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

this, but should take upon himself the
right to mix, sort and manipulate in
trade the silks, teas and coffees of the
public. How long would competition
with him exist The public pays all the
storage. The warehouseman pays no
storage and owns and deals IN grain.
Competition for the crop is already ex-
tinct. The trust has already fixed the
price at which the grain is marketed.
1t has already advanced a long way to-
ward fixing the price at which the public
must take the wheat and -four. Two
things must be done, educate and organ
ize the people; tell the farmers what
forces are at work making their products
sell under the cost Of production. Let
farmers and laborers know their battles
are the same, and that wheat in the Cos
and sos, corn under 80 cents and oats
around 20 cents in Chicago, with ruinous
rates of freight to be paid out of these
figures, present condition known to
all nder-consumption.
The primary cause of the depression in
grain prices is due to public official act
ing as a private grain dealer in public
warehouse, with the permission and CO.
operation of railroad companies.
Many of the causes of hard times in re-
cent years arise from this alliance. Pub
lie grain warehousemen are the servants
of the people, licensed by the State,
created by virtue of the necessities Of
commerce, who, while authorized by law
to act as cultivators only, usurp other
privileges, form trust and year by year
kill the interests Of the producers, who
created them. Their motto is cite
lower the prices, the larger our profits.
The courts have decided that public
warehousemen could not deal in grain.
Then the trust went to a recent "boodle"
Legislature and had bill passed giving
them power to deal and manipulate
other peoples property. 1t became the
other peoples property when it was sold
for future delivery.
Before the elevator men went into the
grain business and began manipulating
prices Chicago was the greatest grain
market in the world. The price was al
ways around 81 per bushel. There were
plenty of buyers and competition sus-
tanned prices. Between 1887 and 1890
new forces began to be felt. The inter-
state commerce law had gone into effect
and before the close of 1890 nearly every
railroad entering Chicago made an ALI
ance and took elevator systems under its
protection and gained control of the
grain business in that particular line.
The great volume of the Chicago stocks,
now some 10000, 900 bushels, invites
Short sellers" in every market in the
world to make sales here.
This they would not dare to do but for
the abnormal accumulations brought
here and held by unnatural means. The
alliance between the railroads and eleva-
tors has resulted in reaching out after
millions of bushels of grain not naturally
tributary to the Chicago market. When
gathered here it is used to depress prices
and never be given up so long as storage
can be collected on it. Cargoes of wheat
bought on European account in Argen-
tine, Australia, India and Russia, as we'll
as stocks at other points of accumulation,
are sold against or hedged in Chicago.
This market is thus made to feel the
weight of the crops of the world.
By the most brazen methods the COM
bine" controls the price and movement
Of grain and forces buyer and seller to
their terms. With the assistance Of the
railroads it has driven nearly every indie
pendent shipper and buyer out of the
market.
President Stickney of the Great West
ern Railway said: This unrestricted
power to discriminate in the matter Of
rates, lodged in the hands of one man,
the manager, say, of 500 miles of railway,
should never be lodged in the hands of
any human being. Under such condi-
tons what business is safe? The average
business man feels strong enough and
acute enough to cope with his COMPETE
tors on equal terms, but here is power
he cannot compete with and he cannot
avoid. This power, like government,
has authority to make tariffs and enforce
their civilized government claims and no
sovereign has dared exercise for centu-
ries, Of rebating portion Of its tariff,
and thus discriminating between its
subjects in the collection of its revenues.
1t is safe to say that if the Congress Of
the United States should enact law
which established on any commodity an