The Chronicle. LEVIN. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1916. CHEAP POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEAR CEREALS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 1 July 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle. LEVIN. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1916. CHEAP POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEAR CEREALS.

A n organized riso in the prices of oats audi wheat is again apparent. This is the third .successive year in which a like occurrence ha® been experienced. Ir, may be the thirty-thirJl, reallly; for there have been market manipulators with us for quite that period, and it is a trite saying that "the man who invests his money must gain his fair si mi re of interest thereon." That is what the political economists might call an axiomatic statement of self- . evident But the agriculturist may have other views on the matter. He should lia.vo; and probably he does have in some isolated instances; bue we doubt if he realizes (in H'c aggregate of his class) how much he is a mere catspaw for the men whoso right to exploit him and all his follows he. upholds in theory. New wheat always lT opens" cheaply; even in theee times of war and abnormally high prices we have seen this force operating. Aid why is it so? Because the speculator de-sires to buy on a sure margin for future profit. The agriculturist "must" soli. in most cases; .so after holding out for a few weeks and finding his trustful winter creditors seekin.; payment from him, he accepts- the best price obtainable for "is wheat and oats. A month or two later, the manipulators get reedy for their recurring- discovery that "stocks of gram are insufficient to meet the dominion's actual needs." The same annual discovery has been made this month that was made in 1915 and in aibout 1910 other years : the same increases of 4d to Gd per bushel on wheat and 2d to 3,1 per bu.shol on oaits hare been quoted and- dx acted on the wholesale market; the same weary lethargic buci)l;c endeavourers- (in Canterbury and Marlborough ond Rnngitikei) have cried <r \Vel> I'm durnod! ICh, well, there's no escape from these things. Now there. Bill, bluestone them seed oats! We must sow early for next season." The same weary old carters and public bodies and, poultry-farmers have ' "talked it over" in the loose-box and ■ the council chamber a,'id across the fences of wire-netting; but still the 1 pleasantly-placed middleman gathers in his unearned increment, and the debating societies' leading lights "protest against any andi all attempts to fix prices by legislation." The texti books and their platitudimial echoers ' inform us that such things are visionI ary, and unworkable in practice withI out inflicting great hardship on the best pections of the oommunity. And

to this allegation the ploasant-f&ced person who buys the former's grain and sells it to the produce merchant utters a fervent hoar! hear!! tliat cchoes from Gore to Hokianga and reveilborates in the House ot Parliament to the exclusion of all other sounds whenever the increaeed-cost-of-living giant puts up his guardi against the futile blow*; of such people's representatives who seek to give effect to rcmedinl regulations. '