American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-09-28
The Chicago Pork Corner.

Some facctious writer once said that
mankind were the only beings endowed
| with the power of laughter, aad if he had
| lived in this day and age, and witnessed
the ridiculous speculative operations of
certain members of the Chicago Board of
| Trade during the past four months, he
| would have added that mankind were the
only beings that ought to be laughed at.
| When serious disasters overwhelm bust
ness men, in legitimate transactions, the
unfOrtunates are usually entitled to the
sympatf y of the public. But when ''cOr-
hers" and other disreputable enterprises
are engaged in, with an utter disregard
of the rights of others, then failure and
ruin to those engaged in such an I'M
proper objects for public contempt. 1t is
| said. that by comparison and experience,
mankind learn wisdom. That saying.
however, does not apply to the "bulls''
and ''Dears'' of the Chicago Board of
Trade, as evinced in their operations in
corners during the past four months.
All the corners gotten up during the time,
except the one in mess pork, have been
most disastrous to their inventors, the Oat
| and wheat corners of a recent date prov
| ing particularly so. The mess pork cor
ner, however, is as yet substantial fact,
| and, as far as outward appearances go, is
| just as firm as it was one month ago. This
corner has been very quiet one. In fact,
there was no elbow and buster" in per-
fecting it, and, now that it is perfected,
those the most deeply interested are stand
ing watch and ward over their ''cornered''
goods, in a very quiet unObtrusive man
ner. 1t is true they exhibit little twinge
of anxiety as the packing season APP
proaches, and naturally tlTa their eyes
toward Europe as an outlet.
We presume it is generally known that
this corner was perfected early i'm July
last. and hence is rather a matured one,
having reached its third calendar month.
The Chicago Board CT Trade is not en-
tirely responsible for it, i being in one
sense of the word an imported corner, as
Her Majesty's subjects of the Dominion of
Canada, are the parties chiefly interested;
or, i'm other words, American mess pork
is cornered' by British gold.
Pork packers and provision dealers,
now discover the necessity OF a uniform
standard for mess pork, aiii: it is intended,
that as preventive to ::ny further cor
ners, the Packers AssOciG ton at Cincin-
natl, will adopt uniform standard for
both mess pork and cut meats.
There are about 124 600 bbls. of mess
pork in Chicago at the present time
about sc, 900 bbls. of viii IN are controlled
by the corner operators. At the same
time, the entire stock ci mess pork at
Cincinnati, is held by thu &c firms, and rs
the stock at that point an;l here, COM
prises the bulk of that product in this
country, it will be seen that 20 sustain the
corner thus far, has not been a very diff
cult matter.
During the next two III onths, however,
the burthen will not be II anaged as easily
as during the past two -aonths. With a
usually favorable seasc }, our packers
will commence cuttinga Early as the last
week in October, and crhaps earlier,
should the weather be 30 enough to do
so, and as it would not - safe to prolong
the corner after packiE;: commences, 1t Is
safe to presume that W. less demand is
created for the cOrneret products during
the present month, that the pork corner
will find a grave beside those lately run
in oats and wheat.
The maintenance of the pork corner
exercised a favorable influence on the
present hog crop of the country, mas
much as it has stimulated prices to a con-
siderable extent. Should its engineers,
however, be unable to find an out
let for the produce now. in
revert back to the open market, the result
would undoubtedly prove serious to prI-
ces for live weights, for time at least.
From our foreign advices, espec ally
those from Great Britain, we conclude
that the supply OF meats is very limited,
and prices place them almost beyond
reach by any save the richer classes. We
have strong hopes, therefore, that the for
eign demand will be such that the pack
ers and dealers in American meat pro-
ducts will not be able to keep pork at a
very low rate, though we know that
the crop will be a large one. This IS the
only hope that we see of getting rid OF our
ing rates. 1t is important that swine
raisers watch carefully for information
concerning the pork market.-PTdu1e
Farmer.