Wichita eagle., 1890-03-01
a COMMON SENSE VIEW
Of the Situation and Some Practical Sug-
gestions From Practical Man.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Feb. &c, Is

Slgneu u. Ia1upOeIl, Which, nave Teau
with much interest, and thoroughly
agree with the writer that the "black
pall'' Of poverty hanging over those who
farm the American soil is not due to over
production. And neither do think it is
due altogether to lack of what Is called
money in this country. There is proba-
bly, enough money in this country at the
present time to serve the purpose and
settle differences at the banks in almost
any trading community; that Is, the
| whole sum of money does not have to
pass from hand to hand. And | would
not be among the first to throw stones at
the bank system of this country, which
believe to be one Of the best ever de-
yised by human ingenuity. The gov
eminent might make it more TO the IN
terest Of these banks to issue their
own notes. which at the present time is
| not profitable TO them, and they there
fore do not issue more than the smallest
amount they are obliged TO have printed.
OF course the more money the banks
have in their vaults, lower rates Of inter-
| est ensues, and, as during the past twelve
months, with the exception Of month
or two in the fall when the cotton crop
was being moved, banks have had an
abundance of money for the past twelve
or fourteen months. At the same time
values Of farm produce have been de-
Ginning nearly all the time, and III fact
for the past four years.
No la hoy MI &c
on one side, and abundance Of farm ma
terial on the other side, and it is pretty
closely used up year by year, with the
exception OF the corn crop, which OF
course every thrifty farmer always keeps
more or less of in his bins fearing fail
ure in his locality the coming season.
The matter has been discussed very
considerably, and to any one who has
watched the markets closely for the past
four wears and who has attempted to
calculate the enormous volume of grain
and hog product that is daily sold on the
leading markets of the country by those
who do not own the same would proba-
bly, soon come TO the conclusion that
that method OF fixing values of farm
produce had something to do with the
depression in values.
TO start off with, one or fifty men sell
ing wheat that they do not own is pretty
clear evidence that they hope to depress
the market ana buy back their contracts
at profit. This has gradually been
seen to be the safest side, and nearly all
dealers in grain have followed it so sue
cessfully that they have made the farm
erS of this country sell their wheat dur
ing the past four years for some 70 per
cent less money than larger crops sold
for III the four years previous to that
time. But any one could almost figure
whether the selling each year of more
wheat than can be raised in twenty
wears in the country aids to advance the
the value of 500. 900. 600 bushels that are
produced. The facts of the matter are,
today no one can go in and buy any
farm produce with the hope of an adj
vance: the ''bear" interest stands ready
to snow him under with his volumes of
sales of wind wheat, and consequently
today there is dead lock and but little
trading in farm produce on any OF the
merchants exchanges of the country,
and especially no speculation. (By
speculation L mean buying produce for
an advance.) This has proved so disas-
trous that the set of buyers generally
termed "bulls' will not enter the arena
but leave the situation to the ''short
Sellers"
There is at present bill introduced in
congress termed the ''Butterworth bill, )"
which seeks to muzzle the short sellers
by insisting upon an ownership test be-
ing put upon every one who desires
to sell the produce of American
farm labor. II he owns what
he offers to sell or is the authorized agent
of the owner he is free to sell or do with
such property as he chooses, without let
or hindrance. Ii, on the other hand, he
wishes to sell what he does not own, be-
cause he may think it to be too high, or
wishes to make a sale and others to de-
press values and make his profit in that
way, he, the non-owner, Is obliged TO
take out license and pay license fee of
81 900 per year. and is taxed cents per
pound on every pound of hog product or
cotton that he does not own and may
wish to sell and bet on, and 20 cents per
bushel on all grain that he does not own
and wishes to bet that it will go lower.
This is the only way the government
can control this outrageous method of
fixing values which has grown to be an
enormous evil, and which has almost
killed out the purchasing power of the
agriculturists of this country, and it re-
mains to be seen whether the farmers of
the west will insist upon their represent
atives voting for the "Butterworth
bill" or not. and the sooner they
get an expression from them on
that subject the sooner this ''black pail
will be raised from off the west, and
cheerfulness reign, with the farmers able
to get % per cent more money for the
crop of 1890, no matter If it is a large
crop. than he secured for the crop of
1889. that he toiled over and harvested.
1t is for them to say whether the short
seller or the seller of futures must CO.
they have long since decided that the
horse thief and barn burner must stop
his practices, which do not cost them
cent, where the seller of futures costs
him 800. and aggregate a loss TO the
farmers of the United States of at least
S20G. 900. 600 per annum for each and
every year of the past four years.
Correct this crying evil first and we
will be in better mood to discuss the
national bank saystem and more money
during next fall. | reman yours ia
haste, JOHN NHlITAkER.
As it has been said before. the present
trouble is not confined TO Kansas or the
states directly east OF the Rocky mount
aims. The Illinois farmers are holding