The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
LETTERS BIG WHEAT DEAL.
EXPECTED THAI he WILL HAVE
s,OOo,ooO BUSHELS By JAN 4.

iatinE M to tho Outcome-The Talk or
Union Between Him and Armour on MAY.
CHICAGO. Doc. 2b.-It is becoming plain that
Joe Letter will insist on having the exact grade
of wheat that no has bought, and that he In
tends to refuse any other. Yesterday the
| traders were disturbed because he had rejected
q rs, 900 bushel cargo of No. 2 red from George
Seavern's elevator. which the Appeals Commit
tee OF tho state Inspection Department had de-
| cidcd was not No. . hard winter wheat. Letter
was q member of Gov. Tanners staff. and tho
inspectors, who are appointecs Of the Governor,
will 60 to considerable trouble to please the
young millionaire.
In this case. however, they ran against a hard
proposition In George Seaverns the oldest ele-
vator man IN the trade. He knows what wheat
is, having been an expert as n maker Of con.
tract grades for nearly thirty years. lie was
not disturbed by the action OF the Appeals Com
mittee, and had a consultation with them.
"If there Is hard winter In the wheat that you
| refused, gentlemen" no said, please pick 1t
out"
They were unable to do 30. and instead Of
there being hard winter, the committee discov-
cred that there was a lot Of Mediterranean
wheat In tia soft variety grown largely in
southern Illinois years ago. but not to any great
| extent now. 1t has a long berry and is dark
colored, similar to hard winter wheat grown in
| Kansas. A test proved that the Appeals Com
mittee had misjudged the wheat, and 1t re-
versed its decision. upholding Seavcrn's in
s~pectors. This made 1t necessary that Letter
should accept the wheat.
armour, Weare, Carrington.H Hannah and
Norton. Worthington delivered to Letter 410.-
600 bushels OH December sales yesterday after
noon. making almost 7,0O0.0 900 bushels that he
has paid for so far, and the chances are very
liz 4 n mn L. A..
next FIVE business days. This will give him
| 5000, 900 bushels.
Contract stocks we're increased 800, 900 bushels
yesterday. and 1t is estimated that the increase
for tho week will be 1900, 600 bushels. This,
on top of the 5. $50, 900 bushels here on last Sat
urday night, gives an aggregate of about $780,
600 bushels. The traders will get all their
Wee sse n sont Mesk; GRADES %deen h Gaii t sFa Sweaters 'l sna
leave Letter in possession Of about 100000
Those people who have been under the wheat
market since September are still with it and
holding on with the tenacity, of bulldogs, and at
who are short of the May option. The clique
must have a little luck In order to have every
a cablerrsm from Liverpool this morning
Ssi ie 90 H 6ushels. a shiR@en nsn nSf l sai p %eek w ssd
shows beyond y doubt that tho wheat men OF
that country believe in the next crop, and that
April j., the time when the new crop viii begin
A massage to White. the St. Louis exporter.
from Buenos Ayres says the Argentine crop is
s ss'ssE thsa ss S1Sss' 81 So s o.oo se go 5f Susl Sill S SS Gs
10 also looking excellent.
-,d ThSse It Items ms from argentina : r snon y. are rees not taken bs, Sc &c,
taken In piecemeal with a grain Of allowance.
a; Asss g%s.sssss sns s4s " h 1Sps way q fs Tsa c gmisssS! that IT
received from there are directly entaFonistic
falling on in the demand at liverpool and on
the Continent for American wheat, and lower
corn and oat products for wheat will also work
against the clique's bank account, and this
s sss' t. e t ssiRs' IN Is . iS'' p! ss ssf ss,w j" shs move sSsH nd q
SHOULD everything work smoothly for Letter
and his associates. there is no telling just where
the price might be put, but it must not be for
gotten that they have on hand a very large line
OF cash stuff, and any mOvo they mako to un-
under the market. and let il down with a crash.
is lone. 1 900, 900 bushels tor that month; This,
Der. gives him T., 600, 900 bushels. a large line,
but there have been larger lines held by other
In 1898. When Cudahy squeezed the shorts In
1883, when Harper Of Cincinnati tried TO cor.
were put as high AS 60. Oo0. 900 bushels.
1t was rumored yesterday that arrangements
and 5000. 900 bushels Of wheat, ali rail. to the
s e HsIi ur f n a what bsie ieIts 1e fs do, AN s sitdPoF'er who
II 9raae nee need not worry ry' about SH.D the wheat
s ri !; I I'm 4 E Eu s : F ,sEst he here What i has %,6 Fec e.
buyers hold of in expectstion Of having the
rest assured there viii be no, consiening OF
who viii come here after IT,"
hsarins out that Armour and Letter viii form a a
coalition on May wheat. They say it is MS easy
e. fo.IPi pt 81 Two one 4 1na Sne is sos SSyiSr ma Nay % as last Z
ae 4 10 offered, and 20 is Letter. Together they
will have many millions of bushels. and they
will keep prices b%olstered up, whenever neces-
't G5SSiaS ~ ns-t tks Sof the Northwest is cleaned up,
the country has overexported, and that the
Client 70 supply the demand. they are 'T preparing
to hold their line. and b bullins the market to
sSSt ne, inc more se tSan O. s,o Ss Goo r pSsS StiGe of e aseIeret
wheat 10 bohind Duluth and Minneapolis.
for they assert that much contract wheat is
being held In small lots in the hands OF farmers
and country buyers. with the expectation that
that when tho farmers have held the grain az
long as they can they will tumble over
OH0 uuUluor 70 scll, dnu UnHb Ill tlo
shorts viii be abundantly able to cover. This,
they assert, will also start "a tumble In the
prices, which will be aided by all the other
Traders on the hoard-the men who have been
entagonized by the clique. In that way they soc
defeat for the clique and a financial loss for tho
mon who now ,possess a line OF 100000 or
10000, 900 bushels Of cash wheat, bought at
anywhere from 81 cents TO 81. and who are said
to control l0,O00. 600 bushels of May. Tho bears
say that another factor in this transaction
which looks bad for the bulls is the large foreign
stocks In sight.
To all of these arguments Mr.. Letter and his
associates answer with a smile and keep on pay
ing for cash wheat as fast as 1t Is delivered. p.
u. Armour said yesterday that the big wheat
deal was, over SO far as he was concerned:
Merely an incident; merely AN incident, l
assure you" and he waved his hands deprecat-
ingly as n visitor asked for an explanation Of the
immense gathering Of wheat.
While the elevator men are well out OF the
squeeze, II there is to be any, there may be
some pyrotechnics on settlement day, when the
small shorts even scores. Most of tho
traders concede that all rail shipments
from Minneapolis and elsewhere will be
ended practically on Wednesday. and
CLIQUE will advance the price. There seema 10