The morning news., 1892-02-06
ANARCHISTS OF AMERICA"
That is What John Whitaker Calls the
Men Who "Sell Short"

That is What John Whitaker Calls the
Men Who "Sell Short"
WASHINGTON, Feb, 5.-"The short seller
is to-day the anarchist of America" said
John Whitaker, large pork packer of St
Louis. No., and Wichita, Kan, to-day, in
an address to the House committee on ag-
riculture, in advocacy of the anti-options
! bill. He asserted that unquestionably the
tendency of short" selling was to depress
prices and TO interfere with legitimate trade.
Producers, he argued, were sufferers from
the seller short and he wished these anar-
chists to be wiped out.
He made one exception: We produced
no coffee, and for that reason he believed in
option selling in coffee. That gave the
American citizen cheaper coffee, as It en-
abled price to be fixed by sales of a large
quantity Of coffee that was not in existence.
Short selling in any article of home pro-
duction, however, he would make statutory
crime.
In answer to question by Mr.. Lewis of
Mississippi, Mr.. Whitaker said that in his
judgment this fictitious selling produced an
abnormal condition of the market which
defeated the law of supply and demand,
Cotton, he believed, would have sold for
cents or more this year but for short selling
by bears.
Mr.. Le@is-In your opinion, then, $780,
900 bales is not overestimated9
Mr.. Whitaker said that he was not @ cot~
ton expert, and could not ans ser that ques-
tion; but he thought. il Investigated it
would be found that the $4,000
bales produced would not have had
| the damaging effect 1t has had on the
| price, but for short selling and the publica-
ton Of numerous reports of overproduc-
ton and small consumption. He frequently
| received letters from Europe saying the
writer's could pay better prices for meats if
| the American market would only be kept
steady. But this market could not be kept
steady, when the cash price WAS being
| pulled down by sales for future delivery by
| every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Mr.. Moses OF Georgia--You think the
| price Of commodities is governed by the
| amount OF fictitious offeringss
Mr.. Whitaker-Yes; undoubtedly.
Mr.. Moses-Do you hold that the market
isnot regulated by the law of supply aud
| demanda
Mr.. Whitalrer-Yes, SIT.
Mr.. Moses-Why is it, then, that when
report like Bradstreet's or the government
| reports are given out, showing large esti-
mated crop, prices go downi
Mr.. Whitaker-They work that on
large crop.
Mr.. Moses-And vice versa, il the crop is
small, prices go up?
Mr.. Whltaker-Not 80 much prices 20 up
a little.
Mr.. Moses called attention to the fact
that, as a general rule, when the port re-
ceipts of cotton were very large prices went
down and when the receipts were very
small prices went up; and so with car re-
ceipts of wheat.
Mr.. Whitaker admitted that receipts
operated in that way, to a certain extent
but said that his observation was
that information that had tendency
to send the market up would not
effect the market to the same effect as
information that tended to send it down.
Mr.. Moses-If most transactions we're
confined to real products only, could not
western packers form trust, get control of
the actual products and put the price away
beyond the reach of consumers? Could not
Armour, for instance, with his millions of
money, get control of all or enough of the
wheat to control the price and send 1t up to
50 busllel.
Mr.. Whitaker did not believe, in the first
place, that that would be good policy, and
in the second place did not believe a cofnbi-
nation necessary to success could be formed.
Mr.. Lewls-Have not most of the men
who attempted to corner the market been
broken9
Mr.. Whitaker believe SO.
Mr.. Moses-Have not they been broken by
short sellers2
Mr.. Whitaker did not know as to that.
Mr' Livingston OF georgia, who was
present, asked if it were not true that two
reports we're sent out by produce exchanges,
one public report and another private report
to brokers only, which gave the latter an
advantages
Mr.. Whitaker replied ia the negative, SO
far as grain and provisions were concerned.
A number of questions were asked with
reference to the option business with the
purpose of ascertaiDlng whether or not
there were not as many buyers as sellers in
this speculation. Mr.. Whitaker said that in
the last eight or ten years the speculative
business had grown immensely, and he
thought there were more sellers than buy
ers.
A PROTEST FROM NEW ORLEANS.
Chairman Hatch has received a protest
from New Orleans bankers against the anti
option bill. The bankers say that if the bill
becomes law it will do immense damage to
bus ness in cotton, grain and hog products.
reduce the stability Of values aud work
great injury. As bankers they consider
their risk in advancing on such property
very much less than was the case prior to
the inauguration of the present method of
dOipO huaf0a9c