exceeding one year, or
both; and all contracts made in violation
of this section shall be considered
gambling contracts, and shall be void. ,
Yet, despite this plain and strin-
gent provision of the law of Hi
nOis against the practice, nowhere in
the country is gain gambling more free.
ly INDUCED in, every day, than in Chica
90. And we read that the reason why
it is imperative is because ''the person
who actually sells the grain at a certain
price for future delivery, though he have
it not, and though he be fully aware that
he has no intention to deliver it, has a
trade which is recognized by the board
as legitimate, and both buyer and seller
are bound by the terms agreed upon.
| Speculation is thus unconfned, and cor.
ners' are not easily proved on the one
hand, nor on the other are they regarded
as being a special hardship upon specu-
latOrs who took the short side because
they thought that the sellers would prove
to be more numerous and powerful than
the buyers"
There is no doubt that ~"cornering'
grain and other n~ecessaries of life is,
literally speaking, wrong, because when
prices are thus artiicially enhanced, the
consumer, who is forced to purchase to
meet the legitimate demands of his bust
ness, must be more Oh less a sufferer.
Yet it is consoling to reflect that if the
practice cannot be stopped by legislation.
the suffering is of short duration if it i;
produced solely from artificial causes, for
the law of supply and demand must
regulate the matter at last. If the sup
ply is abundant the corner must, sooner
or later, be broken and prices must fall,
to the severe loss Of the cornerer, as Is
being demonstrated every week, while
if the supply is short, prices naturally
advance and the %speculator realizes his
profit. If the practice can be stopped
well and good. IF not, the consumer can
look at the situation and govern himself
in his purchases so as t suffer as little as
possible from speculative msnipulations.
The Philadelphia Bulletin, abiding to
the recent theft of the Bible of the Sen
ate Chamber on which Senators have
taken the oath for over ifty-niue wears.