The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-12-21
GOULD on @coRNERs. -
Jay Gould Tells the Public Under -oa.i,
what He Knows About CORNERS
= and the Like

Jay Gould Tells the Public Under Oath
what He Knows About "Cornerss'
= and the Like
NEW YORK, Dec. 15-Jay Could az
peared before the commission on grain
corners this morning He said he was
in the railroad. business as manager of
railways and had .been such for twenty
years. he vas familiar with the; OPP
erations in stocks, but not with grain,
which. he used only for his own con
sumption; !. he was. familiar with making
corners in stocks and also in
dealing in futures in stocks.'sS 'sThe
roads am interested In,'' he said, 'are
those whichtFeach, producing districts
Our roads run through Indiana, Ohio.
Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and
Iowa The. effect OF making corners is
TO make an uneven transportation; cor
| ners are made every little while, .but |
cannot remember the last one. The
system of making corners does not in
| jure transportation nor interests as
| il makes large markets. On the whole,
think it helps. II gives producers bet
ter prices than they who make corners.
The consumer may make more al
| though spectators. suffer. The corner
engineered in Chicago some two years
/ ago is reputed to have lost millions.
The farmers kept back their grain and
they made the money; western railways
| were not much affected one way or the
other. They dealt without regard 10
fictitious transactions. l recollect a re-
cent cornering transaction in the stocks
of the Hannibal q st. Joe. 1t resulted
dissstrousiy TO the, man who made it,
for when he got through with his cor
ner he found he had lost his fortune. l
was interested in the Chicago & North
western corner. 1t was selling at 75 or
80 cents. I thought It cheap at that
price and my brokers had orders to buy
all that was sold, and when it got scarce
the price ran up. 1t resulted in carry
ing the price up high 20 $3.50, and then
it fell back again to so cents, think
was induced to part with some at $3.50
IL do not think this corner had the
slightest effect upon the community in
} general, although it may have hurt the
J private fortunes of individuals. The
road was not affected in the least;
can't recall any other corner. The Har,
lem corner was before my time. The
effect of dealing in the futures of stock
i upon the general welfare is insignifi
cant, owing to the fact that feH
) options are dealt in. / think specula
ton tends to do good, as it bring.
money to this country. The freer YOU
markets are, the mora freedom you give
} to capital. / would be very careful
E what. restrictiOa put either on stock
or grains for the reasons mentioned
The men who speculate are not thos
: who pillow the sOil or produce the grain
7 The men who speculate Go so for tn
t reason that it is their legitimate bust
ness. If legislation were TO say the deal
ing in futures were gambling, it wouit
. be gambling, but until such time as leg
a islation says it's gambling I shall no
: believe it so to be. Supply and deman,
I should govern these speculations.
think large expectations of grain tend
to increase immigration and incrcaz
= production. 1 do notithink any trans
t. action which draws capital from ever.
Z center in Europe can be said 10 be lille
gal. don't know whether
I would designate a system of buckle
; shops public evil. People will spccu
$ late. All classes OF people want TO dea
q in chances. l don't think there is til
amount of gambling done in this cit
= which formerly existed. | am sur
a speculation in grain, benefits HON
/ producers. 1t creates markets all owe
the world. Last year We had
short corp of both wheat an
corn. We should export owe
100, 100000 bushels of wheat. Tn
: system of transportation increases i'll
, migration in this way-new railroad
are built IN these growing cereal dis
= tricts and railroad managers invite il
e migration. ] have spent large sums {
is money the past ten years in promotin
: immigration. The railroads have bee
a motor in promoting 1t and the way
, do it is to meet parties at the
IS own homes and there explai
IS to them what they can do and point OF
h to them the many benefits derived b
coming to this country. We have
general agent for all the roads. He en-
s. ploys subordInates Our terms 10 EN-
is grants for farms and lands are usual
&c ten per cent. and the balance TO be PAL
in term of years. ] have frequentl
- supported families who suffered froI
l. bad crops until new crops came in.
n charge them from So TO SO an acre; the
" purchase from so to 100 acres an
:, perhaps less; we prefer 10 hay
many families 10 these fe
who purchase large tracts of land.
go west twice a year and see the town
n which have sprung up in the interior
a Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Norway an
"a Denmark send most OF the emigrant
- About thirty million acres of our Ian
remains uns0ld.