The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-08

the aspect of a regular commercial en-
terprise. That 1t has borne this con-
sistently throughout and that Mr.
Letter made his calculations upon cor
rect and sufficient data, appear to be
established by all the market reports.
We quote the following from the weeks
summary in yesterdays G lobe:
Mr.. Letter is now recognized seller for
export, and reputed constant buyer of all
the FUTURES. He appears to be trading with
the regularity Of ordinary merchant who
deals in specific staple product unasso-
clated with speculative contingencies. He
permits the world to know just what he Is
doing; he claims to own nearly all the
contract wheat far as the visible supply
can render this possible: and furthermore.
he freely says, and his statements
borne out by the daily records OF transpor-
tation, that this supply will be entirely re-
moved from the country by the end of
May.
This is something altogether different
from the ordinary corner in grain
or provisions. The essence of that is
to purchase the whole or a great part
of a commodity Immediately on the
market, to take care of such additions
as can be thrown upon 1t within a CIV
en- time, and then to purchase options
and force up prices until those who
have sold quantities of the article
which they do not possess are obliged,
In default of delivery, to pay the diff
ference between the price at which they
agreed to furnish 1t and that which 1t
has reached in rising market.
The scheme of Mr.. Letter was more
ambitious, and few would dream in adj
vance that 1t could be successful. That
1t is successful Is due to the fact that
1t was scientifically considered, and
founded upon facts agreed upon by all
the best authorities. There was no
man generally conversant with the
facts who did not state last fall that
the wheat supply of the world was
short; that all the surplus Of the Unit
ed States would be in great demand
before another crop could be harvested,
and that prices were bound to advance
materially from perfectly natural
causes. These predictions were based
upon careful study otsstatistics and
an actual knowledge of the worlds sup
ply and the worlds needs Working
from them as a beginning, it required
only capital adequate to handle the
bulk of the available wheat product to
work out the problem to q profit III
business.
This is what the great operation re-
Gently under way has done. 1t simply
contemplated the purchase OF all the
wheat that could be sent to market
within given time, together with ar
engagements for carrying 1t to the sea-
board and shipping it to Europe, whers
1t could be actually sold. 1t differs from
the ordinary corner" in that it does
not merely tie up several million BUSH
els of wheat stored in American eleva-
tors for a. few weeks or months, while
the bulls toss the bears into the air,
and then release it under conditions that
depress the market as far as it was
elevated above the normal. 1t appears
to be, instead, the sustaining of a regu-
lar. steady and high price for grain,
maintained by actual marketing. The
wheat that has been taken off the mar
ket is being sent out Of the country
to meet an actual demand for it, which
was foreseen and counted upon as a
part of this very transaction.
we nave become accustomed to great
speculative movements in this country,
and the people have little tolerance for
them. This transaction in wheat is of
a different nature, and is unique in that
1t has taken up and carried for a long
period the whole business Of gather
ing to central point and distributing
again to the ends Of the earth the sur
plus wheat product of an entire nation,
to the great profit of the handler and
to the maintaining OF adequate prices
| In all the markets. 1t exhibits to the
people the capacity of our times for
combinations Of extraordinary magni-
tude and operations of capital hitherto
undreamed of, that may be in accord
with natural laws in their operation,
and entirely beneficent in their popular
effect