Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-05
HAS A SURE THING.
More Light on the Matter of
Grain Trading.
MINNESOTA MANS DEAD "CINCH,p

He Gets There Regardless of How the
Market Goes--A Chicago Trader Ex-
plains Some Board of Trade Features
Made a Constitutional Question of
Free COinaSe-CullOm's Dernier Resort
for the Interstate Commerce Law-The
House Adopts the New Rules-Oficial
Items.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-A. J. Sawyer, of
Minneapolis. one of the largest wheat deal
ers i'll the northwest, told the house COM
mlttee on agriculture yesterday what he
thought about the law to interfere with
dealings in futures. He said he was in
terested in 1856 elevators in Minnesota and
the DakOtas, and during the season he
buys and sells millions of bushels In op-
position to the bill he made a peculiar ar
gument, and disclosed to the committee
his method of making money ION dead
sure clnch." He explained that he bought
his wheat of the farmers and then stored
II in his elevators to await suitable prices
By his method of operation, as he ex-
planned it, he can never lose. He buys
when the price is reasonably low, and
when 1t rises TO a certain figure in advance
he sells
The Fellow at Chicago"
To insure profit when the market seems
little doubtful he sells in the future
through the option dealers at Chicago, Du-
lUth, or Minneapolis If the price drops
his sale is already made, and he is sure of
profit; if it remains steady or rises he
contents himself with a moderate profit,
on the principle that a sure thing, though
modest, repeated many times, is better
than big profit which comes only once in
a while.
But what of the fellow in Chicago, who
bought from YOU" asked Chairman Hatch.
"Oh, well, responded Sawyer, "he must
pass it on to somebody else or stand the
loss. That Is merely a method of trade
that carries its own Insurance.
Farmers Sell too Quickly.
The farmers, he said, get their wheat on
the market too fast. If they held it, they,
instead of purchasers. became the gam
blers; but the richest and largest farmers
in this country sold their wheat right
from the machine. The country elevator,
he said, takes care Of the farmer, and the
terminal looks after the speculator and
gambler When wheat is shipped back to
the farmer shrinkage is not deducted, AS
the farmers elevator receipt is good for
the full amount. Elevators were neceS-
sity with the farmers. and every county in
his section of the country has number of
them. He was asked if the farmers could
keep their wheat in elevators and sell when
they pleased. and he answered that they
could. but did not know whether it was
beneficial to them.
Mt. Aldrich Gives His Views.
Mr.. Aldrich, of the Chicago Board of
Trade, was in favor of preventing fictitious
trading. He admitted that it was done,
but did not know how it cauld be prevent
ed. 1t was against the rules of the board.
In reply TO the Kansas farmer who testi-
fed Wednesday he said it was mistake
to say that so much money was tied up in
futures. 1t took Sl3S 000, eco to move the
crops, and he doubted that as much ASS, ,OOO,-
900 was tied up in margins at any one time.
The margin business was not a new thing
II was an old thing twenty-five years ago,
SO it could Lot be, as the Kansas farmer
stated, the cause of the decline in wheat.
Mystery Explained.
He said that the receipts at Chicago per
day would reach 100000 bushels of grain.
and the sales were much larger. In ex-
planning this he said: Il may have bought
5000 bushels from farmer: another dealer
buys the lot from me: another buys il from
him, and still another bought it from the
last. Thus. you see that the 5000 bushels
is apparently transformed into %, 900 bush
els. And by repeating these sales you can
make il as much IS You like Such men
as Partridge could not bear wheat unless
the cond ions were favora bie-the markets
for immediated consumption must be over
supplied. supply ard demand and demand
had everything to do with the matter.
Speculative advances or decline were al
ways temporary.