Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-08-17
A BULGE In WHEAT.
The Cereal Goes to SI.O8 at
the Windy City.
A BAD SQUEEZE Fer THE BEARS.

All of Whom, However, stand the Pres
sure and Come Up smiling-Old Time
Scenes the Board of Trade-wild-
Eyed and Frantic Brokers Tear Holes
in the Air-Europe's laundering After
Wheat the Probable Cause of the Pan ic
All the Markets Very LiveIy-Failurs
at st. Louis.
CHICAGO, Aug. 17.-Wheat sl.0S That
was what made the bears on the board of
trade open their eyes Saturday. A man
who had bought the cereal Friday after
noon and had the grit to hold on to it
until Saturday afternoon might have
gone out of business with fortune-if
his holdings had been heavy enough. A
rise of cents per bushel doesn't occur
on the board every day. 1t was without
doubt the most exciting day on change
since the time of "Old Hutch" and there
were many who thought they recognized
his fine Italian hand in the rapid ad
vance. Whether they did is unknown,
but that wheat went up S cents IS GER
tainty How many ) and 40 cent mar
gins were wiped out no one will evtf
know, but that millions of dollars changed
hands every ons admits, and yet, when all
was over, brokers and traders wondered
what had caused it,
A Mass of Frantic Brokers.
During the entire session the floor of the
hall was filed with closely wedged mass
of frantic, struggling brokers, who vainly
tried TO advance the interests of their re-
spective clients in series of yells, cries,
and gesticulatious that held per-
spring audience spellbouud in the
strangers gallery. If any foreign
maguates were present they must have
left firmly convinced that they had learned
the secret of Chicago's success in the mer-
camille world, for no other class of bust
ness men could have thrown so much en-
ergy and life into the transactions of a
few hours and then retired quietly to fig
ure out whether the deal had made them
millionaires or paupers.
Not a single Failure Reported.
And yet there were no victims-that is,
every man who was on the losing side
stood up to the pressure and made his
magins good. Another similar day may tell
a different story-in fact the old heads on
the board are certain that it would do so,
and that BEFORE the day was through spec
ulative wrecks would be thick on the
floor. The excitement began Saturday
long before business opened. There were
many who had not slept well Friday
night owing to the looks of things when
the market closed, and the outlook was
80 good for a bulge" that it is probable
many, forwarned of the cyclone, took
pains to get from under this accounting
for there being no failures.
European Reports Cause the Boom.
What did it, That was the question on
everybody's lips. The answers We're var
ious. Some said that a corner was the
cause of the trouble. But probably the
real reason was the foreign demand. The
bears tried to breast the wave for awhile,
but it was no good. Authentic reports
came in that European buyers, through
their New York agents, were calling for
wheat, apparently, at the sellers own
price, and Liverpool London, Berlin, and
st. Peters burg We're rivals for whatever
was offered. One report was
sthat the crops in central Eu-
rope were definitely fixed as being
30 per cent. less than last year. Another
was that France would need L., 600 900
bushels. At the close the market sold
down to 81 O65E, and the brokers went to
their offices to see how things stood, and
wait for today.