PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 515 



actual bankruptcy, please remember that you are not the only ones that 

 have suffered. But we must not forget that in 1921 there were several 

 hundred thousand railroad employes deprived of their daily means of 

 livelihood while you had most of the necessities of life. We must not 

 forget that there have been literally millions of people starving in Rus- 

 sia, in China, and other parts of the world, while you had most of the 

 necessities of life. Nevertheless, you have suffered as never before. 



You have been passing through a crisis, and it is during such periods 

 as these when you should apply an acid test to things as they are and as 

 they have been, to see if better methods can be devised for the future. 

 During these past few years, you have had a hard struggle and things 

 have gone wrong constantly, yet a few things have been accomplished. 

 I want to list them once more — you have heard them before. Some of 

 these I have had no connection with; others I have been somewhat inti- 

 mately connected with. I will not deal in glittering generalities, but with 

 specific, concrete facts. 



First, during that period you have provided for the first time for the 

 regulation and control by the federal government of the grain exchanges. 

 Some have said the decision of the supreme court took the teeth out of 

 that law. It did out of a large part of it, but don't forget that the Inter- 

 state Commerce act was interpreted by the supreme court of the United 

 States as giving absolutely no power to the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion to fix rates until eighteen years had passed by. Their decisions 

 were largely advisory in character. Their investigations, however, and 

 their conclusions were of tremendous moment and significance to the 

 shippers and the railroads of the country, and laid the foundation for 

 subsequent legislation and regulation that has been of tremendous im- 

 port. Unsatisfactory as it finally is, I believe the enactment of the Cap- 

 per-Tincher law to have been just as epoch-making in importance in the 

 grain industry as was the enactment of the Interstate Commerce law in 

 the railroad industry. And I know that the grain industry has needed 

 some regulation. 



We found, after somewhat extended investigation, that on the Chi- 

 cago Board of Trade they sell more than fifty times as much grain annu- 

 ally as comes to the market. We found in that little wheat pit, about 

 twenty feet in diameter, they sell three times as much wheat as is grown 

 in the entire world. We found that they sell over 18,000,000,000 bushels 

 of grain annually, which is never delivered. They never expect to de- 

 liver it. We found that that is literally the price-reflecting or price-deter- 

 mining agency of the grain industry of America. When an institution has 

 become so strong and so powerful as that, it is time for some sort of 

 regulation and control, because the power in a few hands is vast. As to 

 whether the transactions on the Board of Trade are gambling or not, 

 there is a lot of discussion. I am not going to indulge in that tonight. 

 Suffice it to say, I believe the facts that I have related, the accuracy of 

 which I have not heard questioned demonstrate and justify the enact- 

 ment of such legislation. Has it occurred to you that the passage of 

 that law has been during the administration of one of your former as- 

 sistants in this organization? 



