The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-01

c ing report to the United States De- partment of Justice expressing belief that wheat Speculators have used the credit of the United States Govern i
 ment to corner the great bulk of it's stupendous 1919 wheat crop; that
 through their manipulations the price
 of wheat, and consequently the price
 of bread, has been increased fifty per cent.
 Officials high in the United States
 Grain Corporation, organized by the
 Government to protect it's citizens against just such manipulation, are
 mentioned in the report. At least one
 of them is accused of manipulating
 grain on a gigantic scale and reaping
 immense profit to himself.
 Declaring that the Government can reduce the price of flour and related
 necessities whenever it so elects, the Grand Jury demands an immediate investigation into all grain centres of , the United States The report fol- lows: ssWhen the Government appro-
 priated O,0OO,000 to buy the 1919 wheat crop, wheat receipts became as good as Government bonds. Banks were glad to loan money in any quantity to purchase wheat, for the ] money paid the farmers was imme- 1 diately redeposited in the banks. 'aThe minimum price of wheat was | fixed in the Northwest at $2.20 for soft wheat and $2.22 for hard wheat, l coast points, and the prices paid the | farmers were these sums less freight l to coast points, averaging about 3 1 points per bushel, and certain other i charges which amounted to from to l cents per bushel. IT. some cases
 a small premium was paid for hard wheat
 s"The majority of the mi1:s in the | Northwest arc owned by half dozen I concerns, and each in turn has
 grain company, which is officered and | operated by the men who own the 1 milling concerns. | From a great mass of testimony 1 presented before the grand jury, we l believe that 85 per cent. of the 1919 1 wheat crop of this state, estimated at 1 42,00O,000 bushels, went into the l hands of these half dozen grain com 1 panies and was purchased prior to l October 15. before any material ad- | vance in price.
 | t'The banks of this state are honey | combed with warehouse receipts. Spo- | kane banks at one time were carrying $9,OOO,O0O worth of warehouse re- 1 ceipts, and it is not unusual to find l $1,O00,000 on wheat receipts.
 | Having bought practically all of
 the wheat in the states of Oregon and l Washington, these grain companies
 have been able to advance the price
 by sales to each other and through i manipulations of the grain market
 centred at Minneapolis, and by other methods.
 Although the greater part of the wheat was purchased around SPOT, the grain companies are selling the wheat to their own milling concerns at the prevailing market price, which at present is from $3 to s3.3O per bushe1 for hard wheat. Their own mills are asserting the rights to man. ufacture flour on the basis of the price paid for the wheat-a price which is the result of their own acts of manipulation.
 '"The byproducts of flour, bran and shorts, are a necessary food for dairy cattle, and the prices now demanded for these by products mean destruc. ton of the dairy industry.
 Under regulations existing in 1918, millers were prohibited from
 making more than 50 cents a ton on
 mill feeds, and a fair price on car load lots was fixed by the United S.I per ton, while today mill feeds are selling in Spokane at $43 per ton,
 carload lots, and $50 at coast points ''The Pacific Grain Company, the
 successor of the M. H. Houser Grain Company, the Pacific Coast Elevator Company, and the Puget Sound Ware house and Elevator Company are owned and operated in connection with the Portland Flour Mills con. cern, with headquarters at Portland Oregon.
 I ''These corporations were owned by M. H. Houser. vice president of the United States Grain Corporation foy the Northwestern district. At the I time he became vice president he 8 made some kind of a transfer of his interests in these concerns, and doe! not at this time appear as the owner '"rhe offices of the United States S Gram Corporation for the Northwest. 9 ern district and the offices of the above ' named being located in a buflding s owned by M. H. Houser in Portland s Ore, it is, by reason thereof, the belie A of the grand jurors that he, Houser, i. S the real party in interest in the r1illins ! and grain concerns above named, ana s that by reason of his connection witt S the United States Grain Corporation
 
 d operate them to an immense profit t, ss himself and associates.
 .s 'fThe Pacific Grain Co. admits hay s ing bought 11,00O,0O0 bushels of tn H 1919 wheat crop.
 E ''It is impossible for this distric sS to obtain relief, for the grain com M panies threaten, in case action i NJ taken to force them to sell the graf % 10 the mills at the price paid by then E plus a reasonable carrying charge, ( E close the mills and ship the graf E to Eastern points.
 E gro frustrate any concerted pla
 of evasion, we would urge that tn H Department of Justice take simul k taneous action in all wheat and f1ou centers of the United States.
 E 'Iately the press reported ths E Julius Barnes, president of the Uni @ ed States Grain Corporation, ha s joined with Herbert Hoover in th A purchase of one of the large new: S papers of Washington, D. C., we no E note daily newspaper articles whic S seem to indicate a propaganda is b, M Ing carried on through the newsps E pers by MT. Hoover, urging tf