Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-27

Chapter On ''Corners,'' Especially Chic
ago Corners.


Chapter On 'sCerners,'' Especially Chic
ago Corners.
HISTORY OF rHE GREAT PORK CORNER IN 1850.
Chicago Cor. Gin. Commercial
"Nlne-tenths OF the operations ut Chicago,
continued Mr. Armour, THAT are called corners
are legitimate undertakings designed tebe upon
an ordinary scale That they become vast as
they sometimes do IL scarcely ever the design
OF their protector, but the result of the reckless
ness or stupidity Of the persons who oppose the
undertaking. The commodities handled in Wall
street and in La Sale street are so very different;
that it is perhaps natural that any one who at
tempts to criticize the Chicago Board of Trade
methods with only his know ledge of Wall street
matters to guide him should make blunaers.
The stock Of a railroad is an exact quantity. In
the first place, there are so many shares in ex-
lstence. 1t ia not a difficult matter either, to
ma out where they are held. Some Of them are
mere, some OF them abroad. some of them in
trust. some OF them in the cOmpany's vaults. A
man with money can. with not much diffieulty,
While sitting down in his office. find out within
a few dollars how much it would taket to corner
such stock. If man is found In the possess
sion OF all the stock of railroad and with large
certainly cannot easily escape the charge that he
has deliberately made'a corner in it. shouldn't
blame him. am not arguing against Corners
am simply talking about them. Now. on the
other hand, take the commodities traded in here
at Chicago. One never knows how much wheat
there Is In the country nor is it possible to find
out within millions Of dollars worth I have
known the agricultural bureaus, for instance, to
make mistake of Is. OOO. 600 bushels in the ag-
gregate yield OF single state. A man who
would set out to buy in Chicago all the wheat
that was offered him. in the hope that with his
great means alone he could corner the market,
would be simply financial suicide l don't
know OF anybody who ever attempted it and
succeeded. The alleged Corners that are expe-
rienced here are in no proper sense corners It
is fact, however. that not unfreQuently
thoughtless spectators have greatly embarrassed
themselves. and sometimes somewhat embar-
assed the public by recklessly selling what they
haven't got. in the hope that 1t will either natur-
ally GO lower or that their big sales will force it
lower, so that they can make profit In other
words, these 'bears'-they deserve rather to be
called 'wreckers'-hope to make fortunes out Of
the owner of and believer in property by selling
him on wind more than he can take. Let me
give you an illustration Of how these alleged
corners are brought on.
I'm the spring of 1880 pork was selling for
about fourteen dollars per barrel, cheaper rela-
lively than ribs. There was a large party that
was talking lower prices. A majority of the
INTERPRETATIONS at Chicago and at other trade
centers seemed all at once seized with the idea
that the hog product was going down. They
began to sell and to advise their friends and ems
toners to sell. Very shortly after this selling
began pork was offered in any quantity on
Change by these people. who were neither own
ers OF the property. makers OF it. nor even pos
sessed OF means to buy it. Hundreds Of thOus-
ands OF barrels were sold at below $40 barrel.
at price actually S. lower than it cost to make
the meat The packers throughout the country
We're apparently at the mercy of this wild mob.
seilhg property that it did not have at prices
very much less than it cost the manufacturers to
make There We're millions of dollars worth of
meat IN store In the ice-hOuses at Chicago. Gin
elnnati st. Louis. Kansas City, and elsewhere
rms dilemma then presented itself to Armour &
Co Should they acknowledge the authority of
the mob and pocket an enormous loss on the
s.. 0O0.0 600 or 1000 600 worth Of property they
mad IN their warehouses. Or should thew protect
themselves? With share of the pork packers
IL had become question of financial life or
Death Armour Co decided to protect them
selves. and where pork was offered to them for
less than they could make it, to buy In reach
ing this conclusion they consulted no one. They
entered into no conspiracy. and asked nobody's
aid They simply refused to surrender to the
wreekers of all sorts. the grangers and specula-
tors who were selling property for less than it
cost to make"
"What was the real position as to the supply
an0demand at this timer"
Why. the fact was, that a careful inquiry
mace 1t plain that there was actually no more
STOCK IN the country than was absolutely needed
for the home consumption The selling never
fheless continued and became wilder and wilder
until cOuntrymen and bears talked of pork sell
ING for 81 or 90 per barrel, little over half
what 1T was costing to make. Brokers. in their
desire to make their commissions, kent breaking
the market by selling little under the ruling
figures. These brokers' countrymen and crazy
people of all sorts, tumbled over each other in
their anxiety to sell what they did not have.
they expected. Of course, to buy back after they
the expense of the legitimate manufacturers.
Whatever they could make would come not from
the pockets of other spectators, but from the
purses of the pork packers"
How long did this selling last? What brought
it to a close?"
at kept up until several hundred Thousand
barrels more pork had been sold than were In
existence But this fact didn't stop it or alarm
the sellers 1t was only when delivery dav ap-
preached that the mob that had been selling
over and over again what it did not have. real
lied that it was in any peril But when the time
came about for some Of the contracts which had
been made to be filed. the sellers began to look
about FOR property to deliver Mr.. A. went to Mr..
b. to buy one thousand barrels Ofpork; he discoy-
cred that Mr. B. was as anxious to buy pOrk AZ
himself. There followed a great running around
after property, and general discovery that
there was not near enough pork in existence to
10 I'LL the contracts The same men that had in
the spring tumbled over each other to sell.
climbed over each other to purchase They were
as mobilize and unreasonable in their efforts to
buy as they had been little while before in
their efforts to sell. The prices went up fifty
cents barrel. This stampeded the sellers who
had gone in on half dollar margin and alarmed
the sellers who had up dollar margin. As the
market advanced the panic increased until the
alarm among all the sellers who were without
property was general"
Italy's jesse James Passes Awav
From the London Telegraph, April 49,