The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-22
Mr.. Armour Credited by
the Crowd With q
Million Loss.
LETTER ONLY SMILES And LOOKS HAPPY.
All Sorts or RumOrs Afoaf Re6ardin6 fhe
Bull Coup and The Probable
Outcome.

CHICAGO. Dec. 21-Dec. 81, settling
day" on the board of trade. will wit
ness the elimination of the gigantic
Leiter-Armour deadlock. The trade
will not be surprised then to learn
that Armour will lose a clear 81, 900, 900
on the December deal True, he has
performed the marvellous feat Of
bringing 100000 bushels of high-grade
cash wheat to this city, in defiance of
all settled rules Of commerce, but that
act may result in nothing more sub
stantial than glory. 1t is a growing
belief on change that Mr.. Armour
had to pay dearly for bringing the
big volume Of wheat to this city, and
that his short selling will cost him
about IL or 20 cents bushel
By settlement day, the deal will have
been fought to a finish The present
status Of the case is about as follows.
In July the Letter clique began its
operations in a formidable manner by
gobbling up July wheat at 63 cents.
The amount III it's possession was va
riously estimated at from 5000 600 to
l0,OOOOOO bushels. No matter what the
actual amount of it's holdings, it was
large enough to boost the price and
emphasize the growing foreign de-
mand The price of July wheat rose
TO 13 cents, and between 70 cents and
73 cents the Letter clique sold out its
stock OF July and transferred a por-
ton Of 1T to September, pocketing by
the transaction the premium which at
that time existed between July and
September wheat
Nhen September came around the
clique repeated its bullish tactics and
accumulated vast amount of Septem-
Der wheat, estimated as high as H.
100000 bushels. 1t was during this
month that the foreign situation was
brought out more boldly. September
sky-rocketed in short time up to 80
cents. large portion OF the holding
| was transferred to December with an
other handsome premium to put away.
and a considerable bulk was sold out
right for a big profit. The present
line Of 100000 bushels of December
wheat. which the Letter clique is car
ing for, was bought from the elevator
people at from 81 cents to SO cents a
bushel. At one time the clique had
an opportunity to sell the immense
holding at profit of nearly 20 cents a
bushel.
Armour, Seaverns, Peavy and the
Central Elevator company, were the
people who sold wheat to the Letter
clique. Armour's shortage was only
guessed at until the great shipments
of wheat from Duluth by vessel and
rail showed in the sensationally large
Increase of the contract stocks in store.
The amount said tC have been brought
here is nearly 100000 bushels. and tn 1T
is regarded as the amount OF Armour's
shortage. Before Mr.. Armour sent out
his people to bring in wheat sufficient
to satisfy his contracts for delivery he
was face to face with tough problem.
Had he been unable to secure the wheat
which he is now credited with having
brought here, he would have been COM
PEELED to pay to Letter the difference
between the price at which he sold the
wheat to Letter and the market price
upon the day of delivery. Inasmuch as
Mr.. French, of the Letter crowd, insists
that the December wheat in the cIiuue's
hands did not cost, on an average
more than 80 cents a bushel, and, as
Stunning that the market price would
De 81 d DuSHtl OH the DDdl DAY Oh the
month when 1t IS neces sary for Armour
to deliver what he sold to Letter. he
would have been compelled to pay the
latter 10 cents on every bushel he could
not actually deliver. The rules of the
board are ironclad on this subject, and
there is no recourse.
Now that Armour has secured fully
as much cash wheat as he sold for de-
livery this month, there will be no such
contingency to face. 1t was in bring
ing the wheat to this city when it was
scarce that the test of strength came
in. At what sacrifice Mr.. Armour saw
ed his business honor is known only to
himself The costs are mostly repre-
sented in freight charges private set
tlement for cargoes already chartered
for other ports and the displacement
of great bulks of wheat which were not
designed for shipment to this city. The
remainder of the shorts who sold to
French are generally regarded as safe
ly within cover 1t is confidently pre-
dicted that the clique will get all the
wheat which it bought. If Armour has
be en- buying for other houses which
played the bear side of the market, it is
not known, and the general belief is
that Armour bought cash wheat for
Armour & Co., first and last.