The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-09-13
LOWERING COST OF LIVING
Congressman Try Scheme TO
Reduce Price of Food Stuffs--
Place Blame on Grain En-
changes.

thduktSs
Toledo, Ohio, Sept n0.-(Spec-
ial. )-The past year has been a most
strenuous one for the grain dealers
of the United States.
Never in the history of the busi-
ness has there been so many hostile
bills fired at them from the legisla-
tive batteries at Washington.
From the opening of the last ses-
sion until its close August 26 last,
just SO bills affecting the grain
trade in all it's branches were in
troduced in congress.
All this activity at Washington
kept the grain men on the jump. OF
the 50 bills all were not, of course,
inimical to the grain trade. Some
of them, If passed, would have been
of great value to both consumer and
grain dealer alike.
There were others, however, that
the grain men stubbornly fought.
Among these were the anti-option
bills, of which there were thirty-six.
Tbirty-two of these bills were in
troduced in the house and four in
the senate. What was the reason
for this sudden avalanche or anti
future trading bills?
uC ulbu COSJ VI llNlu6
Looking For Remedy.
When the prices of the necessities
Of life rise lawmakers begin to look
around for the cause and to suggest
a remedy. The congressman had
figured that the spectators ON the
grain exchange were responsible in
some measure for the high price of
grain. They believed that through
manipulation the big market oper-
ators had created corners and
boosted the prices beyond the true
value of the cereals.
They decided to put the "gamb-
lers" out of business and then the
price of grain would come down.
The thirty-two members of the
House pooled their issues and went
in solid phalanx behind one of the
bills.
To meet this onslaught the Grain
Dealers National Association, an or
ganization composed of practically
all the handlers of grain in the
United States, from the small coun-
try shipper to the big terminal mar
ket receiver, started a Campaign of
education" among the members of
congress.
They went into the history of the
grain trade, and followed its grad
ual evolution from the time that
Joseph stored the grain in Egypt,
I down to the present. They under
took to prove the difference between
legitimate speculation and gambling;
they pointed out the economic func-
tion of speculation; they showed
| there would be no price stability
without the speculator; that in the
fall when all the farmers dumped
their grain on the market at one
time prices would be demoraliZed
unless the spectators stepped in and
carried the load, and that in the
spring the prices would be boosted
out of sight if the spectators and
merchants had not bought millions
of business in the fall and stored
them away to meet the steady con-
sumptive demand.
The Association frankly confessed
that there were still some evils con-
nected with the speculative market,
but that the grain men themselves
were gradually eliminating the
gambling features by passing anti
corner rules on all the exchanges.
Bill Did Not Pass House.
The anti-option bill was not pas
sed, but its advocates will more than
likely be on the ground ready for
another fight at the next session.
In the meantime the grain men
are doing everything in their power
to prove to the country that their
anti-corner rules really have teeth,
and that by these rules, aided by
public sentiment, it is impossible
for another Hutchinson, or Letter,
or Patten, to appear upon the hor-
iZon.
They contend that the law of sup
ply and demand is more immutable
in the grain trade today than in any
other industry in the country, and
they assert that this contention will
be borne out this year because of
the 5000, 0,000-bushel crop of
grain that will be raised in the
United States. This record-breaking
crop, they affirm, will lower prices
and automatically reduce the cost
of living.
At the annual meeting of the Grain
Dealers National Association, which
is to be held at Norfolk, Va, October
l, and 3 next, the growth of pub
lie sentiment against the exchanges,
as reflected in the SO anti-future
trading bills, will be thoroughly dis
cussed and measures adopted to
make the public more Intimately ac-
quainted with the functions of legi-
innate speculation.