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Their control of the property of which they should be simply guardians or trustees, the property which does not belong to them but to the members of this board to whom they have sold it, has enabled them not only to manipulate prices, but to create intolerable obstructions to the free current of commerce which it is the most important function of this board to foster. The legitimate storage charge is no longer a prime consideration with them. Their alliance with the railroads, and the privileges and immunities enjoyed by them on this board enables them to levy tribute on producer and consumer alike, while the centralization of the control of stocks of grain in store robs the banker and the common carrier of the legitimate advantage of competition that would come with a restoration of the natural order of business. This board has never questioned the right of any of its members to deal in grain and store it in their own warehouses, but when its members elect to do such business they should not at the same time become public warehousemen with the stamp of regularity on their warehouse receipts. The opportunity to select and sell

at a premium the best of a grade while offering holders of their receipts the poorest, is a manifest injustice and contrary to public policy. The market price is always based on the least desirable, while for the better qualities such a premium as the necessities or desires of consumers may warrant, is exacted by the custodians of the property who do not even pretend to be its real owners. The well-known fact that the poorest quality that is deliverable on contracts establishes the price of the entire stock in store, and to a certain extent depresses the general market, is a constant injustice to producers in all the territority tributary to our market. It is an application the of principles of the Gresham law to the familiar operations of the grain market that must be intelligible to anybody. The integrity of the system of grain inspection in this city is of vital importance to this board. All the grain inspected in this district is marketed on our exchange, and though we have no voice in the management of the inspection department, yet our credit is impaired and our business injured by its inefficiency. When the inspection of grain was surrendered by this board to the State in compliance with the warehouse law, we had reason to expect faithful and uniform administration of the service. For many years we had no ground for serious complaint, but it has gradually become a useful part of machine

politics, and ward heelers are crowded upon the pay rolls without regard to the technical requirements of the work. The inspection department should be placed under the merit system, and the legislature should be petitioned to pass a bill to this end. An effort was made at the last meeting of the legislature to accomplish this but failed. If such an act can not be passed by the present legislature, it may be well to consider the propriety of asserting our rights under our charter and have our own inspection system.

The extermination of bucket-shops should continue to be the aim of this board. It is no longer necessary to explain their practices to convince the community of their viciousness. The public has come to understand their pernicious effects and their demoralizing influence. They furnish the most attractive gambling hells in every city and village where they can effect a lodgment, and are more dangerous to public morals than other forms of gambling because of their quasi respectability and immunity from police raids. Their proprietors are without exception thieves and swindlers.

Bucket-shops and pool-rooms are twin outlaws in nearly every state in the Union. Their united corruption fund has enabled them to baffle justice by debauchery of the constituted authority for the investigation and prosecution of crime, but they could not continue in existence a day but for their alliance with the Western Union Telegraph Company. That company furnishes all the machinery and all the news on which bets are laid, and it is the only telegraph company in the United States that leases wires for the private use of bucket-shops in swindling their patrons. The spectacle of a corporation with a hundred million dollars capital paying dividends gleaned from the vice and crime of the country is one to make any American blush. Contrast this with the conduct of some of the great newspapers of this city, which cannot be hired to print the harmless appearing advertisements of bucketshops. It may be said that a great commercial organization like this has no need to concern itself with questions of morals, but the ethics of business are based on a high standard of commercial morality, which it is our duty to preach and to practice. When we see our efforts to rid ourselves of the incubus of bucket-shops embarrassed by such a condition as is here outlined, we find our self-interest exalted by our patriotic duty as citizens in striking

down a wrong.

The

engaged will not cease.

crusade in which we have been so long Complete success will, however, be has

tened by our maintaining among ourselves an unimpeachable standard of business honor. Our rules are based on such a standard, and if any member is unfaithful to them, it is your duty, individually, to expose the derelict and aid your officers in purging your membership of any who are found unworthy to enjoy its privileges.

Let us enter upon the new year with a renewed pledge of loyalty to this great exchange and a determination to keep its honor above suspicion, so that our membership in it may be a source of pride and gratification to us and to our children.

DETAILED STATISTICS

OF THE

TRADE AND COMMERCE

OF THE

CITY OF CHICAGO

IN

FLOUR, GRAIN, PROVISIONS, LIVE STOCK, SEEDS, HIDES, WOOL, COAL, LUMBER, ETC.

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