Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-08-18

How the nay went At ss. Louis and
Chicago.

Sr. LOUIS. Aug. l,.-Whsn - ST
Louis grain mafkss closed Saturday bank
rupscy stared over half the brokers and
vhsass4adefs in the fscs. A gloomy looA-
ing crowd left the halls Of the Exchange.
A dozen Of the leading brokers decided
that something must Be done 70 avert gen-
ersl ruin. Ths beals we're ont Of cash, and
the bulls. although having large preau to
their credit, were also out Of cash and
could not make the pronts available sr
meet the heavy mafgins, have been forcsd d
to call from the bears. The shorts could
not close. because the longs would mot sell
them wheat 10 ali short contracts With and
..ring" trades.
A call for q meeting vas issued and at
5 so p. M. the reading room OF the ex-
change was jsmmed With ANTIQUE trsdsfs.
The meeting was % quietly conducted that
it vas not generally known until today.
Various plans were discussed and Il vas
finally decided the setsline price for De-
ct mber wheat should be q 06 q bushel I;
bulls could draw all margins deposited be-
low Sl02, bears all above o. 10. No
trading will be done on exchange Monday
or Tuesday, except what 10 necessary to
close trades. The agreement arrived at 10
all that saved at least $50 tfaders from
being forced to announce their failure this
morniug.
CHlcAeo, Aug. IL This 10 another ban
ntr day in weat The opening This morn
ing vas l09 bid, ll0 bid, Ill bid, some at
Ill l-2. Within three quarssrs Of an hour
after the opening in . great furry there
had been sales at ll2l2, allS and some
excited traders bid ia, hundreds selling
. cent lower. In the height Of excissmens
one trade Of 10000 bushels wss made At
ll5 Sudd, My il became known that sew
ersl houses with foreign connection and
foreign orders were selling heavily. Ifh
had been wildness in the previous buy ing
ii WAS little short Of insanity in the sell
ing craze which followed.
Within few hours it reached l05 Then
more bull news came in, and With hard
fight il vas brought back to l07. After an
hour Of see. saving back and forth between
that and l06 IA, down IL went to l04 1-2,
but soon recovered to lC5 l.2. Along
toward noon teis gram was received from
b. p. Hutchinson, saying that foreigners
we're selling frantically and wheat would
be lower. The dissemination Of this
prophecy did much to encourage the bears.
They put out short lines. and December
dropped with rush to l03, finally closing
at l03 l-2,
Old traders said the rspidity and wide
range Of fluctuations today exceeded Satur.
day or anything ever seen before on the
board. On the curb this afternoon there
was wild trading. December sold for l04
and calls to be had for 10 l-2, puts 9S l-2
A. things stood today at the close, 1t 10 said
that Chicago had not made . cent on the
market, and few who had not lost more
or less in the excitement Many now have
their fortunes at stake. New Yofkefs are
reported to have made the most money.
The excitement on board todsy quickly
spread to corn. rye, oats, and even granger
stocks. Corn as much excited - wheat,
without anything to especially effect IL
Fluctuations reflected . wild spirit OF
speculatiops. August corn jumped from
"a l2 to II, within the fret half hour.
trade then dropped back to 66 Sept corn
took jump to IS and then fell to 63 81.
Rye, up and down between l06 and ITO
throughout the season. A remarkable
feature Of the market 10 that despite ito wild
character. there hiss been no suspensions