, 1891-08-16
THE PRICE OF WHEAT.
Wild Excitement on the Chi
cago Board of Trade.
Nothing Like 1t Seen Since the
Corner" of 1888.
Wheat Reaches $1.08 on the
Regular Board.
Bulls Have Things All Their
Own Way.

CHICAGO, Aug. l5.-December wheat
reached $l.0S on the regular board today,
and this afternoon sold on to $l.l0 Later
on calls we're quoted at Sl.l4 and sold
as high as $l.lS. OF course these are
not market figures, but they serve to
show the frame of mind traders are in
after this exciting week. Friday, which
was thought a busy day by brokers, sunk
into insignifcance before today's session
of the Board of Trade. Ii was one OF the
widest days ever known on the floor.
December wheat reached 81. 0S through
the CONSERVATION OF the bears, who, while
partially prepared for yesterdays boom,
were completely du~mbfounded this morn.
ing when the bulls sent prices up with a
frghtful rush, The bears said last night,
"One dollar must be the climax. In
the morning let's smash things" Any
number of attempts to smash things were
made this morning, but the first result
was not very encouraging to the bears.
Such jumping figures as today wit
messed have not beer seen since
HutchinsOns famous corner, in
1888. The price remained at 81. 0S but a
short time, the bears soon %rallying and
with a mighty onslaught sent it down to
81 054. but they could not hold it at that
high price. When tie session closed the
figure was standing at 81. 064.
Before the board opened this morning
there was a great deal of suppressed ex-
element Reports of short European
crops. prospective famine in Russia, Ger
many demand and the confident shirt
OF the bulls affected the curb dealers and
at 9 O'Clock Sl.02f was freely offered,
while on the open board the price was
81 023 before the big board opened.
When trading began the wheat pit was
filled with traders and yesterdays excite
ment was quadrupled. A mighty vel
went no when the gong announced the
opening OF today's business. 1t was i'm
possible for some time to tell what the
price OF wheat really was, for there were
halt a dozen different prices yelled out in
different portions of the pit. ranging
from SlOls to Sl.033. 1t was simply
a matter of take what you can get. and
take it quick, said one trader as he
emerged from the throng of screaming
and struggling men. After a time the
excitement settled down for a little. Fol
N 1OhlhN " aAhhhttc bhTthtFN WIS uDIlC OD
an enormous scale. The bears made
frantic efforts to push the figures down.
but failed. The European BUYERS at New
York began coming in strongly. The
bulls rallied with a whoOp and then camt
the widest market scene in years. WheaI
went up and down in big leaps, going tc
Sl.039, then to $l.05, almost in one
bound. At 81 .O34 Ed" Parker came
into the pit as a big buyer, but could find
no sellers. The price went down TO 81. O4,
then bounded back and forth between
that and 81 O5 for ten minutes The
bears then made another desperate effort
to send prices down. Momentarily the
price retreated, but then leaped to 81 .O5J,
$l.O6, 81 O63, 81 .07, $l.O7I. finally
reaching $l.0 within half an hour.
All sorts of stories were hving about
A large-number # traders talked about
the shortage in Europe, others asserted
their belief that Jim" Keeue of New
York is responsible, that he was takiu,
revenge tor that experience in rs, wher
a little flyer on the Chicago board of trad,
cost him several millions. Some sal,
keene, Philip Armour and B. z. Hutch
inson were responsible. Others tina
Keene was backed by a powerful sypdi
cate of New York capitalists and tina
Hutchinson was n of the leaders. Their
was nothing reliable about any of tbes,
rumors, The fact remains that the mar
ket simply went wild today. During tn
last advance from 81. O5 to $l.OS. tn
scenes of confusion and excitement on tn,
floor were Undesirable. Every tim
there was al advance the bears 90
frightened and exerted every effort to I'm
load at the top price for fear of a drop a
sudden as the rise. Then FIVE minute
later, when the market again advanced
the men who had sold were clamoring L
buy back, being willing to pay from | +
Scents more thanthey sold for. From
the visitors gallery the wheat pit locke,
like an assemblage of dangerous lunatIcs
Men crowded together in a mass, discarde,
coats and hats and clawed each other lik,
wild animals, while a constant deafepinI
roar out OF which no Intelligence seemed
to be picked, rose to the ceiling.
After the market closed there wer,
many traders who were frightened at th,
idea of holding wheat over Sunday a
l.063. The timid ones do not. however
seem to have scared the other traders for
as noted above, December wheat went /,
Sl.lO on the curb before o'clock, and ad
yenturous brokers were singing calls a
from 81. IA to Sl.lS.
What Monday will bring forth Is a mat
Ter OF grave concern to many, but there il
Is sui talk OF higher wheat. The bear
are not saying much. One remarkabl,
tnlng is that there have been no failures
Everybody got through the clearing house
all rLght on Fridays business, but 1t is no
unukely that as a result of today's wild
ness some unlucky dealers NAV ga broke
Still, there were no runors on the boar,
at the close of trading of the prosperity,
failure OF any individual or firm.
In corn there was also much excitemen
today, largely in sympathy with wheat
September corn opened at Gle and afte
a drop went up as high as 614c. 1t CLOSED
a fraction over 62c.
Rye shot up from 96c Yesterday to 81. O.
at the close today. This was largely du,
to Russia's prohibition of exports anc
Germany's wall over that and the short
age of their own crop.