Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-06-11

"Can The Farmer Control The
wheat Market" by John
Leo Coulter.
II Is popular just now to rush intt
print with q denunciatton OF Mr.
James "A. Patten Of Chicago, who ha.
recently demonstrated his ability a.
an expert manipulation, or to come
out with an attack upon the entire
grain marketing system 10y in gen
eral s In the primary markets Of
this country. Enough adverse criti'
cism has been uttered during the last
month to suit the most bitter enemy
Of the present system. Let us STOP
tearing down until we are ready tc
buildl The purpose Of this brief
statement is to present some OF the
practical problems involved TO point
some OF the missing or weak cogs In
the machine and suggest, In the
rough, some steps which seem desir-
able At the present time In order that
better results may be secured to all.
1t should be noted In passing that
Mr.. Patten has not been doing any
thing 50 very exceptional. To be sure
he got hold OF the d%istributive me-
chanism and used 1t to gain his sell
fish purpose. Many Others have done
this before him and have used the ex-
changes as recklessly and produced as
great damage and suflering,-witness
Hutchinson's antics in 1888 and Lei
ters in 1897. For this he has been
rOundly denounced from bake-shop
and pulpit, from producer and con-
sumner, from co%untry-store politicians
and legislators In the states and In
Congress. He got no more than he
deserved.
While discussing the present stu
alton, q prominent grain man used
this smile: He compared the grain
exchange to a harvester on the farm.
Sometimes q runaway occurs on the
best Of farms in which some animal
often . human being gets badly
pounded up. But" he said, THAT
ID IN exceptional event. The farmer
cannot afford to rush out and kill the
runaway horses and smash the har-
v~ester.n / observed Understanding
the simile was legitimate,-my exper-
fence on the farm led me to suggest
better guards for the dangerous parts
OF the machine, better bits in the
horses mouths, and better men In
charge of horses and machines
Horses which constantly run away
and do damage must finally be killed
or lasting improvement is impossible
The present system need not fear the
slaughter block unless a better sys'
tenn ID made available) II 1t stops
run-aways and serves it's purpose as II
pretends to. But Improvement is
now demanded.
Because 1t would be impossible To
describe the important phases OF fu.
lures, hedging, options, puts, calls,
ETC., In 80 brief q treatment. and be-
cause the cash grain market is far
more important and an improvement
- h.sora ~ ,.sting resrlts can 10
...,,-.d 90 nv rroBtahlv examine
,h. c,,ost,or q cost, - nrodnctiou
.ra 81. -sar..t. ro,nt. n the nresant
...rsm..r.t hafnro attamnttno IN nre.
..nt, ira othar nhaaas refarred To.
m r,I,,.t-.t. tha nroh,am I nresan,
ch.rt -hich shows the cash mice q
M ! HAN vhaat.lhioh and low 70,
..ch mnnthl ~ tha f,oor II the Min.
~n.aroIl. rhamhar ~ Commerce since
ahat Or.da ~ established to design,
~ Z narticnlar VARIETY Of wheat If
1aas m. .ttantinn n the reader i,
callsd ~esneciallv to the extreme fluct,
nation. a. the cash price a. shown: Il
= 49, callad - the violence ar sud,
d.nre.s = thesa changes. To illus
trata. M. / Hard was selling In Min
n-eanolis ~ AUGUST. 1895 81 {. Will,
~ farmar. = tha surrounding conn
~ v.re markatino their grain. A
Sev months later the same grain wa,
heino MA .0ain fcash ON the fioor) 4,
=, ~ A..A 49,. .n 500