The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-05-18
AN ANSWER TO MIR. HATCH


points that his report VIII make on MS
new anti-op,ion bill. The New YORK
Journal Of Commerce remarks that there
never was time when it was easier tnan
il is now to crush all Of Mr.. Hatch's ar
guments by a simple appeal 10 the course
Of prices. II then proceeds as follows:
We're prices very considerably higher
now than they were last fan Mr.. Hatcn
micht say that the middlaman had robbed
the farmer by buying cheap last fan ana
selling dear now, but as the prices are
now very much lower than they were iast
fall the middlemen have lost millions
Of dollars. a good part OF which was Sc
cured by the farmers, and when the spec
ulators have lost q large sum OF money
10 the farmers it is singulariy ridiculous
for Mr. Hatch 10 come before the pubic
with his allegation that the farmers nave
been defrauded Of their dues.
At the beginning of last August the DIFF
ference between the August and the May
prices of wheat was fifteen cents This
declined steadily 10 thirteen and one
eighth at the end of the month, and the
difference between the current option and
the Nav option continued 10 decline 10
ten and three-fourths cents at the end OF
September, eight and one-e!ghth cents
at the end of October and six and three
fourths cents at the end OF November.
Both cash and future prices were anected
by the very large deliveries during the fali
and the discovery that the crop had been
understated: the main reason for the de-
creasing difference between the two prices
was the fact that the wheat had not
In. OIL
the speculative prices bore pretty steady
ratio to the sum Of the cash prices and
the legitimate costs Of carrying the crop
from six TO ten months. Were the prices
now what the spectators thought last
fall they would be, only reasonable pro-
fit would have been made by carrying the
wheat from harvest till required for con-
sumption.
Rut the price now is decidedly lower
than II was last fall; instead Of yielding
a margin for storage. insurance. ana IN
torest ii does not cover the FIRST cost
of the wheat. The price Of August wheat
I'm August was about siXty-eiGht cents;
OF September wheat in September, seven
ty-one and fye-eighths cents; OF october
wheat in October. siXty-nine cents, and OF
November wheat i'm November. was sixty
six six-eighths cents. These are averages
of the closing prices in the middle OF
each week. The average of the closing
prices for the first eight days or this
month for MAY wheat was little over
sixty cents. The farmers who sold wheat
last fall can easily figure how much they
made and how much the middlemen lost
nv huving wheat soon after the harvest
and CARRYING II till this time II Is these
middiemen whose abolition Mr. Hatch IS
IJoH tHQv not baaf1 I'm tho
market last fail the price would have
been fixed by the fact that all the wheat
of the year was coming 10 market at
about the same time while the demand
for consumption was in each month only
about one-twefh of the demand for the
year The farmers who had capital
enough to sell wheat last September for
May delivery got from twenty-five cents
10 twenty-four cents q. bushel more for
their wheat than they could get for II
now. and they could not have got that I'm
September bui for the practice Of buying
futures. Most of the farmers have not
capital enough to carry their own wheat
over. but those who sold for cash got
about ten cents a bushel more than they
could get now. But In September the
difference between cash wheat and wheat
for May delivery was also over ten cents
That is. II was worth from ten cents to
twelve cents a busbel TO carry the wheat
over. If. then. there had been no pur-
chasers last September. except the millers
and the exporters. the cash price OF wheat
would have been twenty-five cents or
twenty-three cents bushei. approx
mately lower than II was.
As soon as the Sherman law was re-
pealed last fall. or rather as soon ns it
II.
and near at hand. capitalists began buy
ing wheat of the farmers because the
price was low and money was compare
lively abundant. The farmers sold wheat
til Christmas, and the wonder way where
IL all came from; II was evident that the
crop of 1898 or that OF 1892, or both had
been greatly understeted. The result OF
this. and Of large deliveries IL wheat
from some competing countries. has been
to keep wheat going down al a time when
II would normally be going uD. AT least
enough TO pay for storing ard insurine
II. This fall Of prices has been suffered
not ny the farmers, for whnm speculp-
ton IN futures furnished n market lest
fall. but by the Spectator. The western
farmers can figure out for themselves
how many millions OF dollars they made
by selling wheat last fall 20 speculators
that would not have been bought by mil
iers till this time.
No proposition ever was capable ~
clearer demonstration than that the anti
option bill is directly aniagonistic 10 the
interests Of the farmer. The produce ex-
changes being open all the year the farm
er has a market Tor his produce all The
time. Whereas, without the produce ex-
changes purchases OF crops would be con-
lined TO that part Of The year that ,bsv
are gathered and mark sted, the whole Of
crop would come on the market at one
time there would be a giut. and conse-
quently the farmers would force down
during the selling time the value of their
own products. But the exchange being
open all the time. and purchases and
sales going on all the time, the crop il
marketed gradually. and according 10 the
expectation Of thosa who ara x,,tttnv 80