Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1911-01-25
VIII Be Discouraged by New
Administration of Chi
cago Board
SLUMP IN EGGS AND BUTTER
Farmers Take Products to the
Market and Eat Oleomarga-
rine at Home.


Judging by the inaugural declaration
OF the new president, ]. C. F. Mer-
rill He came out boldly as opposed
to practices which throw discredit up
on the institution which furnishes a
ready market for grain and pro-
visions regardless of the size of the
crop The practices which Presi-
dent Merrill particularly inyeighed
against were those of issuing aluring
market letters in the effort to in
crease speculation on the Board Of
Trade, of running private Board of
Trade wires into the smaller towns
and cities of the country, and Of So
/ liciting speculative business. Il am
not an alarmist," he said, but my
strong desire is to impress upon you
the importance of seeing danger sig
nails when so plainly placed before
us and of directing thereby our bust
ness conduct shall favor a wider
censorship by the officials of the
board of the literature emanating
against speculation which wire Off
ces in small obscure towns tend to
promote, comes not alone from the
traders themselves. 1t comes from
the leading banking and business men
in these small communities, who re-
alize the disastrous effect upon their
own business of that sort of specula-
ton and observe around them the
public DISGRACE and financial ruin
which often attends the speculative
efforts of those who trade. The
chief support of the anti-future legis-
lation in Congress comes from these
sections of the country in which pri-
vate wire offices have heretofore
operated. 1t is my position now and
it has been for more years that it
should be beneath the dignity Of any
member here to solicit or accept
speculative business from bankers
and others in a fduciary capacity and
from employees or fellow members
except under stringen. regulation"
Slump in Eggs and Butter.
The sudden slump of wholesale
prices for butter and eggs in Chicago
which the retailers finally allowed tC
cut the consumers cost of living was
laid to the cold storage houses by
some commission men. But response
bility now for a reduction of the costs
of living or for advance year ago
are not borne out by the government
statistics. Only a year ago commits.
sion houses, then pointing to cold
storage houses as the cause of con-
ditions quite the reverse, were con
frOnted by the government figures
which show that the annual crop of
eggs is almost G0,000,000 cases, OF
which less than per cent is stored
and that the balance, over 92 per
cent, goes direct to the consumer.
In the city of Chicago, in 1909, there
were stored approximately 100000
!, cases. and a careful canvas of the
leading houses showed that these
eggs were owned by GIG persons OF
firms, Another South Water street
merchant offered an amusing expla
nation of the present butter and egg
situation. 1T is all due to the far
mers eating oleomargerine," he de
clared The farmers nowadays, anC
| mean nearly S5 per cent of them
| take their milk and butter to the mar
ket and carry home oleomargerine
and by doing this they decrease the
consumption of butter and throw 81
: great an amount into the city marke
that the storage people have to fill
their houses with it. Then at time
like this it is suddenly unloaded anC
/ see the result However, the colo
, storage is not entitled to credit now
for the glut and low prices of butter
nor to blame for high prices of {
year ago. The government repor
: shows that of all the butter produced
in the country, not over per cent i!
put away into storage, while "a pc
! cent goes into immediate use, and ;
small proportion of the crop could no
+ control the market. The top pric,
: for storage butter this season was B.
IL cents per pound, while finest fresl
.. butter, during the period of storms
and unusually cold weather, did no
60 above SO cents, yet, in 1882, befor
modern cold storage was known, tn
y price of butter at Elgin, for the weel
of February goth, was 4S to so cents
= and the average price for the mont
:. was As and 3-4 cents. Of fresh mea
less than per cent is placed in coll
storage.
Small Margin for Packers.
The problem of efficiency and cor
servation which efficiency implies
raised by Louis Brandeis with regar
to the railroads has given the packin
business of Chicago new interest
whatever the merits of the case in tn
federal courts. The economies Q
meat packing, in which by-product
produce the profits, has been give
standing as real conservation. "Ther
is no industry in which the sellin