The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-08
BIG CORNERS IN WHEAT.
"Old Huteh." the Famous Specu-
lator, Tells Why They Are
Hard to Get.
"Visible Supply" Is a Dangerous
Chlmera and Very Often
Misleading.
Ne Individual or Combination Can Buy
All the Marketable Wheat-Futures
and Options.
Written for The HELENA INDEPENDENT

Written for The HELENA INDEPENDENT
m MONG THE GRAND ENTERPRISES
III whose accomplishment at some fu.
III ture period engrosses the brains Of
visionary men is shat of controlling
the prices of star les like wheat and corn.
Men sometimes discuss the chances of be-
ing able to buy all the wheat in the market,
by which they mean the visible stock.
There are two difficulties in the
way of such a performance, either of which
must always remain nearly in~surmounta-
BILE; but which. acting together, as they
always do, form an absolutely impossible
barrier. The fact is that no single indi-
Vidal or combination of individuals, no
matter how much capital he or they
may control, has ever been able to buy
all the wheat in the market; tho second
is that the visible stock is an uncertain and
know quantity, n forever expands
just in proportion as the needs Of the spec
ulator call pom it to contract, or at least
to remain fixed. The visible supply is a
Pigment of the agricultural reports: the ag-
ricultural reports are really h~earsay, and in
our courts Of Justice hearsay, even if sworn
to, is not admitted in evidence. There
NS~O AS~Ao"y ~ ~ WI uAACho Ii
deed. And whoever speculates on worth
less information is liable to get the worst
Of it.
As a rule, farmers are a shrewd class of
men. It is for their interest that people
should believe that there is a scarcity rather
than an abundance of grain. So when
they give in their answers to questions as
to the supply they, as a rule, do more or
less of the Ananias business, which they
think they have q perfect right to do; not
being on oath. and having a lawful purpose
to carry out, namely the furtherance of
their own interests. Therefore if a farmer
has something like a thousand bushels
of wheat in his bins, he is liable to report
500; and satisfies his conscience in this way.
be Saws to himself, 1T looks as if there
might be 1000 bushels, but appearances are
deceitful. At any rate there are surely 800,
and when I report 800 1 don't assert that
there may not be more; and anyhow Pm
not on oath. Besides. before | get the grain
to market the berry may shrink or the rats
may get in, and SO I'll say 500, and let it 90
This is one of the reasons why, when
there is an attempt at a corner, and the
price of a cereal goes up, the stock keeps
pouring in On the speculator, just as if a
pint bottle, so-called, were to give out q
quar- VI bue ullu. LIE AapIoSS bpeouiatOfS
who fancied they had the whole of the visi-
BILE supply find that there exists an un-
known invisible supply, which all at once
takes on shape and becomes a%larmingly
visible and insists on being bought and
paid for at the highest prices. 1t is the I'M
expected that always happens; and if ex-
psGtsd wheat has bssn contracted for and
delivered at a dollar a bushel, along comes
tho unexpected wheat and clamors for a
dollar ten. OF the market will be
broken, and then where will the
SPECTATORS be? The agony is always
piled upon the spectators Just at the end