The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 1, 1920, Page 5

fund to the treasury; it simply pro- _has been insistent in the past few - edge, unless they secured cars for quick ‘shipment , they would. lose heavily, s e e e B A B Senate Is Investigating: _Senator Gronna Would Dissolve U. S. Grain ~% Coiporation as First Remedy Washington Bureau, ¥ Nonpartisan Leader. EARINGS upon Senator Gronna’s bill to dissolve the United States Grain corporation and upon his resolutions inquiring into the reported refusal by federal reserve banks to make loans to farmers upon warehouse receipts for grain, and inquiring into reported failure to furnish cars for the shipment of grain from the country elevators to market, are expected to reveal some important facts to the American-farmer and bread consumer. = “The North Dakota senator sees in the recent .activities of the grain corporation a propaganda ‘to hammer down the price of wheat until a few speculators get control of the available surplus. Then he expects to see the price of wheat go sky- ward—with resultant scores of millions of dollars in profits for the speculators. He sees in the reported refusal of bankers to loan money on stored wheat another factor tend- ing to break the price.” If wheat speculators are connected with these bankers, the chance of their playing the same game is inecreased. He sees in the reported deliberate sidetracking of strings of grain cars at railway stations, and in the orders against reloading grain cars at the mills . with flour, a sabotage against the free operation of the wheat market. If, as representatives of the railroad brotherhoods allege, the railroad companies are trying to discredit public operation of the rail- roads by failure to deliver cars where needed; and if, as the train crews further declare, these acts result in a panic among the owners of stored wheat —then Senater Gronna believes that it is time that the public demanded, through a congressional in- quiry, just what public officials are doing. The' senate committee on agriculture “will hold hearings on the proposed abolition of the grain corporation. The Gronna bill does not propose the return of the billion-dollar guaranty withdrawal of the wheat price guan_mty, nor the vides that the grain 'corporation shall disappear. Complaint against the “manipulation” of wheat prices by Mr. Barnes and his lieutenants weeks and many witnesses are ex- pected to testify. The resolution dealing with the re- fusal oi the federal reserve banks to continue to loan money on stored grain has passed the senate, and Senator Gronna is chairman of the subcommittee in charge of that in- quiry also. The resolution dealing with the railroad car matter is ex- pected to pass and to likewise open up a new volume of facts upon the connection of railroad magnates, wheat brokers and big banking in- terests in the alleged raid upon the price of grain. “] am very strongly of the opin- ion,” said Mr. Barnes in a letter to Congressman Baer, dated February 9, “that government interference in business should cease with the war. ® % % The general market knowl- the resourcefulness of the American farmer has guided him aright for so long that I think it can still be relied upon to keep his in- dustry in a healthy condition and to solve whatever problems are forced - upon it. By all means don’t inject any more government influence in peace.” : > But Washington opinion holds that the circulars issued by grain corporation officials to elevator men throughout the country urging that were certainly an injection of gov- ernment influence to alarm the owners of stored grain. They were likewise an injection of influence that tended to destroy public confidence in the ability of the government to operate the railroads. Senator Gronna charges that these circulars merely show the willingness of grain brokers such as Barnes, holding high public office by appointment, to use their official power to manipulate the wheat market for the benefit of grain gamblers and,-at the same time, to assist the railroad magnates to again get possession of the railroads. Mr. Barnes has issued a warning that the wheat market will probably be seriously affected by the collapse of foreign exchange. The North Dakota senator answers that, since Europe is hungry, American wheat will still be required, even if less essential goods are no longer shipped overseas. Moreover, he urges that neither lumber, nor steel, nor shoes, nor any other staple article required abroad has fallen in price in spite of the confusion Grand Jury Exposes Plot Northwestern Grain All Cornered—Gov- .ernment Man Implicated Special Correspondence, Spokane, Wash. FEDERAL grand jury which has been investigating the northwestern grain situation- for several months, has filed with Federal Judge E. E. -Cushman a report covering its work, in which the :following startling charges are made: That 85 per cent. of the Washington grain crop’ of 42,000,000 bushels has been bought up by half a dozen large grain concerns at the government fixed price. That by pretended sales to each other and by manipulation of the market at Minneapolis, they over the value of foreign money. - - have advanced the price to about $1 a bushel above Mr. Barnes and Mr. Hoover have been trying to get congress to furnish a huge quantity of Amer- ican flour to starving peoples in Europe and Asia Minor. Hoover first asked for $200,000,000. Then he was willing to take $150,000,000. The sum ‘was finally cut to $50,000,000, after it was shown that his first $100,000,000 had been largely used to bolster the Polish army. Hoover reported a profit of some $50,000,000 in his handling of food relief in Europe. The senate committee will inquire, in due time, about this profit. Particularly it is anxious to learn whether or not the profit is largely represented by a vast amount of flour on hand at present, which must be sold abroad in order to show gain. There are ramors, which will be investigated, that the cheap -grade of flour manufactured by the grain corpora- tion, although perfectly good for immediate use, keeps poorly and that unless the surplus now on hand is quickly shipped to Europe and sold, it may spoil on Mr. Barnes’ hands. If this should happen, of course, the reputations of Mr. Hoover and Mr. Barnes would suffer. S Congressman Baer is resisting any action that would repeal the wheat price guarantee. Senator Gronna claims his bill would not have this effect. - HE KNOWS HIS MASTER TRIS §INT MY Doc UNCLE SAM - HE BeLoNGS —Drawn expressly for the .I_,e#der' by " PAGE FIVE. the government fixed price, thus making $35,000,- 000 for themselves. That ‘their influence is now being thrown behind the proposed plan to have congress appropriate $150,000,000 for European famine relief, in the be- lief that they can dispose of their stocks at still higher prices. . Besi.des citing the facts and figures leading to these conclusions, the grand jury charges that the powers of the United States Grain corporation have been thrown behind the speculators in their cam- paign to rob both the farmers and the consumers. Three of the grain buyers named in the report as leaders in the purchasing combine are Pacific coast concerns in which Max H. Houser, vice president of the grain corporation for the Northwest, is declared by the report to be interested. The report says: “The Pacific Grain company (the successor of the M. H. Houser Grain company), the Pacific Coast Elevator company and the Puget Sound Warehouse & Elevator company are owned and operated in connection with the Portland Flour Mills concern, with®headquarters in-Portland, Ore. “These corporations were owned by M. H. Houser, vice president of the United States Grain corpora- tion for the northwestern district. At the time he became vice president he made some kind of a transfer of his interests in these concerns-and does not at this time appear as the owner.” It is pointed out, however, that the offices of these concerns and the grain cor- poration’s northwestern offices are still housed together in a Portland building owned by Houser and the re- port states that “it is the belief of the grand jurors that Houser is the . real party in interest in the milling and grain concerns ‘above named and that by reason of his connection with the United States Grain corporation an immense profit to himself and associates.” jury asks the dssistance of the Unit- ed States department of justice to compel the sale of wheat stocks, held by speculators, at the government price, plus a fair carrying charge, and to compel the sale of flour and - mill feeds at a price based on the government price, plus necessary manufacturing costs. L. Roy Slater, forer=n of the grand jury, is a supporter of Senator Miles Poindexter for president and has been a financial backer of Poin- dexter in previous campaigns. There is a tendency in some quarters to look upon the grand jury.report as pelitical propaganda intended to help Poindexter and injure Hoover in this state. But regardless of how ruch politics is behind the report and whether or not Hoover is implicated in the case it is certain that the grand jury has exposed an enormous steal being perpetrated against the " farmers and consumers of the North- W. C. Morris. west. he has been able to operate them at In eoncluding its report the grand - ~