St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-10-01

est of all schemes to corner the wheat
market proclaim that they have sprung
it to help out the farmers.
But the people of the state will not
stand this sort of treatment, British syn
dicate or no British syndicate. The
Pioneer Press, after its discovery last
spring that somewhere between the
producer and Minneapolis there has
been loss of about 10 cents per bushel
on wheat, probably by sense of duty
to its party if nothing else, las been de-
Tending the wheat ring. 1t refuses to
believe that there is combine as proved
in the GLOBE. This far the Republican
organ was willing to go, but when the
elevators announced that hereafter they
alone will know the amount of grain
in store in the Northwest, the Pioneer
Press could stand it no longer, and in a
powerful editorial denounced the whole
scheme.
Suppose" said this editorial, ''the
public is excluded from all knowledge
of the amount of grain in store in the
very granaTy of the country. 1t is ev:-
dent that the elevator companies will
know, and that they can use their
knowledge. if they choose. as the basis
of speculative operations in grain that
would be destructive of a settled market
That secrecy" continued the writer,
''may breed unlimited speculation and
multiply many times all the evils com
planned of by the farmer as resulting
from gambling in farm products is con-
eeivable, just as the idea that publicity
can permanently lower prices is not.'
This editorial SO completely exposes
the designs Of the combine that it
should be read by every farmer and
business man i'll the Northwest. 1t fol-
lows:
Wholly IndefensibIe.
The refusal of the private elevators at
Minneapolis, and of the companies that
hold large amounts OF grain in elevators
at interior points in the Northwest, to
furnish information for public reports
is step backward; and the reason as
signed for Ii is one that we should have
thought banished from every intelligent
community in the nineteenth century.
The idea that publicity can harm any
body, that secrecy can work some myS-
terious jugglery by which prices may be
affected permanently. is so absurd that
we should have declined to believe it to
be entertained by the very competent
gentlemen in the elevator business in
Minnesota and the DakotaS, if they had
not assigned it as their reason for re-
fuSing to furnish reports OF grain in
store. And even now we must be con-
sldered reluctant to accept such libel
on their intelligence, and co slider it
more probable that they have other
reasons, which they prefer not to state,
than to believe that they are converts
to the system of a century or two ago.
1t has been the custom now for sew
eral years for all the elevators, public
and private, to furnish statements of
grain in store, from which commercial
journals and organizations compile
daily OF weekly estimates Of what is in
sight.
The ssVisible Supplys'
has come to be an important factor in
rading, and the extension OF reports to
cover the whole country as nearly
as possible was as much trl-
umph of commercial progress as the
building of a telegraph line to open
communications with regions hitherto
cut Oft from the swift dissemination of
news. Now, however, the elevator COM
ponies have put stop to this; and their
reason is the ridiculous one that the
publication of grain stocks held in ele-
vators has a tendency to depresS prices
and keep them below the natural mar
ket 1t is difficult to reason
1
hard to argue with man who
should say that an opera house should
never expose diagram of its interior,
because the people would see how many
vacant seats were there, and refuse to
buy except at discount. AS far as the
complaint is concerned that the govern
ment crop reports are libel on facts,
there is reasonable ground for objection.
For the statlstician Of the agricultural
department has made
That Work VaIueless
in the eyes of well-informed people for
many year. But there are more ac-
curate reports than his; and, for the
compilation of these, reports from the
! elevator companies are Indispensable.
Now let US see, first, what is the logic
of the elevator managers, and next. what
must be the consequence of persistence
in the course they have chosen. Of
course, the proposition that prices of a
! commodity can be raised or lowered per-
manently by publicity is the height of
/ nonsense. The amount of wheat sold
and the price paid are determined by
the demand and supply. There will be
no greater demand for a loaf of bread if
the world does not know how many
| bushels of wheat are in North Dakota S
elevators than if 1t does. If publicity
has kept the price of wheat low for the
last year, then knowledge of the fact
that there was plenty of wheat to be
bought must have prevented some con-
Sumer from buying and eating it.
This Is Too Trivial
for further consideration. But the re-
fusal to furnish these reports does, as
far as it operates, create very real and
serious danger. Suppose the public is
excluded from all knowledge of the
amount of grain in store in the very
granary of the country. 1t is evident
that the elevator companies themselves
will know. and that they can use this
knowledge, if they choose, as the basis
of speculative operations in grain that
would be destructive of settled mar
ket and most disastrous to the
farmer. That secrecy may breed
unlimited speculation and null
tiply many times all the evils
complained of by the farmer as result
ing from gambling in farm products is
conceivable, just as the idea that pub
licity can permanently lower prices is
not. Public opinion will not tolerate a