Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-04-27
CURB ON WHEAT DEAL
SOUGHT IN CONGRESS
Scott Introduces Bill to Prohibit
Use of Means of Communica-
ton in Trading.
FLOUR PRICES ARE SOARING.
Many Efforts Have Been Made t.
Prevent One Man Gaining
Power Over Foodstuffs.
WASHINGTON correspOndenee

The entire country is aroused over
the effects of the Patten corner on the
price of bread. The White House is
being deluged with letters and tele-
grams from consumers and bakers. Tie
individual members of the cabinet also
are receiving messages from their own
States. and in every case the demand
is made that the government should
prosecute Mr.. Patten and his associates
on the ground that they are engaged
in a conspiracy or combination in re-
Straint of trade. The agitation reached
Congress Thursday, and Representative
Scott of Kansas. chairman of the
House Committee ON Agriculture, in
troduced a. bill forbidding the use of
all means of communication for the
transmission of information relating to
dealings in futures. BY this method
Congress put the Louisiana lottery out
Of business.
Grain Corner Bill Drastic.
The new Scott bin is a consolidation
of bill introduced by Mr. Scott two
years ago, prohibiting dealings in flu
lures in grain and grain products. and
pending bill introduced by Mr.. Burle-
son of Texas, prohibiting dealings in
cotton futures. 1t provides that every
telegraphic or mail purchase of grain
or cotton shall be accompanied by aft
davit setting forth the fact that the
purchase is bona fde, not on margin,
and that the articles are needed for
use by the purchaser. Newspapers are
prohibited from publishing quotations
on markets permitting marginal trans
actions in farm products, and telegraph
and telephone companies may not
transmit such quotations.
Putting up the price of wheat after
it has left the hands of the producer
serves no useful purpose that l can
see" said Mr.. Scott. IF wheat and
bread increase in price the tax is
placed on those least able to bear it.
l am personally satisfied that the panic
of 1907 could have been avoided if the
money tied UP in speculative future
deals had been available for legitimate
basis"
State Laws Only Hope.
There is but little chance, however,
of any action by the government to
prevent the elimination of the Patten
wheat corner or any similar specula-
tive movements which may be carried
on in the future. The difficulty lies
entirely in the fact that the govern
ment has no original Jurisdiction in
any matters which concern the ordin-
airy trading in a local market There
have been bills before Congress for a
generation to prevent any dealing in
futures, and efforts have been made
from time to time to get the Federal
government to interfere by means of a
prosecution under the antitrust law.
All of these efforts have failed in the
past, and State laws seem the only
hope
Manipulating a price on the Board
Of Trade involves interstate commerce
only incidentally. That is to say. it is
4 manipulation pure and simple, and
1t involves the question of local prices
much more than the moving of grain.
Besides that, the farmers are ominous-
" silent. They don't seem to object to
having the price Of their wheat raised,
and take the ground that it is merely
a development of the old law of sup
ply and demand which regulates prices
the world over. Flour prices have ad-
vanced to keep pace with the rise in
wheat.