Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1916-11-25
THE CREED OF THE
SPECULATOU IN FOOD.

RO III OOhHtCuOl WIFI lIlc lilNCSuRd-.
ton that the government is making of
the present high prices of foodstuffs.
Certain spectators in farm prod
ucts, it is said, have purposely per-
mitted trainloads of sound stuff to rot
in the fields or be condemned and de-
stroved as unsound after having been
removed from the place of produc-
ton. This, it is alleged, was done in
order to reduce the visible supply
and increase the price on the stock in
storage to an extraordinary degree.
1t is also found that millions of doz-
ems of eggs have been bought up by
spectators at prices, from l6 to
"a cents a dozen and deposited in cold
storage warehouses, from which they
are now being sold at 40 to 80 cents a
dozen.
Obviously, it would be difficult for
the government to pass a law that
would seriously interfere with the
freedom of buying and selling in the
open market, and it would no doubt
be unwise to do this even if it could
be done and stand the tests of the
courts, and yet it is evident that in the
course of time the government will
be compelled to resort to some means
to prevent the speculator from levy
ing outrageous taxes on the public.
When one remembers that the av-
erage family income in the United
States, in normal times, is about $500
year, and that hundreds of thous-
ands of families must live on from
$500 to 5000 year, the burden which
this speculation in food places upon
the people can easily be appreciated
by those who have anything like ad-
equate knowledge of the hardships
that excessive food prices impose
upon the ordinary consumer.
The practice of depositing food
stuffs in cold storage also offers a
problem difficult to solve. The cold
storage warehouse, primarily, is
blessing to mankind, and yet, unfor
tunately, like many other great gift:
to humanity, it may be utilized by
evil men to the detriment of all. BY
means of the cold storage warehouse,
foodstuffs of all sorts, when plentiful,
may be preserved until the surplus is
consumed, and, properly managed,
the cold storage depot could be SC
used that the price of food would be
llessened rather than increased, be.
cause through it the volume which
may be carried beyond the poin
where il would spoil may be limited
only by the capacity of the storage
plants,
She conscienceless speculator, how
= ever, aided by the cold storage pro
cess, and with unlimited means at hi
= command, buys up the surplus farm
: and garden stuff, eggs, fruits, fowl!
= and holds them until scarcity compel'
the consumer to offer unheard o
prices fer these things. The rich anC
the comfortably well-to-do know LITTLE
} of the hardshipS which this swindlnl
process imposes upon the humble
wage Garner and the small salareC
man, and the speculator is permitted
to enrich himself at the expense o
victims whose complaints are not fal
reaching.
This condition, however, cannO
endure forever. The people usually
find ways TO correct positive abuses
even though it may be necessary tC
suspend temporarily some of the tiX
ed rules and laws of trade, and if the
government cannot find some remedy
in existing laws, other means will be
discovered and applied. The key t.
the situation is to be found in the colo
storage warehouse. II may be posi-
bly,, by placing tremendously heavy
tax upon goods stored beyond fixec
periods, to compel the spectators tC
place them upon the market in such
quantities and at such times as to pre-
went corners" and eItortion.
AT the same time, the ingenuity Of
greed and aVariee has nearly always
been equal to the opportunities which
offer themselves TO evil men to take
advantage of the helpless, and the
people, if they secure relief, must get
it through the services OF public serv-