Connecticut western news., 1881-08-31

A Talk About Grain and Produce Crop pProspects-Ar- tif1cial Prices, High and Low Bulls" and "Bears"-The Time to Sell, etc.
 In the present rage of speculation in grain, etc., the following explanation of the ways and doings of the bulls '' aud
 "bears," will be of very great interest. It is from the pen of MT. Orange Judd,
 in the American Agriculturist for Sep
 tember:
 HOW GAMBLING IN GRAIN, ETC., IS DONE.
 During two or three years past, and
 never so greatly as now, the methods of
 the Stock Exchange have been intro
 duced into the produce markets, and
 hundreds of men, in leading cities, not
 ably in Chicago, Toledo, St. Louis, Bal
 timore, Cincinnati and New York, are
 daily betting millions of dollars upon
 the probable prices of wheat, flour, corn,
 oats, lard, pork, bacon, etc. To illus
 trate: MT. A. offers to deliver to MT. B.
 8 million bushels of No. red wheat at
 $1.22 per bushel, on the 31st day of
 August, though he (Mr. A.) does not
 own single bushel of wheat, and does
 not expect to. MT. B. takes the offer,
 and makes deposit of 8 small portion
 of the price or margin In this case
 MT. A. is said to be "short," and MT.
 B. "long" MT. A. is "short" of what
 he has agreed to deliver. If the closing
 sale of this grade of wheat on Aug. 31 is
 only $1.20, MT. B. pays MT. A. two
 cents bushel, or $20,OOO. But if the
 price is $1. 25, MT. A. pays MT. B. three
 cents bushel, or $3O GOO. Usually no
 wheat is actually delivered. Sometimes,
 however, if there is limited supply of
 wheat available, and MT. B. has capital
 enough, he secretly buys up all there is;
 he gets up "corner" in wheat and
 when settling day comes, he may require
 MT. A. to deliver the wheat, or he may
 get others to try to buy it, while he re-
 fuses to sell until $1. 30, or $1. 40, or even
 $1 50 is offered, and the price of the day
 is fixed at that rate. In the last named
 case, MT. A. would have to pay him the
 difference between $1.22 and $1.50, : which on 8 million bushels would be } 28x1, 100000 or, $2sO,O0O. If, on the
 contrary, the price could be beat down } on the settling day to $1.00 per bushel,
 MT. B. would have to pay MT. A. 22 , cents busheI, or $22O,0OO. We have named only two individuals, but there are hundreds or thousands of persons 5 doing the same thing, some betting on
 few thousand bushels, others on hun- l dreds of thousands, and few heavy 3 operators on millions. In times of ex' , citement and activity the speculative l "sales" of wheat during few days ? amount to more than the entire surplus r crop of the country during year. The ] operators are in two classes, those like l. MT. A. are "shorts," and those like MT a B. are "longs." Precisely the same I operations are taking place with refer g ence to other grades of wheat, corn = oats, lard, pork, etc. The same mar l.. often operates in several kinds of pro r duce, and may be "short" of one ant e "long" of another. One speculatol u will often be short for August delivery e long for September; and short or long Il for October, or for "the year."
 n GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AS TO SELLING. e The leading facts and circumstance 's on both sides are set forth above. Tn
 great operators in grain and other pro o ducts, both "bulls" and "bears," hay J. immense sums at stake. They are eacl o spending large amounts of money t 'o privately ascertain the facts of the case oi and are far better informed than ordinar E. farmers or dealers can be. Indeed, tn 'g common mass of spectators take thei IL cue from the movements of these leac Ae CTS. If prices were to go up in the future
 the bulls would buy up all the whes
 offered at present, and deven higher rate' ul would not buy at any present rates, br D. would oversell the market very largel. od For ourselves, we believe future pric' 'st are just about as likely to go up CT down, or down as up, So, the only sa n, rule for us is, to seU aUben ready, ot- take as little risk as possible of dama! on in storage and being ready, and ha he ing sold, to simply say, "I have dol he the best I could" Then if prices IS, down, say. "Well, I was lucky" of they go up, "I might have done bett nd to hold on, but if I had, it might be- oc- different, and so I will not worry ov ex- it."
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