St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-06

record the name OF the purchaser, nor
he has made. One plan which has not
been worked out fully is 10 make the
final purchaser pay very small tax in
the shape of stamp. which is to be
affixed to the warehouse receipt The
object will be to make practically
prohibitory tax on option trading as
now understood, and on what are known
as curbstone deals"
Despite the care taken to disguise it,
the VOLTS fangs are exposed beneath
the sleeps fleece in this measure. 1t
is an inSidiouS effort to assert danger
Gus prerogative-the right of the gov
eminent to regulate and interfere with
the Legitimate private concerns of the
citizen, and to give control of the mar
kets of the world into the hands of q
few monopoliStS. who can, by manipu-
lating the prices of agricultural prod
ucts, hold the farmers at their mercy.
No one questions that there are evils
inherent in option trading. Ii is gam
bling business, pure and simple. A
man buys or sells that which he does
not OWN, relying upon chance for a turn
III the market which shall result to his
profit. But it is an evil that has its COM
pensatlons. Every corner III the Chi
cago wheat market has put tens of thou
sands of dollars into the pockets of the
farmers Of Minnesota. 1t is true that
the value given to the product by these
operations has been largely fictitious.
but the fact that the farmers have prof
tied remains to the credit of the system.
The anti-opuOn measure finds its
champions only among those whose III
terest it is TO reduce the price of farm
products. The millerS of flour are
anxious to make as large profit from
their investments and industries as pos
sible. If they can buy wheat cheaply
their profits will be large: If corner
enhances the price of the raw product
their profits will be correspondingly re-
duced.
1t is, perhaps, true that if there were
no option trading there would be greater
uniformity i'll the market price of farm
produce. 1t is equally true that If there
We're no millerS' combinations and
trusts the market would not be IN its
present depressed condition. Wheat a
year ago averaged in price one-fourth
to one-thlrd more than it does at the
pres ent time. Tue price of flour today,
however. is but about 10 per cent be-
low what it was IN 1693-factS which
show conclusively that the millers'
combinations have succeeded in depreSs-
ing the cost of wheat while maintain
ing the price of flour.
Option trading may be immoral; it
may tend to the establishing of fictitious
values; yet it results in substantial
benefit to the producer. Al present it
Is foil to the Vaccinations of the mill
ers who are combined to reduce the
profits of agriculture and to extort as
large tribute as possible from the con-
sumers. The attempt to regulate the
trade by congress is an usurpation of
authority wholly without constitutional
warrant. Congress has as good right
to Interfere with the dry goods or the
grocery business as with the grain trade.
and might with equal propriety dictate
the manner in which all business should
be conducted. All legitimate trade is
self-regulating. Abuses creep in, but
are in time cured. 1t sometimes be-
comes necessary to fight fire with fire,
and this is the species of conflict now
going on between the option traders
and the millers' combine. The pot is
making terrible onslaught upon the
kettle because of its color.