Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-23
Mondou IL, Chicago.

| Monday II, Chicago.
| [Chicago Tribune, Dec. 81.
| There was a big commotion yesterday
| in produce circles The markets we're
weak, and weak with vengeance. They
were even panicky at times, until it seemed
as if the bottom had dropped out alto
gether.
The wheat deal was the governing fac
tor in the situation, with everything else
depending upon it. The other markets
tumbled as the cereal fell, and strength
| ened as it turned up from the bottom
prices of the day. The downward move
ment really began on Saturday The
wheat market closed on Change that day
at $1.Ol15 for February, and in the after
noon, after the Exchange rooms were
| closed, the curb stone dealers put
it down to sl.01 or $l.011s. The
| foreign markets were understood to be
on the downward turn, and chiefly
because of increasing supplies of
wheat from Russia. HI. Kains jackson,
the well-known writer in ''Dornbusch {"
had stated that there were near the close
of last month 145 wheat cargoes af1oat
from Russian and other Black Sea ports
against 163 cargoes for the same time last
year. This was complete setback to
those who had believed that the insects
| had been so numerous in Russia as to
have absolutely destroyed all hope of a
surplus in that country for export. Let
| ters and kilograms from Western Europe
| indorsed Jackson's view of the situation,
which was, in effect, that the American
wheat holders had let large part of
their golden opportunity go by, and
| were practically at the mercy of the
consumers on the other side of the water
| The result was the weakness noted Satur-
| day afternoon, and this nerved the bears
| for an onslaught yesterday. It may be
| noted that the bears referred to are chief
| ly parties who had sold short when the
market was up in the neighborhood of
| 11O to 81 Is for February, and, while it
was necessary for them to buy back at
| some time, it was to their interest to
buy in as cheaply as possible.
There seems to have been plan laid
between two or three, perhaps more, of
the leading short operators, for they took
hold of the "bucket- shop in force yes
terday morning, before the opening of
change, and
| PUT THE PRICE DOWN
to 81 for February, being able to
do SO by the sale of much smaller
quantity than would have been necessary
to effect the same thing on change
| They knew that there were great
many t'stop orders'' here-that is, orders
from parties who were long on wheat to
sell, if the market should touch 81, their
object being to prevent greater loss
by being obliged to sell at much smaller
| figure The shorts referred to calculated
therefore, that, If they could put the
market down to 81, it would bring out
these 'tstop orders,'' and the increased
volume of offerings would depress prices
on change several cents per bushel ad
| ditional, enabling them to fill in at big
| profit
The market opened On change at 81,
and soon weakened under the offerings
referred to, the process being helped by
liberal calling for margins from the
''longs'' The market declined to 99Lc,
and at this point it was announced that
Jones & Mcdonald were obliged
to suspend. There was no doubt
about the fact, because the
firm were busy at that moment notifying
| parties who held contracts with them
that they must take care of the transac-
| tions, and thus wheat to the extent of
about 10000 bushels was offered right
and left at such a rate as broke the mar
ket down to $3.50 within few seconds
amid the widest confusion, scores of op-
| orators predicting an immediate drop to
the neighborhood of 80.
| But there were too many shorts to be
filled to permit of this extreme depres-
sion. The market did not go below 9SA,
and, in fact, rallied from that figure long
before all the wheat had been sold out,
though the Jones & Mcdonald wheat was
supplemented by several hundreds of
thousands of bushels more from other
parties who had been
| SWEPT OFF THEIR FEET
| for the moment,-that is, to the extent of
not being able to margin up at the de-
pressed figures. By the time that all this
wheat had been cleared out of the way,
the mark had risen to 9924, at which
figure it is believed the last 5000 -bushel
| lot was sold. From that the market
turned slightly downward again, but
ruled steadier during the remaining part
of the day, with little to call for COM
ment outside the run of affairs usually
treated of in the commercial columns.
The market closed at 991s to 99L cents
on Change, though it was announced just
at the close that another failure had oc-
CURED. This was afterwards proven to
be only temporary suspension, the party
in question making arrangements to have
his deals closed up to-day.
There was little up
and down movement on
the call in the afternoon, but the latest
| trading of the daY was the same as that