Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-07-21
ThE ARGUS.
THURSDAY. July 81. 1892.
VEST AN INQUIRER.
He Asks Some Questions and
Answers Them.
AGAINST THE ANTI-OPTIoN BILL.

How the Farmer Held His Wheat and
Lost Money-Washbu willing to Let
Flour Go on the List-SeriOus Charge
Against Knight of Labor Hays Made
by Gen. st. Clair-An Alleged Attempt
to Sand-Bag the worlds Fair-Pros-
poets for the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES al
Notes.
WASHINGTON July 21.-Vest got the
1oor- In the senate yesterday when the
anti-option bill was resumed and proceed
ed to attack it in his enthusiastically
personal style. Who was it, he asked, that
stood behind this sudden burning.
bubbling, ebullition of zeal on behalf of
the farmer? Pillsbury, with his 800
elevators and flour mills in Dako-
and Minnesota Owned by Englishmen),
who was interested in putting down the
price of wheat, and Viii 5aker, the pork
packer of his (Vest's) own city of St.
Louis, who was interested in putting
down the price of hogs. Who was it that
issued that celebrated circular to the
farmers when wheat was selling Mt 80
cent. a bushel, advising them to hold to
their wheatr
And the Granger Held the Bag.
1t had been charged against the Alliance
and Ignatius Donnelley, of Minnesota
but they had denied it. Pillsbury adj
mitted that he had advised farmers TO
hold out. They had done so until the
price of wheat went down to 30 cents. The
syndicate unloaded at 80 cents and the
farmers We're left standing by their fields
wondering what had hurt them. Vest
read n letter written June IS. last, in
which the writer expressed fear that
Vest, Pugh, Coke and George, of the
judiciary committee, would oppose the
Hatch bill on constitutional grounds.
Vest suggested to his correspondent TO
send night messages to the senators named
to try and influence their action on the
Hatch bill
washburne Asks n Question.
This letter, Vest sai1, was written by
John Whitaker, of the house of Francis
Whitaker & Son, engaged in selling lard
and hog products. They wanted to shut
ont all speculative operations. Wash
burne, interrupting at one point of Vests
remarks, said he had seen Il good deal of
talk running through the newspapers
about this being a bill in the interest of
the miller. He would like to know how,
under any provision of this bill, a miller
could enjoy any advantage over anybody
else who wanted to buy wheat.
Willing to Make Senators Happier.
Cullom asked, if this was so, if the sem
have -four added to the other articles men
toned in section three. Washburn re-
pile that gambling in fiour,was impossi-
bic because flour was sold by peculiar
brands, and these could not be sold short
without the consent of the millers.
Cullom asked if it would hurt to insert
flour in this bill. Washb burn answered
only in this way, that he might receive an
order from London for 100000 barrels of
-four; now he had not that amount of -four
in stock, but he had the wheat and could
grind il into flour. He had no objection
&c putting it into the bill if it would make
any senator happier.
Opposed to All Such Legislation.
Vest stated that if this bill passed it
would drive the trade operations now con-
Quoted in this country to the exchanges of
England, Belgium, and France, and he
read a statement that produce exchange
had already been started in Hamburg on
the news of the passage of the house of the
Hatch bill. He had opposed the oleomar-
garine bill and had never regretted it. The
worst act of Cleveland's administration in
his judgment, was when he first vetoed
that bill and then signed it.