The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-09-04
THE BUTTERwoRTH BILL AND WHAT
1T WILL DO FOR TOILERS ON
AMERICAN SOIL.


: The Buttterworth bill to tax and regu
: late option dealing in farm and SWIM
T products by those not owning same,
r one OF the most important measures eve
9 laid before our national legislature. /
: involves not only, to great extent, tn
] morals of the people but the future pros
perity or destruction of the productiv,
f wealth of the entire farming, laborinl
{ and commercial classes of the United
States.
1t is a question whether the materla
, future of this nation shall be ruled by
honest industry and commercial honor
or, surrendered into the keeping of &
small class of gambling option dealers
who, under the name of a new and false
system of commercial ethics, are fast de
stroying not only the intrinsic value Of
labor and production. but is undermine
the morals of the people by the glittering
temptations of making sudden wealth by
gambling in the property of others, sub
shutting semi-legalized theories for sup
ply-and-demand fixed principles.
To claim that the sale of farm products
at sellers option by non-owners is as
legitimate and proper as bona fide sales
by producers and owners, Is to proSti-
tute the English language, and TO place
such fraudulent transaction on the
same level is to drive out capital. What
capitalist that does not understand the
exact workings of this new method of
option dealing will buy or invest one
dollar in any of the articles that are
kicked about in the trading pits of the
country?
Any argument for or against the But
terworth bill should be read with care by
all thinking men, and any criticism on
the subject should be made fairly and TO
the point on the merits of the bill
and its effect on the country.
| The writer objects to the assumptions
and logic of the Chicago board of trades
| memorial to congress- on this subject.
1t is too long to answer fully in a short
| paper.
! The passage and enforcement of the
| ButterwoTth bill would lift off the pres
sure of the short sellers who sell at sell
ers options" one hundred times more
product than is produced, and by so
doing necessarily force down the value
below the cost of production. Relieve
the market of this enormous fictitious
supply, and to get rid of this kind of
trading would increase the value of
every pound of actual product. Ger
tainly, no calamity could result from
this.
The quicker the government makes a
vital attack on the fraudulent methods
and usageS of dealing in things which
have no actual existence and brings back
the commerce of the country to dealers
in actual property on supply and de-
mand principles, the better off will the
laboring and producing classes be.
Legitimate commerce does not en-
brace trades in that which does not ex-
ist. Every pound or bushel of grain
sold on the boards of trade in excess of
the actual supply means a trade in what
does not exist. 1t is a trade in fictitious,
unreal stuff, created only for gambling
purposes. If men must gamble in farm
products they should at least be made to
gamble in the actual products of the
soil and not be permitted to destroy the
value of the actual product by pounding
it with stuff the supply of which is abso-
lutely unlimited, because every gambler
in this land can offer any amount of it
for sale, knowing he will never be re-
quired to deliver anything but money
margin, or difference. Surely no
calamity can come to legitimate COM
merce by requiring gamblers in purely
imaginary stuff to pay liberal tax on
such trade
Boards of trade and exchanges should
be guardians of fair and honest dealing
and should suppress fraudulent trading.
If they do not they are an injury to com
merce and should be wiped out
Transportation interests can suffer no
injury by the suppression of dealing in
options and futures. The carrier de /
ponds solely on the actual product; he
does not engage in or get paid for carry
ing wind deals-whatever encourages /
the producer is benefit to the carrier. /
for it tends to give the producer courage /
for increasing the amount of his product, /
and thus increases the amount to be |.
hauled by the carrier. Traders in |
'wind" are their own carriers. They |
carry millions upon millions of bushels |
every day simply in their mouths. If !
they would only keep their mouths shut |
no harm could come of it. But unload |
ing it means simply CRYING down prices
of real products, which should not be |
permitted.
The federal and state courts have I'M
willingly recognized deals in futures in /
certain cases because there was no law |
against it. The Butterworth bill pro- |
poses TO make a law that will govern /
deals of this kind and if passed, the |
courts will cheerfully aid in its enforce
ment.
The Butterworth bill does not inter
fere in any way with legitimate future
contracts by actual owners or their
agents. No one who is about building a
house or block goes into the option pit to
make his contract: he wants a house or
block, not the difference. and he looks
for the actual owners and laborerS with
whom 10 make his contract. Merchants
who wish TO contract for future supply
of an article go to the manufacturer and
engages with him to supply the article
when needed IN the future. He does not
contract for it with people who do not
have it. Why should farm products be
on a different basis? If one wishes to
contract for these to be delivered in the
future let him contract with those who
have them or have the appliances for
making them. The Butterworth bill |
does not touch such contracts. The
farmer can contract TO deliver his crops
in the future, Just as the manufacturer
can contract TO deliver his products when
II is only the party
who contracts 10 deliver in the future
farm products he neither owns or has
the appliances 10 SOW or reap who Is re-
tuired under the bill 10 pay the tax
herein prescribed.
Nothing In the Butterworth bill pre-
vents mill owners, merchants or any one
else from buying ahead. The bill pro-
vides that those who sell To them shall