The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-02-06
THE AMERICAN ANARCHIST
He Is the Short Seller of Farm Produce,
According to POrk-Packer Whitaker.
Prices of Grain, Meats and Cotton Depressed
by the Fictitious Sales Made By Chicago
and Other Bears-Bulls Not So Bad.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-"The short seller
is to-day the Anarchist Of America" said
Mr.. John Whitaker, a large p~ork-packer
of st. Louis and Wichita, Kan. to-day, In
addressing the House committee on agrl-
culture in advocacy of the anti-optlons
bill. To Representative Alexander Mr..
Whitaker said that unquestionably the
tendency of short selling was TO depress
prices and to interfere with legitimate
trade. Farmers, he said, were not COM
PEELED to market their grain instead OF
storing 1t. but the experience of the past
eight years had taught them that holding
wheat was a losing game" and that with
this unlimited short selling beating down
the price each year." the best time for them
to sell grain was as soon as it was harvest
ed. "Wipe out. If possible. the short
seller, the non-owner; in other words. the
American Anarchist" said Mr.. Whitaker.
and added: THAT Is what he Is. / say it
soberly. The short seller is to-day the
Anarchist of America; the worst one we
have, and he will make the farmer come
down and sell his stuff under the red flag"
Mr.. Whitaker said that the wheat ex-
ported this year had probably averaged 95
eentsin price n busheI. and. If this proposed
law had been in force. he believed it would
have brought considerable more than 81 q
busheL He did not believe the law would
hurt owners of real grain or provisions. be-
cause. if fictitious offerings were done away
with the market would be supplied with
actual grain or provisions, and. there being
O smaller quantity offered. prices would be
better. In New York it was regarded as
necessary 70 sell so, 00O, 900 bushels of grain
to market three or four million. we pro-
duce no coffee, and for that reason he be-
lieved in option selling in coffee. That
gave the American citizen cheaper coffee,
as 1T enabled the price to be fixed by sales
of a larger quantity Of coffee that was not
in existence. Option wheat sales had re-
Gently begun in Liverpool, and the practice
was good for England. because she was q
large importer of wheat.
Mr.. Hatch-In your experience, what Of
feet has the fictitious sale of meat products
had on the pricef
Mr.. Whitaker-It has continually low
cred the price.
In reply to Representative Caminetti,
Mr.. Whitaker said that the actual products
sold at the price fixed by the unlimited Of
ferings and fictitious buying or selling.
Meat products the last year, he thought.
would have been 10 to 20 per cent. higher if
they had been. competing with real prod
ucts. In answer to a question by Mr.. Lew
is, Mr.. Whitaker said that, in his judg-
ment, this fictitious selling produced IN
abnormal condition of the market. which
defeated the law of supply and demand.
Cotton, he believed, would have sold for 8
cents or more this year but for short selling
by bears.
Mr.. Lewis-In your opinion, then, eight
and one-half million bales is not overpro-
ductionf
Mt. Whitaker said he was not q cotton
expert and could not answer hat question.
but he thought If INVESTIGATED 1t would be
H~--1 fhnt h & KIM mn hnlna nnnA
! would not lave had the damaging effect 1t
has had on the price. but for short selling
and the publication OF numerous reports of
over-production and small consumption.
saying the writers 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 de-
Mr.. MOses-lOu think, then, the price OF
commodities is governed by the amount of
fictitious offeringsf
Mr.. Whitaker-Undoubtedly
Mr.. Moses-Do you hold that the market
is not regulated by the law of supply and
demandi
Mr.. Whitaker-Yes, sir.
Mr.. Moses-Why lis it, then. that when
reports like Bradstreets' OF the government
reports are given out showing q large esti-
mated crop prices go down.
Mr.. Whitaker-They work that on o large
crop.
Mr: Moses-And vice versa. if the crop is
Mr. Whitaker-Not so much. Prices 90
up q little.
Nh. Moses called attention to the fact
that as a general rule when port receipts of
cotton were very large, prices went down
and when the receipts were very small
prices went up, and so with car receipts OF
wheat.
Mr.. Whitaker admitted the receipts
-. H.
but said that his observation was that in
formation that had q tendency to send the
market upward did not affect it to the
same extent as information that tended to
send it down.
Mr.. Moses-If meat transactions were
confined to real products only. could not
the Western packers form a trust, get con-
troll OF the actual products and put the
price away beyond the reach of the con.
sumersf 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 it mp to So a busheIi
Mr.. Whitaker did not believe, In the first
place. that that would be good policy. and
in the second place did not believe the COM
bination necessary to success could be
formed.
Mr. Lewis-Have not most of the men
who attempted to corner the market been
MI. Whitaker believe so.
Mr.. Moses-Have they not been broken
by short-selleref
Mr.. Whitaker-I do not know as to that.
Representative Livingston, of Georgia,
who was present. asked If it were not true
that two reports were sent out by the
produce exchanges-ode q pu bile report and
another q private report to brokers only,
which gave the latter an advantagef
Mr.. Whitaker replied in the negative 90
far as grain and provisions were concerned.
A number of questions were asked with
reference TO option business with the pur-
pose of ascertaining whether there were not
as many buyers as sellers In this specula-
ton. 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.