GAMBLING IN WHEAT 29 



been exported, leaving a visible supply of 63,000,000 

 bushels, not including millers' stocks and seed re- 

 quirements, as compared with only 46,820,000 at 

 the same time in 1915, which was a year of bumper 

 crops. Yet the price of wheat and flour was forced 

 up to unheard-of figures. 



The corn crop of 1916 amounted to 2,700,000,000 

 bushels, one of the greatest corn crops in our history, 

 the maximum having been 3,124,746,000 bushels in 

 1912 and the average about 2,700,000,000 for the 

 past twelve years. At the beginning of the year 

 there remained in the hands of the farmer 1,138,- 

 000,000 bushels, the greatest carry-over, with a sin- 

 gle exception, since 1907. Under these conditions 

 there is little justification for the high prices of 

 staple foods, in spite of the big export demand. 



Through the Board of Trade the big operators 

 maintain an autocratic control over basic prices. 

 They drive down prices when the farmer sells dur- 

 ing the summer months and inflate them as soon as 

 the supply has been purchased. The speculative 

 nature of grain prices was shown by the collapse of 

 the market after November 22, 1916. The rumor 

 was started that the President was arranging a truce 

 in th« European war to begin at Christmas and 

 possibly become permanent. December wheat de- 

 clined sixteen cents a bushel in spite of all the talk 

 of a short crop and great European demand. This 

 particular collapse was due to the powerful packing 



