Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-06-10
MEN And THEIR "COR
NExS''

To any country, especially commercial
one, monopoly is an unmitigated curse. All
our system of protection" is not protection
at all, it is simply system for the support
Of monopoly. 1t says to men engaged in
certain businesses-you shall be relieved
from great part OF the competition that re-
duces your profits. Such monopoly is not
a natural product arising from the laws OF
trade, it is an artificial thing constituted by
legal enactment in violation of the laws of
trade. Monopoly thus being constituted and
sustained by law, our people from the force
of habit seek to extend monopolies. What
are called CORNERS" are simply monopolies.
Certain parties get certain commodity into
their hands and so exclude competitors, then
they sell at their own price. The results of
this species OF gambling are, like those of
all monopolizing operations, calamitous.
We see strong instance of this in the mo-
nopolizing of wheat by the "corners" of
Chicago aud Milwaukee. The English
were beginning to buy wheat of us
largely. As their consumption is large
such a customer was worth treat
ing so that his transactions in our mar
ket could be made continuous from year TO
year. Did we try to retain him and to win
his feelings in favor of buying his wheat
of us rather than of others? Quite the con-
trary-- We treated him "a If he were
enemy whom we were DESTROYS of preventing
from taking the wheat We grow over to his
own country. We got up 'corners" against
him. If any lady finds that the dry goods
store where she makes her purchases is using
every resort of their skill, and every trick of
their ingenuity, to raise prices up against
them, will they continue to frequent that
store? So the English, seeing the schemes
by which they were to be made TO pay more
for their wheat than the open market price,
set about finding another place to take their
custom to. The East Indies can produces
vast amounts of wheat, and as the natives live
largely upon ice and vegetables, they can ex-
port by far the principal portion OF what they
grow. The quality has not been what the
English like, but, goaded by the corner"
trick, they are sending improved seed and
introducing the best modes of cultivation.
India, in consequence, is sending more wheat
to England than Russia, or than our own
Pacific States, and nearly two-thirds as much
as our Atlantic States. 1t has become our
most formidable competitor, and can increase
its production indefinitely. 1t ia our monop-
olists and our corners" that have cast this
piece of good fortune into the hands OF the
East Indians. What adds to the Notifying
character Of our senseless proceeding Is that
the cornerers Rugged themselves with the
idea that they were particularly SMART"
that they were cunningly and victoriously
bleeding John Bull. The English saw into
the scheme, of course, and have prIcked the
gas-bag of the smart" cornerers by destroy
ing their monopoly and raising up ire
mendous rival to our wheat trade. So other
monopolies, and the sales of futures" which
is another form of monopoly, and 50 "protec-
ton" will serve US in the end; it is only a
| question of time.