The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-18
BEDLAM REIGNED.
Another Wild Day ON tho Chicago Grain
Exchange.

Exchange.
CHICAGO, Aug. T.--This was another ban
ner day in wheat. Saturdays confusion
could hardly be exceeded. yet visitors in the
gallery to-day were we'll entertained and
gentlemen on the floor were not heard to
complain of lack OF action. Before the ex-
change opened the bears predicted big
drop, while entnusiastic bulls were talking
dollar and quarter wheat. When busi-
ness began the familiar howl went up and
1t WAS irnpossible. for while, to tell whnt
was being done. December wheat closed
saturday nrnins ,n at le1 A. the the opening this
ll1T. Some WAS had at all the prices named
In the first ten seconds. Within
the first three-quarters of an
hour there had been sales at
li21a, 1131a and some at ia. In the height
OF the excitement ono trade was made for
ten thousand bushels at 1l5. Suddenly IL
became known that several houses with
foreign connections In orders were selling
heavily. This was enough. If there had
been wildness in the previous buying, there
WAS iltte short OF insanity in the selling
craze which followed. The bears, who had
been too frightened to sell for several davs,
made combined onslaught. in which they
were aided by the timid ones who had
been following the bull lead. December
dropped. The last determined efforts Of
the bulls would only result in keeping IL
up for moment or two. and within very
few moments it had reached LOS, then,
| favorable bull news coming in, it ad-
vanced LOT, but after an hour OF see saving
back and forth near the figure 4
declined to 10f]9. then advanced to 1854.
Abont noon telegram was received from
B. T. Hutchlson by one of his friends say
ing that the foreigners we're selling franti-
cally and wheat would drop. The dissem-
| nation OF the prophecy encouraged the
bears. Excitement quieted down. Then
many Longs" figured ont that they were
were panic-stricken. Early buyers turned
| sellers, bears pushed and December dropped
with rush to 103. finally closing at 1887
| Old traders said the rapidity and wide
range of fluctuations Of to-day exceeded
anything seen before on the board of trade.
than ten cent margin. On the curb this
afternoon there was much wild trading.
| December sold at 1O4. Calls were to be had
for 110h and puts at 9s14.
As things stood to-day at the close. it 10
said no Chicago man made a cent, and
while most of them lost more or less many
now have their entire fortunes at stake and
were buying and selling in the same mo-
ment to protect themselves. New Yorkers
are reported to have made most of The
money. One prominent broker held that
it is "farn,ers'" market. The advance to
cents a bushel. The opinion among dealers
and brokers is unanimous that heavy
foreign buying is at the bottom of the pros
ent furry. The idea that the manipulators
are mere New York spectators is now gen.
orally secuted. The general notion 10 that
the shortage of wheat abroad has drawn
many heavy foreign buyers into the mar
ket, and the upward tendency has found
Chicago holdings short. ''If Chicago peo-
pie knew" said broker, what Russia's
wheat amounts to, or what to expect from
Europe. they would know what to do, but
as it is they have no idea where they stand,
| and nothing to 90 by.''
Excitement OH the board to-day was not
confined to the wheat pit, but quickly
spread to corn, rye and oats. August corn
jumped from 64k to II within half an
hour, then declined to68. September corn
advanced to 6S. declined to 63I. Rye
futtered until it was difficult to keep track
of it, between LOG and 11O. throughout
the session. This tends to show the char
acter of the market. A remarkable feature
is that despite the markets wild character
there have been no suspensions. Margins
have been promptly forthcoming and the
fears of Saturday, that to-day would see
many traders 90 to the wall. have been
happily unfounded.