St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-01
"BIG FOUR OF CHICAGO.

uiOlI uOWddyos DAYS tuS SHiCaoO OoO.
In almost every branch Of commerce
they are to be found. Few of them.
however, cut as wide swath as that OF
the Chicago board oftrade. The quartet
is composed of men who are known in
grain circles the country over. They
are Norman B. Ream, Nat Jones, Jack
Cndahy and w. II. Linn. During the
last year that the board occupied the
old building at LaSalle and Washington
streets, the Big -Four were in the habit
of pouring soup down the thirsty throat
of the noted B. Peters Hutchinson, bet
ter known as '.Old Hutch" And they
did it often. During this farewell year
by their ShreWd manipulation of the
markets.
1t is hard to tell which is the richest
man in this combine. Probably Mr..
Ream has the downieSt nest of the lot.
He is one of the coolest men,even when
the wheat pit is boiling over with ex
citement, that the board knows. He is
also one of the easiest men to approach.
There is no gush or frilIS on his style of
talking. He is much in his Office and
the latch. string is always out. He oc-
cupies little corner Office on the top
floor of the Rookery building, for which
he pays 800 month. Mr.. Ream is tall
and erect, with broad shoulders, mild
blue eyes and dark, neatly trimmed
Viting. He went on bond for friend
once, the amount of surety being $780,,
600. He answered all the judges ques-
tions. But little short man, nom
resident creditor. did not know the
famous grain operator and he proceeded
to interrogate him. He asked but two
questions before he wiIted ard crept
out of sight of the tall man.
''Mr. Ream," he began, ''you say you
own the residence you live in?'
Eyes, sir"
''What is its cash value?''
1.-TWO hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars"
Nat Jones has his principal headquar-
tiers in New York now. He used to de-
vote all his time to the Chicago board.
but Wall street ensnared him. He still
conducts an extensive business here,
however, and his house, Jones, Kenneth
d Hopkins, is one of the largest COM
mission firms in the West. Their Office,
O. the ground floor of the board of trade
building, contains an army of clerks
and a big plate-glasS mirror about ten
feet high and twenty feet long, on
which the daily quotations are entered
in artistic crayon colors. MI. Jones has
group of millionaire Wall street
friends who chip i'll few hundred
thousand dollars each occasionally and
on the Chicago floor. When the mar
kets and the wind are favorable they
wire million OR two to the Chicago
house with instructions to place it SO as
to tickle 'tOld Hutch'' in the ribs.
Everybody ought to know that Jack
Cudahy's first name is properly John.
| His last name is pronounced by the
board people plain "Cuddy." He was
once foreman in Plankint0n & Ar
mour's original packing house in Mil
waukee. He, too, is an amiable man
and great friend, they say, to the
poor. His contributions to charitable
institutions are more than liberal and
| he is an all-around WhOle-souied man.
| A member of the board was defend
| ing B. Peters Hutchinson at the lunch
counter in the rotunda not long ago. He
| boldly asserted his allegiance and
stamped as Infamous the practice of
| calling that distinguished man such
| disrespeetful name as "Old Hutch"
what difference did it make" he
| asked, IF Mr. Hutch;n son did peel pO-
tatoes IN the Century club. There was
| no one else there to do it. The cook got
| on his muscle one day and wanted to
run the club, and you know old HUI
| mean Mr.. Hutchinson-would never
| stand that, so he up and fired the chef
| and peeled the potatoes himself. No
| body ought to object to that except the
| fellows who took dinner that day at the
| Century club.
Now, for instance" he continued,
chow would it sound if people got to
| calling Mr.. Partridge old Pardp Sup
| pose some of Potter Palmer'S eccentric
| tiles became known outside the family,
| and people began calling him old Pot
How does it strike you? You know how
| John Astor fumed about the Union club,
| in New York, and got rip-taring mad
| when he learned how some of the men,
| bers were calling him Jack Astor.
There's MIR. Nickerson, president of the
First Rational bank. How long would
| he remain dormant if the people were
to take such liberties with his name as
to dub him old Nick?' l tell you its
wrong, all wrong"