St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-30
EWHEAT BOOM
The Leading Cereal Climbs
Another Cent Toward the
Dollar Mark,
And Predictions are Freely Made
That it Will Reach
That Point.
a Great Deal of Interest Manifested
in the Product, and Country Orders
Coming in Rapidly.
Corn Gains Quarter Of Cent in Sympathy
With the Activity in the
Wheat Pit.
Wall Street Continues to Move in the
Same cid GroOve-The Deal
in ST. Paul
CHICAGO.
Especial Telegram TO the Globe. ]


activity and hustle on 'change that was very
cheering to all except the dealers in privileges
md those unfortunate enough to be short
Of the leading cereal. Even this latter class
did not feel very depressed, for, though they
IRE out Of pocket temporarily, they know
hat with active markets they stand a chance
Of speedily making their losses good, whereas
in the preceding stagnation they couldn I
make running expenses. May wheat was
the most active, and reached S2Mc, or l%5c
above Saturdays last figures, clos
ing 14c above at sl5gc, which
is Be higher than Fridays close
January touched 1873 and closed 1c higher
than on Saturday at 75c and February
showed an advance Of &c, closing at 15sc'
Corn was quiet, but closed 15@4, higher in
sympathy with wheat. Oats were brIn at
about Saturdays prices. Provisions were
weaker and lower during most Of the day,
with partial rally towards the close, which
was be lower for pork and lard, and 252c
lower for ribs. Year corn closed at 351Ec,
January 80 &c, May oats at 2S58c, February
pork at $40. 80, February lard at $500 and
February ribs at S5.571E.
on the curb. Activity was the rule in the
wheat pit. May wheat doomed, as did all the
other options, and country spectators,
smelling a bulge, the one event that never
fails to bring them in droves as buyers, Pp-
peared TO swarm like bees around the other
end of every telegraph wire leading into Chi
cago, and the result at this end was novel
and very refreshing feature of the day.
There were actually orders-orders TO buy
wheat and enough Of them so that nearly
every trader Of any consequence could ex-
hibit few of them in the pit. This was why
the messenger boys had to hustle, why the
market continued to go up and why every
body made SO much more noise and hustle
than usual. The opening price of wheat was
5sc higher for January at 74c and 5sc higher
for May at 81 &c. At the opening, certain
clique of scalpers, composed Of such traders
as Clifford and Love, were bearish at the start
and sold some wheat during the session, but
as a general thing the crowd, with three
fourths of the heavy weights, were on the
bull side. It is asserted that Armour is very
heavy buyer of cash and January wheat,
which he intends to carry, and a seller of
May. A very strengthening circumstance
vas the fact of eastern parties buying cash
wheat through the brokers here as an invest
ment. Baker was in receipt of many such
orders, which were promptly filed. Alto
gether, the purchases Of that house to-day
will aggregate little less than l,OOO,OOO
bushels and perhaps considerably more
Other heavy buyers were Schwarz q Dupee,
Counselman and Lynn, while many smaller
houses did more in the way of purchasing
than they had, all told, during the week past.
The May option advanced steadily to SIC. and
and then for a while wavered between that
point and S2Ac. January followed, touch
ing T5c before IL o'clock, and later getting
up to 1880. Holders who parted with a
portion of their wheat to-day manifest some
nervousness as to the chance Of replacing TO
advantage, and this feature is noticeable,
inasmuch as, until very recently, sales made
were regarded by most operators as much more
likely to result In profit than otherwise. New
York was strong, and shows about the same
advance as noted here, with heavy holders
not Offering their property. Later in the day
there was a slight reaction here, all options
closing 3sc below top figures.
''The situation is stronger than for long
hme,'' said Robt. Lindblom, ''because winter
wheat markets, which have heretofore sold
against their long wheat here, are now ad-
vancing faster than we are, and, instead of
having to carry the whole world, we will be
confined to our own stock. Large freight
engagements have been made on the sea-
board for January, as the wheat has already
been sold abroad. 1t is the knowledge of
this that has flrmed all winter wheat mar
kets and made exporters take hold again.
When the time comes when every body can
see what is now going on in quiet way,
wheat will be so high that it will be regarded
as dangerous to buy, but when it gets higher
than any time in year, it will look cheap"
II have tigures,'' Lindblom continued, ''to
convince me that the amount in store and
aioat between our lakes and London is
5000, 900 to 10000, 600 smaller than year
ago, and the continent would make the def
cheney still larger. know that virtually all
wheat for sale by producers below par has
been sold, / know the average is much
smaller than for many years, l know wheat
is lower in the world than at any time in a
hundred years, know that, while business
is bad, the finances are resting on solid rock,
and believe the foundation is being laid for
crop such as we have not had
in many years, and my experience
teaches me that this extreme
depression must be followed BY an extreme
imitation. 1 have seen wheat in as bad repute
as now, and have repeatedly seen it adj
vance SOC bushel between the fall and next
spring. have never seen it as low as il
sold this month, and never expect to again.
Our best local bulls have no wheat. They
are waiting to see, but while they wait the
low-priced article will be controlled by mas
ter hand. Somebody besides scalpers and
outsiders own the wheat aud have bought
more to-day. There may, perhaps, be cent
Or so left on the bear side of wheat, but don
ry to get that and risk Soc"
ttI don't know whether this is the turning
point that everybody has been waiting for OF
tot," said one Spectator. 81 know, how
EVER, that I'm running along with the other
buyers. If it is a false alarm, I sell out, but
Pm watching very closely. I've started just
his way a dozen times already. II this
turns ont as the others have it is possible
that may be fooled dozen times more, but
feel, anyway, that it is better for me to be
fooled hundred times than to be left when
;he real boom comes. I've lost 500, 600 on
the bull side of wheat. have got it all 10 make