Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1920 — FLUCTUATING PRICES [ARTICLE]

FLUCTUATING PRICES

The slump in wheat prices has caused Governor Allen of Kansas to 1 ask President Wilson to order an investigation of the Chicago Board, of Trade. He says: If it is shown that these price fluctuations were due to speculation, cold, deliberate gambling, and not conditions of supply and demand, 1 । will urge abolition of the board. In ' any event, I will fight illegal gambling in necessities. I He . can see nothing legitimate in ' making laws against games of ' chance, and then winking at the speculators and gamblers who “are betting on the prices of the food we must eat and the clothes we must wear. The ‘ governor can not see “the merit, of legalized gambling in necessities by persons who sell thousands of bushels of grain they do not own, who buy thousands pt bushels of grain that is never delivered.” I Herbert Hoover, addressing Kansas- farmers, bankers and grain dealers, advocated a bar to speculation, restricting boards of trade and grain pits, as banks are restricted, and limiting trading to actual instead of । imaginary commodities. As long a? the Chicago board was closed as to wheat the price remained steady, but as soon as the operators began their work the price went up or down depending on the nature of rumors afloat at the time. The situation is one that demands Investigation and some sort of definite action that will improve conditions. —Indianapolis News.