People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1900-08-16
GALVEST0Nt

The following article appeared last
November i'll the st. Louis Post Dis
patch, and is an accurate and truthful
statement of causes operating to beat
down the price of wheat. Add to this
the ia . that nine firms located mostly at
Kansas City working with Chicago and
following out the same methods agree by
telephone every afternoon what the
price shall be for the state of Kansas the
following day. The members of the
grain dealers association in each town
have entered into contract as to how
the business shall be divided and that
the profit to them shall be four cents or
more per bushel. This contract will be
printed at the proper time and evidence
conclusive to prove each of the above
statements. Tighter and tighter the
coils are drawn. Nearer and nearer to
the wheat raiser the combines are conf
ing. He cannot ship his own wheat and
the methods which have been so success
fully applied as shown in the article
which follows are now being applied in
Kansas with the same results:
Charles Councilman, the boss of the
Chicago elevator system. in his testimo-
ny before the Industrial Commission this
week, admitted that five men met every
day near the Board of Trade and fixed
the price to be paid for wheat the next
day. He explained that this was done
to benefit Chicago TO bring the wheat
here for storage.
Further testimony indicated that the
elevator combine" controlled the price
of wheat on the Chicago Board Of
Trade except on abnormal occasions
such as famine in Europe or when
plunger like Joe Letter comes in and
temporarily makes a success. 1t was
the elevator combine, indignant at Lei
ter's intrusion, that wound up that
young man with a loss of $1,000, 900.
Since then no one has dared to dispute
the sway Of the combine"
The chief object of the elevator men is
to keep their elevators full of grain, sell
it for future delivery, collect the storage,
and, when delivery day comes around,
mix the wheat with inferior grades to
the extent that the purchaser may incur
loss in accepting, thus forcing him to
liquidate and leave the wheat with the
combine" 1t is then sold for another
future delivery and the same manipula-
ton repeated.
"The railway and elevator combine"
said Mr.. Greeley, "block the natural
flow of commerce. Millions upon mil
lions of bushels of wheat are boarded at
market centers to depress prices, for
these men being carriers of grain for
storage pending the time for future de-
livery, for which the product is sold, it is
evident that the lower they can get the
value Of the crops the less the insurance,
interest and other charges necessary to
hold them, consequently the larger
profits. The storage charges always re-
main the same, not declining in proper
ton to the depreciation in the value of
crops. This system of boarding and
selling for future delivery drives away
and discourages investors and buyers.
1t forces them to sell out and perpetu-
ates an endless chain of liquidation.
This storage combine encourages bear
riders and bucket shops, whose success
is made possible by the operations of the
trust. Farmers, merchants and laborers
suffer-"
To illustrate the position of the trust:
Suppose the collector of the port of New
York should engage in the tea, coffee or
silk business and pay no duty on his i'm
ports, but charge all other handlers OF
these goods full duty. And not only