The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-29
The CHICAGO WHEAT CORNER.
IL Was n Battle Royal Between Old Ar
mour and Young Letter.
ENi.cnrn LII

II Was Battle Royal Between Old Ar
mour and Young Letter.
From the Philadelphia Press.
Since Peter McGeoch attempted to
corner lard and was bankrupted by his
| operations and Mackay tried his hand
at a May corner of the worlds wheat
and lost millions-some estimates said
$4,000, 000-no such contest over produce
exchange quotations has taken place
as is now in progress in the great Lei
ter wheat deal
The pivotal points of the wheat mar
ket are September. December and May
/ When September is over all the world
/ knows what the American crop is near
enough for speculative purposes, and
| the September option is the final guess
on the price as affected by the crop
/ here. In December the world is on the
/ Threshold of receipts, first from Ar
| gentina and next from India, with
/ some from Australia. These deliveries
run from January to March and the
| December option rounds up specula-
| ton before full knowledge as to the
crop in the South temperate countries
makes one man as wise as another.
| Lastly. in May the worlds wheat har-
vests are all garnered, and for the last
| time prices are settled in the two or
three months before a new wheat yield
| begins to be reaped.
| Not the worlds price, however, but
the Chicago quotation is involved in the
present contest. For a number of
years Mr. Armour, an old, astute and
well-equipped speculator, has bought
heavily in July, August and September
and contracted to deliver in December.
The latter price is usually, not always,
the higher, and the difference between
| is his profit. Like all men who deal
year after year on a great scale in
particular commodity, the tendency of
his operations has been to regulate the
price rather than heavily to advance
it.
With Mr.. Armours price and quo
tation.for December Mr.. Letter has in
terfered by advancing it. The worlds
price affects neither speculator. The
real value of wheat is little. The issue
in this great battle of speculative giants
one an old, trained veteran, familiar
with years of speculation, and the 9TH
er an ambitious but able and brilliant
young man, who has attempted a Splen-
did but risky operation-in the amount
of graded wheat in Chicago, passed I'M
der board of trade rules and ready for
a technical delivery by the end of De-
cember Mr.. Letter can maintain his
high price only if he can purchase all
the wheat of this character. Mr.. Ar
mour can break this price only if he
can bring to Chicago more wneac than
Coupled with the transactions which
turn on actual deliveries OF wheat and
depending on them. are the vast spec
ulatiVe contracts decided and deter
mined by the actual transfer. Not Oft
en- are these speculative contracts de-
pendent on so tangible a fact. Usually
the tides of price on wheat. as on all
else ebb and flow under those broad
price-making facts which affect all the
world alike. The December option of
wheat is usually settled at all points by
the general impression as to the near
future. Are the locusts busy in Ar
gentina on the pampas? Have the
Himalayan SHOWS filed the irrigation
canals of the Punjab? Has Australia's
scanty rainfall been equal to the needs
of the wheat in that reversed season
which sees the birds nesting in Sep
TENDER and full spring in October?
How has the consumption of half
year gone in Europe and the United
States, and what are the farmer
boards in midwinter?
These are usually the decisive ques-
lions. They have their effect now; but
the closer query is whether Mr.. Ar
mour can supply more wheat than Mr..
Letter can buy or Mr.. Letter buy more
than Mr.. Armour can offer. To what
ever point the price is forced or breaks
there is certain to succeed this great
corner a reaction, in which the quota
ton will move toward the normal lev
ell. Speculation itself is the one great
force which preserves this level. In
lands where no speculation exists the
price of wheat will vary three or four
fold in year But if there is a Specu-
lator ready to buy for future profit
when wheat is plenty at harvest time
the crop year has worn out and half
the crop is gone, the quotation for
wheat will never sink so low or go so
high as under non-speculative condi-
lions. Messrs. Letter ana Armour are
blind Samsons, grinding in the great
mill of civilization. which has brought
ii about that the price of a loaf of
bread has never varied so little as in
the last half century of speculative op-
tons.