The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-30
Market Quotations Protected.

States court Of appeals, defining the prop
erty rights of the Western Union Tele-
graph company in the quotations originat-
ing on the Chicago Board Of Trade, and
sent out by the ticker service, is of great
Importance to the grain trade OF the
northwest. by this decision there Is a
precedent established, upon which the
MINNEAPOLIS Chamber Of Commerce may
base such revision of the system of dis
seminating it's quotations as will enable 1t
to give the figures the widest circulation
desirable, and yet prevent their use by
IRRESPONSIBLE persons for the purpose of
fraud.
This marks the passing of the greatest
evil the grain trade has had to contend
with. It means the elimination OF the
bucket shop.
1t is two years since the Minneapolis
Chamber Of Commerce began the fight
against bucket shops. Previous to- that
time the Chicago board fought them, the
agitation naturally originating in Chicago,
where they f1ourished most at that Time
The PROGRESS Of this fight over a period
of years is marked by no less than seven
court decisions and reversals by courts
Of appeal, all bearing; upon this question.
The first great victory for the legitimate
grain interests came when an Illinois court
decided the quotations to be property,
fixed the ownership in the Chicago board,
and recognized the right of that body to
sell the quotations. Yet it is only recent
ly that the question Of the property right
of the board in its own quotations stood
the test of final appeal. This latest de-
cision makes the Western Union the abso-
lutte owner Of the quotations after the
property right passes to it from the chi
cago board, and further than this declares
that the ownership remains with the tele-
graph company even after the hgures
have been printed on the tape by the tick
ers leased by it's subscribers. 1t Is this
last clause that makes the decision so I'M
portant The decision also reaf11nls the
property right of the Chicago<board, since
the court must have taken cognizance of
it's existence before deciding upon the
property right of the telegraph company.
1t is the opinion Of eminent Minneapolis
counsel that no bucket shop operator will
be able to circumvent the plan which the
Minnea polls chamber now proposes to put
into effect Under its operation no charge
of discrimination can possibly be brought
against the chamber, since that institution
will not engage in the distribution of Its
quotations at all, but will sell them in
their entirety to the telegraph company,
thus relinauishing all property rights In
them. The telegraph company will be in
no sense the agent Of the chamber, but
will stand as the absolute owner of the
quotations, subject only to such restric-
tions regarding their use as shall be i'm
posed by the chamber before making sale.
And no bucket-shop operator can. charge
discrimination against the telegraph COM
pauy, since in this case the company will
stand not as a common carrier, but as the
owner of property bought on contract i'm
posing restrictions as to resale, and sub
| ject to termination upon violation.
| Against all this the bucket shops might
| still obtain the figures surreptitiously, but
be the property of the telegraph company
even as they lie printed OH the tape, any
non subscriber using the figures for pur-
poses of gain without the knowledge or
consent Of the telegraph company will be
amenabe to arrest for larceny.
Legitimate trade has won an important
point, and the Minneapolis chamber is to
be congratulated upon the outcome of the
fight it has carried on so long and so per-
sistently. -