The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-08-01

put IN their lime tnAt way loI uouIb ~
stretch, and apparently enjoy themselves
inst az much as II seated at the game in
their parlors ct home. Then too there 10
always plenty OF good company when you
are inclined 10 be soCiable and conversa.
tional. You fall in with people from al!
parts OF the country and CLEAN 3 great deal
Of interesting and useful information.
You can talk politics, business, crops or
travel with them, and they can give you
ideas that are worth jotting down In your
memorandum book. There Is always q
funny person or two in . full Pullman car.
They PROFOUND conundrums, tell stories
and get of extrRvaGRnzas that amuse
everybody, especially the yOung ladies' oil
the car. They form q connecting link be-
tween. the whole company, and serve to
make Everybody feel acquainted. don't
know when, between all these sources OF
interest and Amusement, / have enjoyed a
trip more than this long ride out here.
IN CHICAGO.
stopped over two or three days in
Chicago en- route. A great wheat deal
was in progress at the Board Of Trade. !
spent part Of an afternoon among the bulls
and bears and Witnessed the bedlam that
arose under the discovery, real or imsgin'
ary, that August wheat had been Cornered.
The Ctier or caller STOOD at M end Of the
room and all the brokers sat In rows In
front OF him, and he yelled and they
yelled, and oil at one time. said to my
friend Mr.. Ben Davenport, formerly OF
Wheeling, "Do you understand all this
lingo and jargon2 Gan you make out a
single word that these fellows sSyP" ooh,
YET" said Ben; sit Ia all perfectly plain,
Don't you Gee tnat the crier understands
who bids and who sells? See hos he uses
the index fingers Of each hand and says
that Brown has sold to Smith $4,000 bush.
els Of q hall, meaning that day 81 l74. His
name Is Williams" lAtd Ben; "he has an
eOgle eye and makes no mistakes. He Is
one Of the infallible men, and gets S. 1000
per year for his services at the Call
Board which 10 dirt cheap for such q
man as he IT,"
noticed that two or three secretaries
aAt at the foot Of the rostrum recording
these sales, aS they were cried by VII.
liAms, with lightning dexterity. vii.
liams is an autocrat. He fines the brok-
srs when they become ObstreperOus. He
fined one man while | was present who
did not seem to be much noiSer than the
rest. His eagle eye, however, detected
some sort OF an irregularity and he cried
out, "Fine Jones one dollar" The brok-
era have to pay all these fines, as there Is
no appeal.
tried to understand the mysteries oil
the IDEAL" when l was In Chicago, and
my friend Ben, and also another friend,
who Is likewise q broker, tried 10 simplify
the matter 10 my comprehension, but l
came away with o dizzy and unsatisfactory
sensation about the head. Az l sat In the
office OF a broker on La Sale street, who
had 1882 customers on his books, long and
short, and when wheat wal going up and
down at the rate OF two cents In an hour,
l noticed that he had avery anxious and
perplexed look. The boy at the ticker
was constantly calling of the price. This
was on last Friday. Wheat had jumped
up to 81 % per. bushel. Two or three
shorts had come In who had been sent for
to see about their margins. They wore an
agonizsd look, and the suriace indications
were that they were terribly torn
up In their minds. l Judged
that the iron Of speculation had entered
their souls at q very Bcute angle. The
broker was Of course sympathetic, but he
told them that more margin must be forth.
coming, as their deals we're about on the
market. When they had gone out on
their melancholy errand 40 members OF
the Committee Of Ways and Means to raise
revenue on the double quick, he turned
and said 10 me, ''This market beats The
devil. It Ia q fearful strain on the
brokers'. l woke up at | O'Clock this morn.
ing and heard II raining and | never went
TO sleep again until 4. knew that there
would be q high old time down here this
morning, and azure enough there is, as you
see. We are all cross fired on margins,
about half o. our customers short and the
other half lonk, and II keeps Us busy 10 sec
whose margin 10 on the market, who 10
sell out and who 10 carry at our risk. We
hate 10 sell the boys out, but we can't
afford TO shoulder their deals. We have a
customer who had q profit Of 81, 900 on bis
deals, but he wouldn't take Il, and now bis
wealth ID slipping away from him at fear.
fol rate.
Just here the boy At The ticker sang out
that the market had turned and was of
bali q cent, then q cent, then a cent and a
half, and finally two centA-down 10 81 20
In . few minutes. "Well WE'LL" said the
broker, "ths boys sre jumping on the deal
over at the board and mashinR II right
down. The rain hasn't done so much
damage after all, and they are spilliDg out
their long wheat at q lively rate, l expect.
Johnny 20 over and see what the racket
means, anyhow"
While Jobnpy waA gore 10 e1plore the
racket the broker said 10 me: "How arc
crops OUT your wSJ7 Don't you think
That the market Ia . sale al present
ngutes7 don't believe that the Olnctn.
natl crowd that are running this boom
can corner August wheat. Too biz a
thing. There are four millionB In The Gle.
vators here, and not a pound moving 10
the seA.board. We are Eve cents above
The shipping point 10 New York. I be.
lleve that the boomers are selling out on
thle scare among the shorts"
Just theA 0 customer came In, who a
few days ago had sold out bis August
wheat and bought September under the
mistaken impression that the distant I'd.
tufes wete going to be the iavotites Of
speculation. They we're aide by eide
when be sold, but nov there was a wide
and increasing gap. August Was worth
20 and September 81 10. Flows
Sept" inquired the mistaken customer,
"she's going Of" said the broker. There
was q blank and sorry look on the face Of
the customer. He bad missed Il badly,
and had q feAliIlag tense oil the fact,
asked my friend how much ali this
sort Of business ives worth Ia him, lie
said II was profitable, and I told him Il
ought 10 be, for | expected 10 read al no
distant day that he had followed In the
wake OIL Tom Scott and received O stroke
Of paralysis. There are 81 least Athou.
sand brokers following this business In
Ohictgo. They have customers all over
The eountty-Some Ia Wheeling. The mar.
gins In theft hAnds run all The way from
one bundled 10 Ave thousand dollars.
They say In OhieAeo that everybody in
NaoA NAkaaa Um.aayy -. H. It'll.