44 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



might not be less than ten bilUons a year. " In other 

 words, for a bushel of real wheat sold/' said Mr. 

 Drake, "more than fifty bushels of phantom wheat 

 is sold on the floor of the Chamber of Commerce. 

 And every bushel of future grain which is sold tends 

 to make the price received for cash wheat."* 



No person in the country has given more scientific 

 thought to the questions of wheat manipulation 

 than Professor E. F. Ladd, president of the North 

 Dakota Agricultural College. He has fought for 

 the farmers of his State for years. He has appeared 

 before the State legislature, before Congress, and in 

 the courts. He has published many learned bulle- 

 tins on the subject. Speaking of the food situation 

 of the country in May, 1917, he says: 



"There is no question in my mind but what the 

 farmere would handle the situation were it not for 

 those who are endeavoring to exploit them. The 

 exploitation of food products is, to my mind, one of 

 the greatest curses of our day, and the buying and 

 selling of grain as carried on at the Chamber of 

 Commerce, etc., is one of the most detestable forms 

 of gambling practised by certain American people to 

 the detriment of the great producing and consuming 

 classes of our country. 



"If the farmer received on the average of $1.30 

 for his wheat for the past year's crop (and much of 

 it was sold for less than that), then is there any good 



^ Testimony Hearing, Committee on Rules, House of Representa- 

 tives, 63d Congress, Second Session, Grain Exchange House reso- 

 lution No. 424. 



