Whiskey Rebellion

A small-bore whiskey rebellion broke out this week. In defiance of President Truman's wishes (but not of any binding order) most U.S. distillers resumed normal production for the first time since Oct. 24. They had voluntarily closed down for two months, had then been limited to 50% of their normal grain consumption for another month by a temporary law which expired Jan. 31.

President Truman, whose plea for new restrictions on distilling had been turned down by Congress, appealed directly to the liquor industry to limit itself. But the distillers weren't impressed. They knew that preliminary estimates on the 1948 wheat crop were so favorable that last week the grain market had a severe slump (see Col. 3). They could quote Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson's own optimistic testimony (on the European Recovery Program) that grain supplies were ample. They could point to foreign distilleries using grain for whiskey (for export to the U.S. for dollars).

But their best argument was two Government-owned distilleries at Omaha, Neb. and Muscatine, Iowa. In December, Secretary Anderson had promised distillers to shut off grain from the Government plants, leased to private operators. But Anderson later changed his mind, gave the Omaha still 60,000 bushels a month, gave Muscatine 50,000.

For a year, the price of grain had climbed almost steadily, until it looked as if it had no ceiling. But last week speculators wondered if a ceiling had not finally been reached. Though cash corn was up, both corn and wheat futures prices tumbled for the second week in a row. May corn futures were down as much as 19-c- from the high of the week before. May futures in wheat sold off as much as 17 1/2-c-.

At $3.14 3/8 a bushel, cash wheat was 24-c- below its high mark of last November. What had brought on the break? Government buying had slackened; the Government had almost all it needed for export under present goals. The winter wheat crop looked good, as deep snows had given it both protection and adequate moisture. And livestock feeders had begun to balk at paying $3 and up for corn, so more grain was going to market and less into hogs & cattle.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.