THE MARKET WRECKER— A MENACE. 35 



That f.irm products c^n be readily marketed without the aid of option sales is made 

 manifest in the foregoing table conipilod from the report of the Chicago Board of Trade 

 which table shows that of $3(i.'>,000,000 worth of staple farm products shipped to and 

 thronu'li Chicago in 1888, but 29.3 i)er cent, were articles subject to option sales, while 70.7 

 per cent, were sold without aids which the Boards of Trade would fain have us believe 

 are necessary to the farmer's continued existence. 



The market wreckers lay great stress upon the difHculty of selling grain by sample, 

 stating such to be the alternative in case purely speculative contracts are prohibited, but 

 sample sales would be no more common than now, as as all grain below grade is sold by 

 sample, as is much of the grade grain sold for cash, and grain will continuetobe inspected 

 and sold by grade; still, if necessary, the $12,000,000 worth of wheat reaching Chicigo 

 could be sold by .sample as readily as the iS21, 000,000 worth of butter, ascould the $15,000,- 

 000 worth of oats as well as the •fH, 500,000 worth of hides and wool, each hide and fleece 

 being subject to separate inspection, as is every package of butter, while grain is inspected 

 and sampled by car loads. 



To the $256,000,000 in value of farm products shown to be exempt from option sales 

 should be added at least $50,000,000 worth of diessed beef and hogs, milk, poultry, eggs, 

 fruit, vegetables and vast quantities of other products of the iarm marketed at or through 

 Chicago, justifying the assumption that of the farm products reaching the great market, 

 fully three-fourths enter into consumption without assistance from this peculiar commer- 

 cial method. 



The report of the Chicago Board of Trade for 1888 shows that during the five years 

 ending with 1888, there was grown 11,040,000,000 bushels of wheat and corn, of which 

 1,077,000,000, or 9.8 per cent. only,.reached the eight interior Board of Trade markets and 

 much of this was counted twice, as grain is shifted from one such market to another, and 

 Chicago and other cities include in their receipts the produce in transit. The grain reaclr 

 ing the seaboard markets cannot be counted as it has been included once, if not twice, at 

 interior pohits, hence it follows that Boards of Trade aid to the extent of 'ins thantcn 

 per cent, in marketinq farm, products, and granting the substantial correctness of estimates 

 by an eminent merchant — who yearly distributes millions of dollars worth of farm pro- 

 ducts to commerce — "that the eflf'ect of option sales is to reduce, by more than ten per 

 cent., the value of all grain, cotton and swine grown, and that in the past ten years the 

 farmers of the United States would have received $1,000,000,000 more for their products 

 had not short selling become a prominent and profitable method of fixing values." 



The farmer would be the gainer if every Board of Trade and the option dealing 

 market wreckers were sunk at the bottom of the sea and 9.8 per cent, of his grain and 

 cotton was permitted to rot in the field, thereby saving the cost of harvesting ;iud mar 

 keting that percentage while the remainder would sell for more than would the whole if 

 subjected to the baleful touch of the market wreckers; hence it cannot work a hardship to 

 the producer to be bereft of the option dealer's market. 



If 90.2 per cent, of the grain grown and 75 per cent, of all farm products reaching 

 the large cities can be readily sold without being madefoot-balls of by bands of speculators 

 why not the small remainder? 



If the 27,000,000 bushels of whe.at which reached Chicago during the year in the 

 form of flour could be readily and ecouomically handled without being made the subject 

 of option sales, why not the 13,000,000 bushels which reached the same market in its 

 primary form? 



If Chicago can, without the aid of option dealers, furnish buyers for $54,000,000 

 worth of pork in the form of swine, why should it be essential to the farmer's prosper- 

 ity that the $26,000,000 worth In secondary form should be subject to the option dealer's 

 manipulation? 



It is readily seen why flour and swine eBcape the direct touch of the market wreck- 

 ers. The moment wheat is converted into flour and marked with the miller's brand, it is 

 severed from the mass of indistinguishable grain and assumes an individual character 

 and the option dealer having the hardihood to sell 10,000 barrels of "Pillsbury'e Best * 

 short would find himself at the mercy of the miller owning such brand. 



