St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-07
PORK NOW A LUXURY.
It Sold on Chicago Change
at the Highest Price
for Years.
Cudahy and Wright Believed
to Have Cleared Up Sew
epaI Millions.
The Shortage Of Hogs the
handspring Under the
Market.
Prices of Hogs Showed the
Greatest Jump OF the
Season.

CHICAGO, Jan. 6.-POrk is now lux
nry. 1t sold on 'change today at the
highest price known for years, $3.50 a
barrel. For time it looked as if the
quotation would jump to $40. Heavy
Transactions and great excitement
marked the trading. John Cudahy and
Austin Wright, nicknamed Charlie,
have been credited of late, since their
famous corner in ribs, with about every
speculative movement on Change, and,
whether deservedly or not these opera
tors have become worse bugbearS Of
Unfortunate traders than "Old Hutch"
d. Partridge ever was. Now the Cudahy-
Wright combination, aided and abetted
by Norman 3. Ream, are popularity
believed to be the master spirits in con-
troll Of pork. In any event the crowd
manipulating the market are said on all
sides to have cleaned up an enormous
profit, by some estimated at several
million dollars. 1t is stated that the
clique
Began Buying Pork
during the cholera scare, when it was
going begging at $40 barrel. The idea
is that they have been changing stuff"
fIom month to month, ard always at a
profit.
Manipulation aside, the handspring
under the market is the shortage of
hogs. Each day adds some new evil
dence of the strength of the situation.
Wednesday it was the very light stocks
of provisions. Yesterday hogs were
short again, and this morning the "hog
question" was more serious than ever.
The message to the board gave receipts
at $1,000, or 1000 short Of the very light
estimate. Private adVices to packers
gave the hogs as low as $4,000. Prices
Mt the yards showed the greatest jump
of the season. with packing lots 20 to
P5 cents higher. This, with free
talk of 50 for hogs if the sup
ply does not improve, started the
provision pit In whirl. The clique
brokers made a show Of buying at the
start, but on the bulge there was heavy
realizing by brokers for Cudahy and
Wright. The close was Within shade
of the highest prices of the day, 90
cent leap compared with last nights
figures. This was the third day OF al
most equally sensational advances.
The Scarcity of Hogs
at this season is largely attributed by
the alleged manipulation, Wright, to the
phenomenal meteorological conditions
in the spring, when it rained so long
that the farmers began to think they
would not have a chance to plant any
corn. What TO do with the hogs was a
question, with no corn to feed them
on, and they concluded that it would be
better to take what they could get for
their pork products then than run
chances for lower price. The cOnse-
quence W9s that there was a very free
movement in pork last summer, which
left a slim home contingent. Only H.
eco hogs are expected 10 arrive tomor-
row.
Mallory, Son & Zimmerman have is
sued their January crop report, in
which they state that tue probable per-
centage of hogs for January, February
and March of this year will be but IS
per cent of the supply Of hogs for Octo-
Der, November and December of last
year. Their estimate includes Illinois.
Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Da-
kota. Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, In
diana, Ohio and Michigan. For the
supply of spring and summer hogs from
the same states the estimate is ~ per
cent of the supply for the last three
months of 1892.