Daily Kennebec journal., 1893-06-09

that our grain 0s.bIeFs look for nev money
70 rspienish their bank accounts. The
craze for specsIsiion in futures has spsesd
70 nearly every hamlet in the land. Ths
men in trusted positions Who besrsy the trsst
snd ase others moaey in gram sPeculafioa,
and Of whose cases the newspapers give ell
the Particular. form only fraction Of .
per cent. Of those who continually send Of
ders into the Chicago grain pit. Tens Of
millions Of dollars are sqasndered annual
iy IN this .ay. These country folk are al
wsys inclined to bay fos a rise- They buy
rather than sell shors." Like the rest of
as whenever the lowest recorded price is
reached they think that the bottom has been
reached. They are the natural ''bulls. y
The manip1isiors of the market-the veri-
table and professional dealers in futures
are in the business for the profit that is in
il. The country lamb ia on the ''ball' side.
Necessarily his money can be gotten only
by the bear" party. The profits come from
. drop in prices when the rural buying or
5srs are veil filed. An onslaught is made,
reckless reports are started, millionsires
combine to Offer enormous amounts, and
prices decline To point yet nnkr own for
the season. The extent Of the decline meas
ures the profits of the professional manipu-
lator. And so it goes year after year the hope
fuI rural lamb prefcrring to buy, and esus-
ing the manipulators to drop prices in order
that they may win. Tins one game with
all 1t. variations is played year after year,
and yet the outsider who notes an occasion
al rapid rise and estimates the profits he
you'd have gained had he been in the game,
is soon ready to join others in giving buy
ing orders, only To he heeced.
There is yet another reason for the de-
pressing effect Of option dealing. The pro-
fessionals in the pit have no faith in the
stability of any price, no matter
how low, when there ia not live
iy demand. They do not incline to
base calculations upon cost of production.
Being fully posted, they see a surplus of
grain IN sight, and with the recognized tim
idity Of capital they naturally beat prices
dorn for dead low basis to start in on. It
IL fair 10 presume that they over estimate
the effect of a surplus as much
Is rural buyers underestimate it,
They believe in a dosnwsrl trend of
prices. and by acting on this idea they help
'reate It this in addition to the policy Of
hearing prices in order to reap profits
rom country people. 1t is true that bull
"liJues are often formed among profes-
sionals, but they have no permanent effect
II they conclude to run prices mp for thirty
day, they take care to let the market
break badly every few days in order that
the small buyers may be sifted out their
money absorbed. When the squeeze has
been made, the price returns to its old level
or little lower one. Corners have never
materially benefited farmers.
The rural speculator deserves no sympa
thy. H." plays another's game and suffers
accordingly. But it is this game that leads
to depressed prices. It is this bearing the
market by millionaire manipulation when
country orders are filled. that harms the
actual producer The reckless representa-
tions made by the bears and the other ma
lign influences brought to bear line their
pockets with out-of town gold. hut all il
done at the expense Of grain values.