St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-04
THE HOGS HURRAH.
The Provision Trade Becomes
the Center Of Attraction
in Chicago.
Pork Making a Gain For the Day
of Fifty-TwO and One
Half Cents.
A RumOr Going the Rounds That Ar
mour Is Getting Firm Grip on
Cash Wheat For a Squeeze.
The Corn Market Affected b. Light Receipts,
the Farmers Being Reported as Using
1t 10 AdG AvoirdupOis 10
Their POTkers.
Wall Street Quotations But Slightly
Chaneed- Western Union Strong,
With Plenty of Gossip 4. bout
Consolidation.
CHICAGO.
Special rele,ran to the elon..I

vance all aiong the l.ne. Pork was excited
undr heavy local buying, chiefly on long
account and values we're advanced Csc on
the January option as compared with yester-
days last figure, closing 52l<c higher.
Lard was quieter, but closed lOe higher, and
ribs were up 20922 &c at the close. Wheat
WAS fairly active and strong, closing about
sc higher than on yesterday. Year corn
got up 14e above yesterdays close at one
time and closed &c higher, while May went
up &c and closed &c higher. Grains were
strong and : CHER in the afternoon and pro-
visions unsettled. Last quotations were:
January wheat 74ssc, year corn 5G1(c, May
oats 2el4c, January york Sll.s5, January
lard SC.95, January ribs s6.O21z.
Wheat opened steady at full yesterdays
closing prices, and transactions for the FIRST
hour were at about opeuing prices. Liver
pool was strong aud one penny per GENITAL
higher for California and red winter. Mark
Lane firm with an advance OF six pence
per quarter Tor cargoes of coast, on passagr
and Tor prompt shipment Imports 20 the
United Kingdom last week were 0,O006
ll5,00O quarters Of wheat aud s5, 5,0OO650
eNb Nt@1iaNA0 VI NAtuF RAk iSNNlleo
liberal here and elsewhere, and this has
tendency 10 check advances. A private dis
patch from New York this morning says that
freight charges on grain from Min neapOiis
and Chicago have been lowered 10c per
hundred. Information has also been NJ
ceived on change that rates from Missouri
river pnints have been reduced Sc per hun
drsd. The comment is made that such a re
duction can't fail to result in very heavy n
ceipts. Referring to the reduction Of Sc per
hundred in freight rates on grain from tn
Missouri, A. NJ. Wright said this morning:
.The action is voluntary on the part OF the
roads. They have been making more out OF the
wheat crop than ihe farmers have. and they have
come 10 expect some strong opposition from
The granger Legislatures Of the country. By thu
lowering the rate SC they may avoid legislative
opposition, which would cost them more"
At the end OF the first hour there was an
advance Of about 1Ec from opening figures
74c for JaDuary--apd the longs commenced
to realize on cheaper wheat bought yesterday.
THIS brought about decline TO 735sc, and
then the shorts began covering and the scalp
ers went long, with the result OF gain, ad-
yancing prices 5s@s<c, from which they set
board, but recovered 1se to 749se in the al
ternoon. February and May followed about
the same course as January, February closing
at IS &c and May at s1%c. The heaviest
buyers were Lester, Gaylord, Brosseau and
Poole & Sherman. Lester bought $4,000
bushels of January from Hancock at 74kc.
and is reported to have sold the same u
Roche few minutes later at 743sc. David
D1ws and Milmine & Bodman were the most
prominent sellers. II is reported that Ar
mour owns most OF the cash wheat, and l.
hn d ng it TO make carrying charges. This
makes some of the boys spprehensive Of
squeeze in the course Of 4 month or so.
Corn was active but rather feverish, the
demand being chiefly from shorts who felt
uneasy over the small receipts and small per-
centage grading contract. We only had 236
cars of corn to-day, and out of this only four
teencars graded as No. 2. Liverpool was firm
on corn, st. Louis I[c higher for December,
and New York steady. The farmers are
putting all the corn they can into pork, and
so their sales and shipments will no doubt
continue light until necessity compels them
to part with their holdings, though the re-
duetiou in freight rates, IL report be true,
will undoubtedly stimulate shipments some
what. To-day year showed the greatest &C
tivitY. 1t opened 1lc higher at S55Sc, sd-
vanced 1c, then fell of &c, only 10 recover
~ aud close at 361lc, ISc above yesterday.
The deferred deliveries were stcadier. MAY
opening Sc higher at S75fc, advancing to
375se and closing at 37Ec. Murray, Mel
son, Lawson Bros. and Love were probably
the heaviest sellers, and Hepburn, Baxter
and Counselman did considerable buying.
Oats were quiet, the only change worthy
of note being drop Of Zc in December to
24%c.
Pork is being given a whirl now. The
floating crowd of traders who will Gil up the
TGeat pit when there is excitement there or
jam into the corn gang when there is action
there is now circled around in one little pro-
vision pit. It looks like good old times.
There is, in the first place lots of trading
and, in the second place, lots Of guessing,
and this latter always brings in pleuty OF
commissions. Henry Warner and Baldwin
and George Brine and Frank Crittendeu and
tie other provision brokers were looking
happier than at any time in the last half
year. The pork trade was chiefly concen-
tratcd in the January and February options.
The former opened 22IIc higher at SlI.55,
and, under free covering by shorts, advanced
TO Sl1971S, the top notch Of the day, from
which il settled of TO close of $1l.s5.
sgainst s11.321z yesterday. February opened
l0c higher at 11.55 and before IL O'Clock
sold readily at sll.e0, later running up to
si2.O71< and finally closing at sll.95. Sid.
Kent was probably the largest buyer, and be
was supported by such traders as Raymond
and Baldwin, with Of course the usual num-
Der Of tailers.
What's got into porkf' was asked Of W. E.
McHenry.
''oh, the packers are whooping IL up: want
10 get the insiders 20 buying. Then they'll Gil
EN- up But the outsiders are following the
packers this year, as they have in years past"
Ernest Smith declared excitedly that Arm
our had ''copered" the market and that be
had put his figure at SIS. OF late the pack
ers have not been following the programme
which, before last year, was set down AZ the
one they were sure to follow. For example.
il used TO be looked on as certain that the
packers would sell the market down in Octo-
ber and November, aud bull it in January
and February. They did not do this last
year, at least Armour did not, and be con-
trolls the market They did the very opposite.
Now with the old programme done away