The Portland daily press., 1893-08-02
THE PLNICKY Pig.
Pork Took a Tremendous Tumble
Yesterday.
COLLAPSE OF A CORNER IN THE
CHICAGO MARKET.

rhree Firms Fail and Pork Drops Nine
DolIars-TumuItuous Scene in the
Board of Trade-A Big shrinkage in
the Hog Market.
Chicago, August For the past two
weeks the provision pit on the Board of
Trade has been extremely dull, especial
ly in the mess pork division. On some
days last week there was not a single
transaction in that article for hours.
There was shadow over the market
and everybody was afraid to touch it.
Last March the trade became aware of
the fact that some one was ''bulling"
the market, and after time it became
matter OF general belief that the deal
was being run by single heavy opera
tor who did not appear in it in person,
but who worked through through the
well known provision brokerage houses
of J. G.. Steever g. Co., E. W. Bailey d
Co. and A. G. Helmholz. AS the weeks
passed it became necessary for the oper-
ator to buy large amount OF pork at
high prices. Then came the stringency
and as its grip tightened, those who had
been bulls on pork began to foresee the
inevitable and to stand from under.
This added to the strain on the manipu-
lator of the deal and made the outcome
more certain. The explosion came at
the opening this morning, when the Sec
retary announced from the balcony of
the trading room that the three firms
above mentioned were unable to meet
~, otr n Jxica ~ I,s,v
trades with them to close them out under
the rules.
The sound of Secretary Stones voice
had not ceased to reverberate in the lofty
room when bedlam broke loose in the
provision pit. The other pits were de-
serted; the complained Of dullness in
pork vanished as a roar went up from
the wildly excited crowd. September
pork, which closed at $40 per barrel yes
terday, was first offered at $3.50, then
$1S, then $17.75, $3.50. SIT, $16, and so
on down by quarters, halves and dollars
till it touched $40, clear descent of SO
within little over half an hour.
Broker shouted themselves hoarse and
red in the face in their frantic efforts to
protect themselves, and fairly tumbled
over each other in the struggle to let a
bidder have mess pork at his own price,
Ill quduGlllSS W sui. Az Uuo DOtGOiA blc
deals seemed to be about settled, and the
market for the first time showed signs of
strength. Operators began to see that
pork at $40 per barrel, with hogs at the
ruling price, was cheap. and they began
to buy. The price began gradually to
crawl up, touching $11, then $12 and at
IL o'clock the pit was again quiet and the
market steady at SLID.
There is no means of knowing just how
much is involved in the deal, but the
tIade estimates that the speculator re-
ferred to was ''long'' on pork to the
amount of from $4,000 to 10000 barrels,
which, with loss of 50 per barrel,
would be about $450,000 to $3.50, ZOO.
Much sympathy is expressed on the
board for the failed firms, who were very
popular in the trade, and who were
forced to the wall through no fault of
their own, but by the failure of their
principal, who does not openly appear in
the transactions, to keep his engagements
with them.
Lard and ribs, while weak in sympa-
thy with pork, were comparatively steady
The former, especially, was strongly
held, and at 11.30 o'clock September was
only Is cents below the closing price of
yesterday. Ribs sold off to $6.37 1-2
against $7.31 1-2 atEthe close yesterday,
and recovered only IL cents up to 11.30
o'clock. September wheat opened ex-
cited at anywhere from 81 to go 3-9,
against SO 3-S, the closing price yester-
day, worked off to IS rs, and at l1.30 a.
m. was quotable at 60.
September corn opened 3-s to 1-2c
higher at 3S 1-2 to SIS cents; sold as low
as 81 IL cents, and at 11.30 stood at IS Is
cents.
The North American Packing Compa-
ny, brokers for A. NJ. Wright 6 Co.,
have failed. All the firms that have
failed so far today were brokers for
Wright, and were unable to put up a
sufficient margin.
1t is announced on the Board of Trade
that John Cudahy has failed.
GIVING WHEAT TO THE HOGS.