The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-04-03

john PAUL's WHEAT PURCHASE-A
Choptcr of 7rade-Buyin9 Long and Sell
inn .Short.-Generaly speaking, wheat is Il
very good grain. 1t shows we'll in the field
and in the statistical report 1t looks we'll
in stacks, and especially well in cranarcs !;
and when well ground, methoulcally knead-
ed. iudiciously baked. and properly
h rr and Guttered into toast, there is
no one who will speak more respectfully,
not to say enthusiastically, of the vegetable
than will, for l am, in the main, too well
bred to do otherwise. But rs an article Of
commerce. medium for speculation, | am
emnhatically down on the whole lnstitu-
ton. both " Winter" and "Spring 1.-THE
one has proven "the winter of my discon-
tent while the other has fsprung" a
trap on me not unlike that projected over
unwarv birds which nibble at the same
bait. These remarks may seem severe, but
they drop as naturally from me as the ker-
nels would from head OF WneaI thal mas
been we'll thrasbed.
AS everybody knows, L am the son OF
rich but respectable parents. ] started in
life with this talismanic maxim for money
making: Buy when every one is selling;
sell when every one is buying. Well, some
weeks since, wheat, which had been very
buoyant. suddenly fell. Every one was
selling. l had little money, and contiding
in INV golden rule, "pitched in" and
bought at "eighty-tive." Very. soon the
staple commodity dropped to sixty-eight.
Now, thought i. is the time to get an
bought more. And I'll venture to say that
no Old lady ever prayed so devoutly for her
bread to rise as I did for my wheat. The
fault. they said, was in the East (excuse the
pl1n, if the pun is Obviously until, as it still
kent dropping. / thought it my duty
to 90 into Chicago and put stop to it..
The first greeting that met ME as / stepped
into the fremont House was telegram on
the buIletin-board "Wheat is flat"
Wheat probably was fiat enough, but this
announcement struck me as being rather a
sharp truth. At hall-past II went down
on 'Change. 1t is, perhaps, needless to
s1 Ell had bought. Wheat had cheated"
in the warehouses, they said. Enigmatic
reference was made to stump-tail."
HBuyers" were offering 'stifty-ive )" every
body appeared to be buying; therefore,
following out my aphorism, | sold.
The result may be summed up thus: Two
months ago | had money and no wheat.
Subsequently had wheat and no money.
Now, by the Lord, l have neither! The
second lot was 4 poor lot-as poor, in fact,
us the second edition of Pharaoh kline,
since IL Swallowed tuc ulSGs DuG L DOuSuI
it to make III average" and made it.
For the past few days my friends have
noticed remarkable echo in my vicinity.
Whenever we chance to meet, some chap
will say, s'A-hem, wheat" and the rever-
beration rolls back, deep and distinct,
"Dam wheat!" The echo may be profane,
but it is the expression Of very general
sentiment. For think that most operators
will concur with me in the following con-
| illusions:
That to buy at " eighty-fve and sell at
" tifty-fye" will not pay unless man does
very large business. That wheat, when
it once begins to fall, is i good while reach.
ing bottom. That when it once begins to
heat, it very soon becomes too hot to hold.
That, after all, the surest way to make
money in wheat is to plant it in good soil.
And, lastly, that man going into the wheat
market, with even small capital, if he is
| industrious and pcrseyeres. may very soon
succeed in owing more than it is probable
he will ever be worth.