Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-06-20
SHE spEoULATEs IN WHEAT.
The Former Factory Girl Who is
Making Fortune Out of Grain.

mucn lower, was the message received
by the representative of Chicago com
mission house ON the floor of the Mime
apolis Chamber of Commerce.
"Who is Miss Blynl" asked gentle
man who was shown the message.
The Chamber of Commerce man re-
piled at length. OF late the market
kilograms from Chicago have frequently
contained the name of lady, a certain
Miss Blyn, whose operations on the
Board of Trade in that city have begun
TO attract more than local attention.
While Miss Blyn is not the only lady
who speculates in grain, she is perhaps
the only one since the days of Ruth, the
cleaner, who has gained such wide
spread fame in that line.
Miss Blyn was originally bright-eyed
factory girl at Rockford, d., but be-
coming dissatisfied, changed her lot for
that of typewriter in the windy city.
While acting in that capacity in the
Office of grain dealer she obtained an
insight into the manner in which such
business is conducted, and so perfected
her education in this line that she finally
went into business on her own account.
Her career thus far has been brief but
rather brilliant, and with one or two
more seasons as successful as the last
one her name, wealth, and opinions
will be heralded over the continent
with as much familiarity as those Of
"Old Hutch"
Miss Blyn is q fair, medium sized
woman, and POSSESSES q figure that com
mands from the gentlemanly members
of the Board of Trade as much admira-
ton as do her clear headed and thus far
successful operations on the Board.
That she will eventually meet her Water
loo there is no doubt, but at present she
rides on the tip OF the highest wave of
success. She has a suit OF elegant Off
ces, and has worked up a good clientage
among the members of her sex. Her
patrons come down in the morning,
bringing their work. While she watches
the markets they while away the time
over bits of fancy work or discuss
thousand and one things which are of
interest to the feminine mind. The pic
ture that her Office presents during the
market hours resembles an afternoon tea
or an informal reception more than it
does place where wheat and stocks are
bought and sold. Her style of doing
business, her System" which has
worked successfully so far, has never
been talked about much until the Min
neapolis Chamber of Commerce man
got to talking. She never gets excited,
and she goes in for big profits or none.
She pays no attention to fractions of a
cent, but holds ON for big fluctuations.
When she started it was in small way
and with her own money, but now she
has heavy business in commissions.
She has, in the first place, thorough
knowledge of the situation as regards
wheat, in which she deals chiefly. She
knows what is the condition of the crops,
what is the acreage sown to wheat, how
the export trade is running, and all the
other details. With this in mind she
makes as judicious a guess as she can
whether wheat ought to go up or down.
She does not buy on any intuition, but
figures out basis for her operations on
cold facts and common sense. And when
she has once made up her mind she is
ready for business. She complains that
men are dull, and that they get excited
too easily and act too rashly when in
that condition.
If Miss Blyn thinks wheat is going to
advance in price she buys a small guam
tity, say 5000 bushels. She watches |
the market from that time on with the |
cool, calculating eye of a veteran. If |
the market drops Miss Blyn quits right |
there. She says:
''I made a mistake that time. will
take the small loss.
But if the market goes up she buys
more. When there is one cent advance
she doubles her first purchase. If she |
has bought 5000 bushels at so cents, she |
takes 10000 when it is 81 cents, and |
when it is 50 cents she takes 10000 !
more However rapidly the market goes
up she holds her nerves steady and does |
not vary from her system. She says she |
does not want the earth, and when she |
has doubled four or five times she sells |
out the ensire lot and is done trading |
for that day. If the market still grows
stronger she does not mind that. She
might get excited like the men if she |
varied from her rule, but she simply
watches the quotations and waits. She |
looks the situation over very carefully |
at the close of business for the day, and |
makes up her mind whether to be bear
Or bull next day.
She sells on the same principle as she
buys. If she thinks prices viii decline,
she sells small quantity. If she was
mistaken she pockets her loss and says
If she was correct in her judg-
ment she doubles the sale for each cent
Of decline until she has gone TO what
she considers a iudicious length, and
then she closes out. She would rather
lose on deal of moderate proportions
than close on a fractional margin, Just
she believes in her system. She
IS after large money.
The past year has been very profit
.ble one for Miss Blyn. The chances
IN the market have been such that her
system has worked to big advantage and
she has been making large profits. Sup
pose she had started last fall when the
avorite option ow wheat was so cents,
she could have worked this system TO
Dig profit. Wheat went upward pretty
steadily until it reached S122. She
Iuit when it was several points below