Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-15


The decline in cotton calls attention once
more to the futility of combination in re-
straint of natural laws. Not that the break
in cotton prices is due entirely to the fall
ure to attempt to hold back stocks and
thereby reduce supplies in the foreground
so as to enable spectators to bull the mar
l1et, but that feature contributed to the
market weakness. The mere organization
of any set of men to restrict deliveries of
any of the leading staples crops instantly
arouseS antagoniSm and becomes q stand
ing invitation for sharpshooter practice all
along the line. Experience has taught that
failure almost Invariably attends attempts
of this sort, and spectators are educated
to feel that they are betting on a certainty
in selling any market which Is advertised
to be a subject for that species of artificial
stimulation. 1t is dope with boomer
ang attachments. most conspicuous
case in point was movement some years
ago in the northwest among farmers to
hold their wheat for higher prices. The
plan was worked up quietly among the
wheat raisers. and their general support
was promised. When everything was ready
the scheme was given wide exploitation,
and the market forthwith began to decline.
Among the first to sell futures were the
millers OF Minneapolis and other great -four
centers. The professionals on the Chicago
board of trade followed, and soon 1t be-
came the fashion to bet that the hold
your wheat campaign would collapse. At
ter the market had sold Is or 20 cents the
farmers began to send their grain to mar
ket, and another break OF 10 or 10 cents
ensued. The result was that the wheat
raisers of the whole country suffered and
We're obliged to take very smaller aver
age price for the crop of that year than
they would If matters had been permitted
to take their natural course "Gentleme:."
agreements, in which bakers dozen or
less spectators or financiers become SUBJ
scrbers. frequently fall to pieces on ac-
= -, lN,I Cot nf n,,a Of
the members of the coterie. How much
more difficult it is, therefore, for a great
number of men to stick together on any
proposition involving such scheme as
holding back a great crop covering twenty
states, The experiment has been tried
several times since the disaster that be-
fell northwestern wheat growers, and on
none Of these occasions with success.
Failure also attends movements to re-
strict acreage. The rule among farm
ers planters entering into such com
binations is that the agreement applies TO
everybody In the deal except the first per-
son singular. Each farmer seems to feel
that all of his neighbors must in honor
bound abide by the contract, but that he
himself is exempt. Hence, If the plan be
to hold back the crop he is first to send his
to the market. and If the agreement be to
cut down the area. he proceeds to plant a
few, more acres than usual Human ma
ture is the same the world over. The dis
position ito get the best of it, applies not
only TO the agricultural element, Out uIuS
expression in every phase of business life.
J. p. Morgan & Co. made it condition of
their offering to float the malodorouS ship
building trust, that they be permitted to
"sel theirs first meaning their allotment
OF the stocks and bonds of the concern.
The absorption of the Cincinnati Hamil-
ton and Dayton system by Erie is said TO
have blocked a scheme of John w. Gates to
take over the property and by Selling con-
troll of the Chesapeake and Ohio create an
entirely new and original system extending
from the Great Lakes southwest to Newport
News on the Atlantic
The street has been treated to a revival
of talk about the Erie linking up with the
ing thereby transcontinental route. OF
course, Wisconsin Central figures in this as
the connecting link between Erie and the
Hill system. Such a deal may be entered
into. but it is extremely doubtful If the
eastern and western systems are ever
brought formally under a single manage
ment.
The collapse of Joseph Ramsey's contest
for control of Wabash was not unex-
pected. He lost what little chance he had
when the St. Louis court turned down his
application for Injunction to restrain the
Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain roads
from voting their holdings of Wabash stock
That incident settled the fight and left
Ramsey without leg to stand on. He is
dying hard, however. and threatens to keep
his grievance aired in the courts for an in
definite period.
They are beginning to drop James Hazen
Hyde from corporation directories.
1t is foregone conclusion that vigorous
attempt will be made to drive bill through
the New York legislature next winter to
compel trust companies to comply with