New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-16
4 EYEL TO re SCRUTTNIZED.

Senator ShermanS brief but striking remarks
On the An,i-Option bill may prove of great
uublic service Doubtless they will be mis-
understood by some. But when Senator OF
argo experience and tact. and extensive knowl-
edge of public iopinion, speaks on such ques-
ton it is safe TO calculate that the results he
| produces are those he designed TO produce
| Tho Obvious result is that Senators, instead of
ya'nly opposing the object Of the pending meas
urc. will turn their attention TO It's provisions
and consider with due care how far these arc
wise and adapted to accomplish It's object
There has been great deal too much empty
defence Of speculation AS Il business. and equal
~ empty arragnment of all speculation. II
was high time that somebody should bring back
the Senate to the serious practical question
whether the pending bill was calculated to do
what its trainers wanted, or to do more good
than harm.
Tho members Of the speculative exchanges
have worked themselves into belief that their
business, with all its methods and abuses, Is
absolutely necessary 10 the welfare of the coun-
try. which is not precisely the fact. If nine
,cnths of the so-calcd business transacted at
some Of these exchanges could be stopped, with
Of other transactions. the country would GER
tainy be all the better off When the sales
Of petroleum at Ncw-Yorl5 were $500. 900, 900
barrels in Il single year. or many times the
entire production in the country, the real bust
ness in that commodity was no more prosper
Gus, nor was it in fact as prosperous, as it was
| last year. with 100000 barrels sold at
| New York. So-callcd business Of other kinds
| could be cut down in like manner without any
danger whatever to the public welfare.
| On the other hand, some people imagine that
| all the money won by one set Of men from
another in betting on prices at the various OK
| changes is so much extortcd from the pockets
| of the producer, and that the exchanges are
merely conspilacics to put prices mp or down, us
may most effectively fleece him. But this Is
| not the fact. There are several men living
| who have tried with marvellous ability to con
| troll the market though even these in every
case supposed from the best information they
! could collect, that the movement they favored
was in harmony with actual conditions Of sup
ply and demand But even the genial Mr.
White in corn, with all his proved ability. and
| Mr.. Kccne in wheat and other men too numcr-
| Gus TO mention, learned at great cost the lesson
that if man makes a mistake in guessing
about crops and prices he comes to grief The
power of the greatest SPECTATOR or combination
| Of spectators to resist and defeat the natural
tendencies of the worlds markets is limited.
The abuses OF speculation might be sup
pressed with great profit to the public, provided
that could be done without interfering with
legitimate commerce The difficulty has al
WAYS been to avoid such interference, and yet
to repress speculative abuses. The question to
which Senator Sherman recalled the Senate is
whether the pending Washburnc bill has either
of these merits whether it would be effective
in repre,sing speculative abuses, and whether,
if capable of being enforced to that end, it
would leave legitimate trade free from de-
structivc interference. These are practical
questions I, which the Alliances and other agri-
cultural bodies at the West have not given as
much attention rs they might. 1t is for the
Senate to consider these matters thoroughly in
connection with the amendments proposed be-