, 1874-11-01
BARLEY.
Mr.. Gcddes Makes $4,000 on
that Article.
How He Did It.

4 successful "corner" on barley terminated
| yesterday On tho Board Of Trade. It was not 60
potable foz its disastrous results to the losers.
as for some elements Of ! novel and exciting
character. The " corner" WAS also out Of the
common run Of affairs Of its general kind from
the fact that it was engineered and manipulated
by a member OF tho Directory Of tho Board OF
Trade = member who is now sitting in 1udg-
ment upon tho recent 6turges "cornet~ in corn,
though it is claimed that the two operations dlf-
for widely, it being charged that Sturgea con-
spired to prevent men from fulfilling their con-
tracts while in the barley "corner" nothing moro
reprehensible than bold and stubborn "bulling y
Of the market is charged That corners " Of
the mildest type are pernicious and reprebensi-
BILE no one will den5, and neither will it be dis
! puted that they are the natural and inevitable
outgrowth Of the system OF 'selling short,''
| With this system abolished, corners would be-
come extremely unpopular, not to say imprach-
cable Tho barley ''corner" which cul-
| minated yesterday was exception to the rule
! It was begun
As MEASURE Of sE1r-rRoTEcr1ox
BIZ Mr.. Alexander Geddes. agent III Chicago Of
| the Allan line Of ocean steumers, and by him
alone successfully carried, Mr.. Geddes
has achieved quite reputation as q
bold and skilfnl operator, he having
been chiefly instrumental in breaking the wheat
"corner" Of Septembar. 1878, which ho did BY
shipping wheat from Milwaukee TO Chicago, and
selling It to the "corusr " mon until the market
| broke under them.
During September Alr. Geddes indnlgcd
largely in barley for October delivery, paying at
| first from IS cents to 91.05. The market price
steadily advanced during October, until about
ten DAYS ago, it had reached s1.15 and 3l-13155.
At this time Mr.. Geddes proposed to settle with
the ~ehorts st these figures, but they refused
the offer, prefc1rlng to take the chance Of break
| inc the market down to first principles.
Against this attempt AIR. Geddes, who had
in the meantime loaded up " with barley at
| the current rites, bent his energies. aud. as he
| could not weaken without great loss, ho deter
| mined to
| TAKE THE MARKET IN HIS OWN HANDs,
| and buy all tho barley that came to the ctty.
The receipts were averaging from ntty to
| seyonty carloads daily, and he made his ar
was such that he hsd command Of all tho money
required to pay for evory bushel Of - cash -"
bailey that reached the city. and about 500 .ooo
| mas the sum required to carry tho - corner
through Mr. Gsass bs21s9 es3n" it, to me4s aass
Int came at these fgures Ftiday
the market closed At s1.2l cash, and s1-oe}< No
vember Saturday being the last Of the month,
was delivery da1, and, as i was Impossible to
'-~
mercy OF tho " corner" There waa no barley to
be had which Geddos did not Own, and it was in
hs power to fix tho price at which settlement
must be made. He seems to have
USED his ADVANTAGE WITH aropBRAT1oF.
| for, Is there vas no cash barley offering. he
| could have bid 81 per bushel without the risk Of
| having to pay it. He contcnted himself
with running the price np to sl.52
Tic prevailing rate, however, MAS s1-ao
and Isl, aud although two cargoes arrived from
| Cauads during the day, with between $4,000
and &c, 600 bushels. not bushel was sold.
At tho opea'n$ Of Change yesterday morn
inc for settlement, and at 8 O'Clock there we're
but about 20. 900 upde1yered aud unsettled. Tho
latter. 1t is believed, will be settled amicab'y,
| and without resort 10 the Arbitration Com
rnittes-
| to Mr. Geddes on the " corner ID thought to be
| about $4,000, though ths will be reduced in
proportion 81 the November Price falls o-lo"
the general AVERAGE OF the rate on INC
entire deal which lB placed At about SLIT. About
san 900 bushels wore sold short for October de-
| livery. and of this amount Mr. Geddes has now
on hand about 200, 900 bushels. His success IN
| di.nosiuc of this will determine the profits on
the entire deal. After o'clock YESTERDAY after,
| noon he sold 10000 bushels for $1.3l cash, and
he hss faith in barley, ION it's merts," that it
viii hold up to 51.20 OF better during tho early
part of November.
| It Wns stated by va1lOuB members OF the BOARD
Of Trade yesterday that
! NO SERIOUS EMBAnRAssMESTs
would result from the corner" According to
report, John B. Lyon WAS in for the heaviest
dose. though hurry Nelson l. Co. had also
| suffered somewhat. The bulk of the damage. II
was thought would be sustained by countr:
dealers, who rushed in and sold short, relying
upon falling market for October. The result
was the occasion Of few wry faces yesterday.
but. in general, the :" corner vas SPOKEN o.
as having been splendidly carried through.
A TRIBUNE reporter yesterday waited upon
Mr.. Geddes whom he found in his Office. flushed
| with succcss, and in excellent sprits- He spoke
freely and without reserve Of the !" corner,
which he held to have been on hiE part mat
he eaid. tho shorts" had nobod,
Int themselves to blame, as they were Offered
settlements at from 31.15 to sa.1811 ten days ago
bnt rofused, ..Then," said Mr. Geddea. the
thing resolved itself into square fight. II theJ
| could break down the market they would make
and would lose heavily; while. It could holt
it M and carry it higher, the result would DO re.
acted squarely aud fairly in the matter. contout
inc myself with 51.35 as the basis Of setlement
when I could have run it up to 81 90 II hac
choeen. I think the deals will all be settled &C
cor11nr to The rules of the Board, and that there
viii be no appeal to the Arbitration Committee
don't deny that corners are not Jus
the right sort OF Thing, but |. do contend tna
nract,ce of selling short obtains in the Chlcag'
Board of Trade This corner Vas unavoidable
| 40 far as / was concerned. There was no MD
dIa ground for me 1 Ind to choose oet"eel
making largo amount of money or losing
large amount. Nothing short OF rad1cn
change IN tho rules OF tho Board WILL ever pre-
vent occasional corners.