The Washington herald., 1909-04-11
CROP REPORT VAGUE
April Conditions Do Not Size
Up Years Yield.
METHOD OF FIGURING NEW
Wall Street Does Not Attribute High
Prices of wheat 10 Government
statistics-Quiek Action Expected
on the Tarin-MonOpOly Cases I'm
Court Very Interesting.


portance last week was the publication
Of the figures OF the governments crop
report for April, which admittedly indi-
Gated. so far as the immediate promise is
concerned. a smaller winter wheat crop
than that OF a year ago. but it is well
understood that the April crop report is
the least valuable one Of the entire year.
partly because the agricultural season is
then In such an early stage that its pros
poets may be materially altered later on,
and partly because the areas Of impaired
winter wheat production as developed at
this time may he planted 10 other crops
Of equally or even more profitable nature.
To produce corn pays the farmer Just
now about as much as Il does 20 produce
wheat
Il is also 70 be borne IN mind. and
was last week in the financial district.
that the estimates as published Of a
prospective winter wheat crop OF 375,-
0O0,o00 bushels. compared with that Of an
actual harvest Of 437, ,O00, 900 bushels last
year. was based upon a new method Of
reckoning. and that by the same system
Of computation as that in vogue in 1903
the current months estimate would have
been a crop Of 496.OO0OOO bushels
Weather Conditions Bad.
Weather conditions since the beginning
of the year have been not unfavorable,
inasmuch as the deterioration OF the
winter wheat crop since December-this
covering a period when the condition OF
+. the crop always decIines-has been only
per cent, There is. therefore, nothing 10
e., .,
as Il stands and the high prices for
wheat now prevailing and the excellent
conditions for the spring wheat planting
must assure a wheat acreage this year Of
immense size.
Regarding these high prices for wheat,
while they may have been assisted by
the Patten corner In Chicago, it is now
obvious that their fundamental origin lay
in last years reduced harvests in every
country. which have brought about
scarcity OF wheat this year in the worlds
markets greater than any known in the
last decade.
Quick Action on Tariff.
Finally. last week the tariff bill in
Congress passed out OF the House OF Rep
resentatiyes IN Washington and is now
committed 10 the care Of the United
States Senate. Quick time has been made
by the bill in its passage thus far. and
the statement in this column several
weeks ago does not now appear quite
so unreasonable as Il did-that it is not
impossible that the completed measure
may be in the hands Of the President
awaiting his signature on May Is.
One matter last week which received
little attention IN Wall street. and per-
hsps deserved but little at the hands Of
the speculative stock market. was the
final argument in the United States Cir
cult Court at ST. Louis Of the lawyers
on both sides Of the Standard oil case,
this being the suit brought by the gov
eminent 10 disrupt the entire Standard
Oil organization.
Inasmuch as the final decision IN the
case like that in the suit brought against
the American Tobacco Company, must be
made by the Supreme Court Of the
United states. an ultimate judicial pro-
nouncement will not be made for a COM
paratively long time. II is clear. never
theless. that this adjudication. whenever
Il does occur, will be more important than
the business world OF the country than
any similar event that has happened IN
the last fifty years.
Must Define Monopoly.
In settling these two cases the highest
judicial body OF the country can hardly
avoid giving what has never been given
before-an exact legal definition Of a
monopoly. Those who have followed
both OF the two cases referred 10 must
nc impressed with the fact that the gov
ernment's attempt 10 destroy these cor
porations rests in substance upon the
fact that they are merely large cor
poratlons. The assertion is. IN plain
words that when a corporation gets so
large in this country, whether or not il
has acquired its size by rights Of fair
purchase and by an UpbUilding the same
as that practiced IN a similar way in the
ordinary course Of business development
everywhere. and whether or not Il Is
demonstrable that the formation OF the
corporation has improved the quality and
cheapened the price Of its product. if It
comes 10 exercise a more or less dOmi-
mating influence in the specific industry
concerned. then It IS IN and by this fact
alone a mOHupOly and should be sup
pressed.
Illustrating the principle in greater de-
tail IL is contended that the formation
OF a partnership. however small. between
two corporations separately engaged in
an interstate trade is In restraint Of
trade within the meaning Of the Sherman
law. II is high time that any such doc
frir oT racr in tho,