St. Paul daily globe., 1885-06-16
Very Poor Prospects for Provisions with
Armour and the Other Leading
Packers Short.
The Provision Market Largely Held by
Lambs" Who Will Soon be
Heavy Losers.
Quite Lively Day on 'Chanse, with
Active Trading and Markets
Closing Stronger.
The Mania for Dragging Rich Men
Into the Directories of the
Poor Railroads.
Chicago.
special to the Globe.

special TO the Globe -
CHICAGO. June 15.-''I don't want 10
Aold any property nowadays" teiegrapheo
phil Armour last week from Minneapolis,
''except st. Paul stock" The nlesSase was
passed around on change at q hioineLil
when the sharp fellows were saying til''t ne :
owned most of the wheat IN stole anu
wanted to buy the rest OF 1t. Inc uispalen
was Genuine. and was sent from the private
ear in which the big packer and ms 1ello"
81 Panl directors are taking junket over
the ST. Paul lines. Now, here Is Armour
hear on produce-a novel thing, certainty
and here. too. is Armour, an enthusiast,
suDarently. over very uncertain rallroad
stock-a thing nobody would have anticl-
nated month ago. Can anybody remem-
her a wear heretofore when the packer was
not at this season talking property up, m
stead of talking it down? A year ago, 1or
instance. was not pork 50 a barrel higher?
but did not Armour callsit cheap? WASH =
it 81. so per barrel higher two years ago?
Didn't he own it? Now, at this moment
pork is not much above SO and pretty GER
tain to get under it, yet Armour Is
SHORT ON THE PRODUCT,
anparentlv satisfied that it is time to oegln
covering his contracts. On Saturday ms
favorite sold not less than 5000 DDS, ana
only stopped because there were no puyers.
There is no doubt about ArmourS position
in provisions. Fer the first time since 1871
he is ranged on the bear side OF the marKet.
IT is q notable circumstance ana WofIn
knowing. because every member OF tle
local provision crowd does not know this is
why the business has gone to pieces ana
why the pit is three-quarterS OF the time ue-
serted. But the countrymen, who for
seven years have seen the ''honest butcher
first get control of the provision market IN
the spring and next boost prices III MD
summer and fall. will not believe that what
has regularly happened for seven years Will
not happen again. The cOuntrymen are
buying the pork and lard and ribs. The
cOuntrymen will have the enormous stock
on delivery day. But when the grand
windup comes, when the margins are ex-
hausted. and when the stuff Is to be tore
closed and at great sacrifice,
IT WILL BE THE PACKER
and not the countrymen who will be on
hand with the hard cash to gobble the prop
erty at bedrock prices Whitaker, great
St. Louis packer, who was never before
known to admit that the hog product was
too high. saws if the Chicago houses would
make product ''from hand to mouth, as
the world wants it, the price OF hogs would
drop to axe per pound.
Wheat closed last week cent under the
week before and cents under the weeks S
opening. Suppose" said a trader to the
writer. ''that you were a believer in wheat
and that you had money enough to buy
5000 of 1.-THE actual cash stuH-you keep
it few days and you watch the ticker.
Say that you paid SS cents for it. You put
the receipts in your safe and wait Tor
profits. The receipt has been in your pos
session two or three days, when there comes
a bill from some elevator owner for S25 for
storage charges. You pay it and figure on
the wheat and find that now it has cost
SS15c, instead of 8Sc. 1t is little stagger-
ing, for you've already paid something for
insurance and are losing the use of the
money. In ten days more there comes
ANOTHER $25 CHARGE
and YOU figure over again. You soon get
tired of paying S25 every ten days, and of
adding 15c per bushel to the cost of the
wheat every ten days for elevator charges
alone. The market may not decline, but it
does not advance The result is you sell it
and pocket your loss. The money has gone
into the pockets OF the venerable Hiram
Wheeler or into the pockets of one of his
good-lOol1ing sons, Or into the pockets Of
some other millionaire warehouse man.
The cost of carrying wheat in this market
is about 2 21Sc bushel every thirty days. If
the market drags along with neither adj
vance nor decline this 215c per bushel is
Just the loss suffered by the speculative
holder each month. These charges in this
market are an abomination. They are three
times as high as they are in Buffalo and
altogether unconscionable. While they last
bull stands vastly less chance of winning
than the devotee of a faro table. Such a
percentage against the player exists in no
other game known to civilization. 1t is
bunko, wherein the railroads, who
DIRECT THE GRAIN
into certain houses, and the owners are the
conspirators and the buyers of grain the
victims. 1t has been endured and endured,
because not one SpeculatOr in 5000 knows
what storage charges amount to OF how they
are reckoned. When they wake up land
possibly they never willy these exorbitant
charges will come down or the houses will
come down in their stead. There has been
talk at New York because of the election
of P. D. Armour to the ST. Paul directory
1t is the fate of rich men in this country to
be dragged in either by some suffering rail-
road or bankrupt university, or poverty
stricken church. Mr.. Armour could better
have afforded to become trustee of the
poor Chicago university. Joe Armour was
in the Dansille road. Sid Kent is i'm the
Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe Who knows
but that the Wabash may stretch outfits
hands for ''Old Hutch" and the Nickle
Plate may extend an invitation to Sam AL
lerton? Over the prospect for the price of
wheat there is a great difference of opinion.
Lindblom declares that next fall the public
will be clamoring for it above a dollar.
Andy Shaw says, and probably believes,
that by next October wheat will be so cheap
that it will be used as ballast for railroad
tracks.
TO-DAY's MARKETS.
There was no particular vim or snap to
speculation in grain to-day, aside from gen.
eral scalping activity. There was lack of
sufficient bull material to advance prices
very much, while a vague, indefinite fear
that something might happen to cause an
advance prevented very vigorous selling.
especially at the bottom OF the decline of
Saturday. This is the ''boss year'' for
rumors and reports of all kinds of damage
and disaster to the growing crops, and as
these stories are liable to spring out on the
market any moment, it makes the bears
timid and the bulls more bold The open
ing Of wheat was easy, being influenced by
dull and lower cables and rUmors that the
visible supply statement tomorrow would
show an increase of at least 500, 600 bush
els. August sold at 9O19c, being &c under
Saturdays close. 1t gained fraction. but
took another downward turn, which was
counteracted by heavy buying on the part
of Bliss, Cammerer, Comstock and Mil
mine, Bodman & Co. 1t held firm for some
time around 9O1S@91c, this being brought
about by telegraphic advices from Duluth
to the effect that
HEAVY STORMS