The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-11-19

of the rise, however, had turned bulls,
and it is noticed that when shorts take to
going long on any commodity they are
| the most Unsuitable of bulls They new
er know when to let up; their voracity is
boundleSs- Thousands swan with the
current, and, as is usually the case, il
was rank outsiders with more money
than experience IN the wiles of specula-
| tion who were the worst hurt, though
hundreds of old traders backed their be-
lief that the Armours would not be able
TO carry the deal through successfully,
and that crash was inevitable from the
very nature of things
While the speculative market was
Strengthening day by day and week by
week the cornerers were bending their
energies to
UNLOAD THEIR spot" PORK.
This was usually sold at figures con-
siderably below nominal quotations, and
as an inducement 10 buy the trade was
privately assured by agents that the Ar
| mours would protect them against loss.
This stimulated the demand, and the 1st
of November caught them with only
about $1,000 barrels of pork on hand,
| with prices high enough to enable them
! to close out at a handsome profit if they
had felt disposed to stand from under.
In getting rid of their pork the expe-
VI DdT-
relS was reSorted to, and the meat put
| out in this way. With actual merchan-
| disc off their hands the rest was clear
| sailing. The winds" took care of them
selves.
Operations were not alone confiGed to
| America, bat all of Europe was taken
| in, and wherever men were found will
| ing to sell pork they did not have, the
| Armours were graciously accommoda-
ting They knew that they held all the
| pork and that the fellows who had sold
them the article would have to come to
them for it, or settle the difference, which
| is the same thing in the end. The
| amount of money that was played in
| against this game was enormous. In
| striking this balance the lucky owners of
the "brace" find that they are
AHEAD NOT LESS THAN s., 1000, 900.
| In other words, they got back the So
| 5000 lost when pork went down last
winter, and $4,000,000 besides, as the
| fruit of the seasons work. The profits
| of the deal of 1879 and of 1880 approx
| one of the times the fellows get
away with the "dust" The spectators
who engineer corners are squeezed to
death at the end, in nine cases out of ten,
but this is an exception to the general
rule. Between 10000, 900 and $14, O00,-
600 in money is said to have been en-
| ployed in the deal from first to last. Of
course, when it was we'll under way, the
| propriet0rs of the corner did business
on the other fellows money just the
same, and it eventually found its way
into the pockets of the thrifty packers
| who originated the movement and put
| it through. There are five or six broth
ers in the family, and one or two part
Aers besides. who come in for share of
the So, 000, 900, but the lions share falls
| TO the lot of the business head of the
| gigantic establishment-Phil Armour
upon whose ample shoulders rested the
responsibility and the almost exclusive
| management of the deal.
| 1t is said that during the month of
| October settlements were made on be-
tween 100000 and 100000 barrels of pork
at prices ranging from $3.50 to $3.50,
netting profit of So per barrel at the
| lowest calculation. Chicago Spectators
| were MIXED mercilessly, but
THE WALL STREET DEALERS FELL AS
HARD AS THEIR WESTERN
BRETHREN
In misfOrtunes, and a vast sum of New
York money if placed to the credit of
| the Chicago 'bulls." Some British gold i,
too, went into the general fund. In Chi
cago many conservative business men
DtS SfeCNlIJ at Inc UdiI 81 tempting
ly held up before them, and as is usually
| the case when an outsider takes hold, he
can not be shaken off. One firm
of leading merchants contriba-
ted $4,000 during the season,
and another, one of the foremost
| wholesale grocers of the northwest, set
tied week or two ago at loss of $685.
00G. These are only specimens. Along
toward the close of the deal the mails
were filled with letters to Armour s. Co.
from capitalists, business men, profes-
sional men, clerks and school teachers,
many of them women at that begging to
be .'let off," and pleading poverty, ruin
and thousand and one reasons in excuse
for their plight. They had got in beyond
their depths, and they appealed to
headquarters to be pulled out. Every
body seemed to have caught the fever,
and representatives of every class and
walk in life took hand IN the specula-
ton. It must be said to the credit of the
successful merchants that they were not
unduly oppressive, and there is no in,
stance on record of their taking more
than they could get, while not infre.
quently they let off the unfortunates
with a stake" to build from.