Evening star., 1923-08-05
SAY CAPPER-TINCHER LAW
LOWERED PRICE OF GRAIN
Market Observers Claim the Placing of
Exchanges Under Federal Supervision
Eliminated Speculative Buying.

shown by the action of wheat during
the last three months TO reduce the
number of buyers and sellers and
throw the trading into private chan
nels a result favorable rather than
! unafovorable to manipulation.
The petition against the coffee and
sugar exchange was denied, but the
action inS bringing it was disturbing
to all the commodity markets in
| which public exchanges are main
tanned. 1t is regarded as another
symptom of the popular disposition
to introduce governmental authority
in ordinary business affairs. without
| knowledge of the economic conditions
involved or the harmful effects.
Charge Pressed by Critics
Critics of the grain exchanges have
pressed the charge that the price Of
wheat is regularly depressed at har-
vest time and Immediately following.
until the crop has been bought by
| spectators. and that later the price
is advanced unduly, affording the
| spec ulators large and easy profits
Among others to make this charge on
numerous occasions has been Senator
Arthur Capper of Kansas, who has
probably been louder in his denuncia
tion of the grain exchanges than any
other individual, living or dead. In
this connection it is interesting and
significant to note the following in
the editorial columns of a recent is
sue of the Topeka Daily Capital.
newspaper published by Senator
Capper:
incidentally, Secretary Wallace's
report exposes the pretty widespread
error to the effect that the wheat
grower always sells at the low price
of the year Economists have shown
the fallacy of this opinion, but many
alf-informed writers on farm ques-
tions keep on repeating it. One-half
the wheat crop of the United States
passes out of the growers hands dur
ing the three months of July. August
and September. 1t is not true that
these are the months of low price
There is, in fact. no reason why they
should be, for while the American
crop comes on at this season, yet
| wheat is the most universal crop
grown in the world and there is
harvest season in a world sense. but
every month of the year SomeWhert
is a harvest month for wheat.
What the Report shows.
THE report shows that for the last
ten years the average price in july
has been higher than in March or
February, and the average price in
august higher than in October. No
vember or January. The average
September price is higher than Janu
airy, October or November. The high
months. however, are May and June.
and in these months for the last ten
years wheat has been 10 cents. on the
average, higher than in harvest
months in the United States They
are two final months of the crop year
and if the farmer held his crop to sell
in May or June his holding charges
would leave him probably a net price
no greater than he receives by dispos-
ing of his crop nine or ten months
| earlier Wheat, il must be said. is
altogether the best marketed farm
product. the machinery for mark citing
it is the most complete and it oper-
ates more smoothly and economically
|
| soil"
In view of the foregoing. the ques-
ton naturally arises if Senator Cap
per has not seen in the law which
he fathered. not panacea for all
the farmers ills but a boomerang which
has cost the wheat growers of the
country something like 5000. .O0o, 600
during the last three months.
Present Price in Kansas.
At the present writing wheat is
selling in Kansas. one of the largest
wheat states, for about IS cents a
bushel. which is less than it cost to
grow it without counting in the
farmers labor, and agriculture is in
a bad way financially. The grower
of wheat excessively. with his eggs all
in one basket has been hit a tire
mendous smash by the drop in prices
and the great wheat belt is a region
of deep gloom. Kansas farmers, to
all appearances, are now .'razzing'
the farm bloc" Discomfort is gen
eral, but in Kansas it seems to be a
lap or two ahead of Minnesota, and
out in the tall grass the natives are
quietly pannlng the professional
friends of the farmers"
There is no seething, boiling un-
rest: nothing that resembles remote
lily communism. bolshevism. anarchism.
extremism but the farmers are say
ing that much of the stun that was
heralded as panaceas has proved TO
be nothing but snake medicine.
Lesson May BE Worth the Price.
Thus. while the decline in the uric-
of wheat has come as a shock 10
many who have been looking ana
hoping for an increased purchasing
power for the farmer-a condition
that would be most desira ble-the low
price may, nevertheless, carry IT'S
own compensation in another way
Radicals have been able to sway the
| farmer and have been carried into
Office on a wave of discomfort: they
have been preaching an unsound doc
trine; they have convinced the farmer
| that they can change economic laws
by an act of Congress-; they have OBJ
| tanned the enactment of many laws
with that end in view. If the farmer
will Become convinced that economic
laws are beyond the power of Con-
gress. the lesson will be worth the
| enormous price he is paving