St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-07
ANTi-opTIoN AGITATION.

project, Which, under the profession of
philanthropic object, is really designed
to enrich the nations millers. Volumes
of hot invectl?e have been poured forth
against the men who gamble in bread
StuffS. and when one of them goes to the
wall there are no more tears shed at his
funeral than at the obSeQuies of some
faro banker who has been worsted in n
plot to make his fortune by robblng his
patrons. This may be entirely just, but
boards of trade and produce exchanges,
with all their evils, do unquestionably
achieve one important function. They
broaden the markets for the commodi-
ties they deal in, and regulate their
prices by the worlds temper, instead of
by the interests and wishes of local con-
sumerS. The farmer names his figure
for his wheat at the elevator today, be-
cause he knows what the conditions of
society in every cline make it worth,
and he is superior by virtue of this in
formation to the coercion of the buyers
with whom he actually comes in contact.
Were an anticipation law practical
measure, it would change all this and
put the producer at the mercy of linn
lied and powerful coterie of operators.
No one being permitted to deal in food
supplies except such as actually handled
them, the fictitious competition which
now induces instantaneous responsive
ness to the myriadS of influences every
where making for a rise or fall in
prices would be eliminated. The mill
ers would be in the saddle, and a new
dynasty added to the already numerous
lines of royal monOp0liStS. With only
an easily calculable number of possible
purchasers. the facilities for combina-
ton would be infinitely increased, and
wheat would sell for what the miller
barons might conspire 10 pay for it, in
absolute disregard of its value and of
every other consideration except the
Likelihood Of profit to themselves. In
stead of reaching to the ends of the
earth with what he had to offer,
the farmer would enjoy no wider
field than the neighboring manufactur-
ing center supplied. Mems mouths
would be full of stories of contests be
tween producers demands and millers'
greed, and instead of warning on dis
tant spectators, the grangers' alliances
would array themselves in futile
struggle for freedom from the thralldom
of local magnates whose organizations
would be perfect and power great in the
same proportion as their number would
be few. The milling industry IS with
Senator WAsHBURN in his champoning
of this extraordinary measure, because it
sees in it increased dividends on the
stock which its foreign owners hold.
But whether the masses will be when
they realize its true significance is an
other matter.
Laws of this kind are open to a still
further general objection, which ought
not to be overlooked. They either can
be enforced or they cannot be. If they
cannot be, they clearly ought not to be
enacted. If they can be. it will be done
only by the exercise of the most op-
pressive system of governmental es-
pionage. Some of the bills now before
congress furnish the completest proof
of what would be needed for this pur-
pose and of the dangers which attend
it. Ii no one can sell what he does not
own, there must he some machinery
provided for detecting violations of
such legislation, as we'll as for their pun
ishment. Sales will have to be regis
tered after prescribed fashion, or per-
mitted only on compliance with accu-
rately formulated regulations. If this
system is admissible in the case of
breadstuffS it is also in every other
branch Of business, and the whole body
of trade will come at once under the
supervision of the central government.
Instead of allowing human ingenuity
tovent itself with perfect liberty through
the countless channels in which it is
now diffused, it will be damned and
directed by lets and barriers of artificial
pattern. Into the workshop of every
artisan will enter the inspector, and the
secrecy and privacy of personal effort
be robbed of the efficiency they have
heretofore enjoyed. The governments
mark will be stamped on every COM
modify, as the English king once
dreamed it might be in our land till
JOHN HANCOCK and his compatriots
awakened him. Individual liberty
would perish. and the most gigantic and
self-deStructive scheme of socialism
ever planned be attempted in its place.
The GLOBE is opposed to all this sort
OF thing because it is out of tune with
the spirit of our institutions. 1t is pos
sible while trying to destroy one evil to
substitute for it another more fatal in
its consequences. 1t is possible while
administering healing draught to kill
the patient whose recovery is sought
for. Everybody can admit the objec-
tions which unquestionablY exist t
the prevailing tendency to speculation
in the necessarieS of life, but the proper
remedy will not be found in anything
more deadly than the disease which it is
aimed to cure. Gambling as a form of
effort works itself out by the disaster
it carries to those who engage in it; and
a properly educated popular sentiment
may, in the course of time, make the
manipulationS of the so-caled financier
of the exchange as diSreputable as the
trade of the card sharper with whom
he is fairly claSsed. If this does not
come about the body polite will gener-
ate some other form of remedy from it's
own inherent strength to save itself
from destruction. But un-American
devices OF the WAsHBURN stamp are,
above all things, to be avoided. 1t is
better that our prosperity and progress
should be hindered little by temporary
ills than that the right of the citizen to
regulate his own affairs should be de-
MED him. Gambling is bad thing, but
slavery is worse one; and we are not
far from slavery when we shall have to
buy and sell only in the manner the
state prescribes, and to the persons who
have its permission to engage in in
duStrial pursuits.
THE OLD CITY HALL.
While municipal landmarks in st.
Do