Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-12-19
GRAIN CORNERS.


long been a hindrance 10 our prosperity"
GRAIN CORNERS.
Views of Vanderbilt. Hatch and Gould.
The Senate Committee on Grain Cor
ners resumed its session at New York on
Thursday. W. II. Vanderbilt. who had
been subpWnaed TO attend, came accom-
panied by Chauncey NJ. Depew as counsel
for the New York Central and Hudson
River Railroad. Vanderbilt took the wit
ness stand and testified of the dealings in
futures; said it had become the custom to
buy and sell without intending to deliver
it. As he did not deal in it he did not
know much Of it, and could only speak Of
the matter aS il affected the railroads.
Sometimes there would be a large call for
grain, and all our ears would be called
upon. All at once the demand will cease.
the elevators will be full and from 1000 to
2.5nO cars Will be standing loaded on the
tracks. Then the other men have to suffer.
As TO the remedy, or suggesting it. |
have talked To our people a great deal
about IL, and can't say that we ever came
L. the same conclusion twice. As to legis-
latiOn concerning corners, he did not know
Of them 10 offer any suggestions. People
give me credit for being great speculatOr
in stocks. / never bought a share to specu-
late and never sold a share of stock short.
Every time | have bought them | have
had 10 put % per cent. margin. Hum
dreds of other men buy them and do not
put any margin AT all. There are thou
sands of things in the newspapers about
me that are not true. Newspaper men are,
a. the rest of us, earning their living.
Tney are good fellows. but live by writing
sensational stories, and doing that remark
ably well. ] picked up paper this morn
ing and saw an article concerning me that
had not shadow of truth in it. 1t is
supposed Vanderbilt referred to his re-
ported purchase Of the Omaha Road. 4
think" he resumed. 1.-THE system of deal
Ing i'm futures has bad effect. No man
goes into Wall street but he comes out a
loser some time. The trouble i'm the
Northwest. the throwing of things into
chaos by il. has piled freights so that we
can hardly move. Matters have been so
pushed that we have been compelled to
buy seventy-iVe new locomotives and
borrow twelve" When he went to the
tailor shop he expected to pay for his own
clothes and some other mems too. He
spoke Of the dressed beef carrying inter
est. and said his road returned it, carrying
il by the pound. To attempt to touch
corners would be bad for both sides, and
the subject should he left to men who
knew more about it than he did.
UNCLE RUFUS TESTIMONY.
Good graciOus!" calculated Uncle Ru-
fus Hatch as Senator BOYD was about to
administer the oath to him; shave | got
TO tell the truth. the whole truth, and no.
thing but the tTuth:'
Are YOU familiar with making cor
ners.' was the question asked.
I've heard people speak of corners.
never made one that / remember. i don't
know other peoples business, and l don't
know whether Pm associated with people
who are making corners or not. \ corner Is
buying more of a certain commodity than
exists i'm order to sell to somebody else for
a profit The Hannibal and st. Joseph
corner was an illustration of how tightly
the BOYS sometimes get squeezed, Laugh
ter 1 had no interest in that corner.
The making of corners is very detrimental
20 commerce. | never knew OF but one
corner Of the kind that was a grand sue
cess. That was the Harlem. of years
ago. gotten Hp by Vanderbilt. He had
the money 10 carry Il through and 1t
was a success. There was some legisla-
ti0u of some kind. as nearly as ! can re-
member. which was adverse to the pro-
perty. and everybody Governors, Senators,
Assemblymen. clerks and all hands sold
Harlem short. Vanderbilt bought II IN.
held on 10 il. and made them all settle at
S9S5. 4 grea4 manic followed. Those
who had sold what they had rot. suffered.
That was all there was of it. don't sup
nose that the stockholders of the railroad
suffered. and those who were able held on
as long as Vanderbilt did to make
money"
The question of failures was then taken
up. says the Times. and witness
answered:
1T i a difficult question TO answer.
Now. last year | bought three times more
corn than there actually was i'll the
market. / simply bought the imagina-
ti6ns Of other people as to whether
the price vas going up or down. II
1 had held on 20 it thirty days
longer than l did ! should have uetted
S6OO.OO0 profit. That whole transaction
was about as illegitimate as a business
transaction could well be. | didn't want
the corn to use and those | bought Of don
have it TO sell. Laughter Chicago Is
the headquarters for modern spectators
though her business ia this line has
dropped OFF little I'm this direction III The
last wear and half The public found Oul
that the officers of the grain boards were
nlaYing CD them too much OF heads Win
and tails you lose in other words theey
changed the rule 10 suit their own strait
ened circumstances. The legislation out
West on this subject has had no effect. II
doesn't count as a drop in the bucket.
Chicago is the great primary receiving
port i'm the world for grain. cattle and
iumher,''
Under the subject of watering stocks,
Mr.. Hatch had sOInG Interesting words TO
say:
..When Vanderbilt declared aA eighty
five per cent. scrip dividend he went to
the Legislature and got it legalized. Ask
Chauncev Depew; he Will tell you all
about how il was done. The consequence
is tnat Vanderbilt must charge just so
much more toF freight and passenger fares
i'm order to make up. The result you see
in poorer accommodations, in the hiring
Of bows TO do mems work. in telescOped
ears. funerals and things. Yes, stock
watering is antagOnistic | suppose to IN
dustEial interests. and | am opposed 10
stOck-watering unless I'm IN II myself.
Il i occurring every day, however, the
railroad industries being the principal
sufferers from stOck-watering. Now, Mr..
Fink. who is Nanderbilt's clerk, can tell
YOU an about this subject from 10 z. l
would like myself 10 sit down and ask
him questions for three or four days and
have him answer them all honestly.
On Friday jay Gould testified. lie SAID
that he was in the railway business as 4
manager of railways, and had been such
for twenty wears. He was familiar with
operations in stocks. but not with gram,
which be used only for his own censump-
tiOn. He was familiar with making cor
ners in stocks. and also in the dealing OF
futures in stocks. "rhe roads am IN
terested in" said he, ''are those which
reach the producing districts. Our roads
run through Indiana. Ohio, Illinois, Ne
braska. Kansas, Texas and Iowa.
The effect of making corners on trans
por.atiOn is TO make an uneven
TRANSFORMATION. Corners are made every
little while, but cannot remember the
last one. The system Of making corners
does not injure transportation interests,
as it makes large markets. ON the whole,
/ think it helps. 1t gives the producers
better prices. and the men Who make the
corners lose. The consumer may pay
more. although the spectators suffer.
The corner engineered in Chicago some
two years ago is reported 10 have lost
millions. The farmers kept back their
grain. and they made money. Western
railroads were not materially affected one
way or the other. They deal without re-
gard 70 fictitious transportation.