The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-01-01

~
els ot contrnct grade wheat had been de-,
llvcred on December contracts to joseph
Letter, who has been tho leader In the
deal, witch Is practically every bushel
OF high grade wheat In Chicago. 1t was
the prevailing opinion to-day among the,
traders before the opening on change
that the session would be devoid OF the
excitement usually attendant upon the
closing hours Of deals OF such magnitude,
as It was believed that the short Inter-
est had In thr last fifteen days been prac..
tlcally eliminated from the market. No
squeeze. was therefore looked for and
the big December deal was expected to
pass Into history In q very quiet manner.
Nevertheless some time before the open
ing both galleries were filled. not q few
women being present. The floor was
thronged with the brokers md their
clerks, the wheat pit, of course, being
the centre Of attraction and when the
opening bell sounded the crowds Usually
around the corn, oats and provisions pits
were to n large extent, clustered around
the wheat ring. II
There was no Indication of excitement
on the curb before, the opening on.
change. There was not L quotation for
December, which jclosed last night at
9iA cents. May reflected the strength
which so suddenly developed on the curb
yesterday afternoon when the rumors of
the calling out OF the English naval re-
serve were circulated. The first curb
quotation for May was 92TSc, showing an
advance OF &c over yesterday, and It
swung quietly between that price and
93%c until the regular opening. W When
the big gong sounded on the board for the
final session OF 1897, May was Quoted at
929s402%c and for the first fifteen min
utes trading the price did not vary more
than nc from those figures. In that
time not 4 single quotation; had been
made on December. Il
The first sale OF Observation-Disclosures at
94ac. an advance OF 1ac, as compared
with last nights figures, about equal to
the advance in other options, The Allen
Grler company, agents Of the Letter
clique attracted some attention by buy
ing December and selling May at &c
premium for December. Trading wns,
however, on a comparatively small scale
with prices changes msrelya fractlon.and
an hour after the opening the would-be
spectators OF q brilliant finish had about
given up hope. ~
The 50 called December deal goes out
as quietly as a lamb, just ias we expects
ed, snid George B. French. who Is iden-
titled with the Letter interests. At no
time did we have any idea that We would
not get all the wheat we bought for De-
cember Those who sold their wheat
short in the 70s and SOS preferred to buy
the stuff from the farmer and in the
other markets and bring It here. The
additional loss has been OF no moment to
them, X being entirely 4 matter of pres
tige and credit. Chicago now has mill
lions of wheat In It's elevators and OF a
grade that will pass In any market OF the
world, and the credit and reputation OF
our marketis Is SO. much erchanced.there-
by. All of the wheat we have taken out
OF elevators SO far is first class stun.
We have had some trouble, but have sue.
tcssded N. nla!ntainins4our, rights, -5tWTe
feel very well satisfied with our position.
II w.cfhaye erred In the premises, there
will p6of course penaityin the conclu-
s!onSiSAs to our policy in disposirg OF the
wheat ! do not care to ;talls. 1t being
strictly our own business. Ae FAR as the
hanlutering in the market. to-day Is con-
cerned that Is again q matter OF prest!ge
with the elevator concerns. We have
boughtF all the December offered, but
made no attempt to sustain. prices,
When merchant buys 4 commodity, he
generally follows the dictates Of COM
mon sense and buys as cheaply as possi-
bic. We are not interested in prestige or
popular applause and think We need no
credit at the present time" q
For the first time since the big Decem-
ber deal commenced, Joseph Letter talk
ed freely yto-day on his plans.
''We can DO, no more than set on our
pyramid Of wheat and wait until some
one comes and buys it." said he. II am
confident that the price OF wheat will go
up and that we willssell our wheat at
much higher prices than ut present
quoted for cash wheat In the market.
There will bR no more sensational activi-
ties In wheat so far as we can help II,
We have bought wheat only as merehan-
disc and not as q speculative commodity.
There is no special reason why we should
feel respondent when we know our
wheat Is Of exceptionally high grade, has
been bought cheap and that the general
conditions of supply and demand are In
our favor. Personally, am entirely out
Of Maytwheat." lT'- e
Mr.. Letter also said that when he had
disposed OF his present pile OF wheat he
would quite the grain business entirely.
Notwithstanding this fact 1t Is quite gem
orally believed by the traders that the
December deal is to be carried into May.
Mr.. Armour Is said to have predicted
wheat would go to 81 95.
The total amount Of wheat delivered
to-day on December contracts amounted
to about 172,0 900 bushels. making in all
9.oio,o bushels Of contract grade wheat
on hand In Chicago. g
REVENUE OUTLOOK
For tho Present Year Chairman Diurley
Given N hyost prnrtutnu y,nr.,.. "