Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-05-26
THE CITIZEN.
LETTERS WHEAT.
ssme Interesting Figures Concern
Ing HIs Posse.sIon.

ssme Interesting Figures Concern
Ing His Possession.
Ii young Joseph Letter, the king OF
The Chicago wheat pit, should take II
nto his head 10 become philanthrop-
st Instead OF mere muli-nillionaire,
wh-. untold possibilities lie buried in
ais 100000 bushels of wheat! Twelve
million bushels. 1t doesn't mean very
much IN cold type, does il? But with
the aid OF a few mathematical cslcula-
lions l shall attempt to show some
igures which viii rather startle you.
In the first place, you must know that
Joseph Letter holds more wheat than
any man il this or any other country
,rcr held before. lie has in store in
Chicago, Minneapolis and Duluth
about Il, 100000 bushels. worth S12, ,000,
100. or nearly that figure. and yet this
vast amount does not represent all Of
his holdings, Tor he has from 100000
70 100000 bushels of May wheat puT-
chased which win not be delivered 70
him until the latter port Of that month.
His wheat costs him over $4,000 per
day, Of which $4,000 represents stor-
=
daily Insurance. The interest on S12,
oC0.C0) Is 100000 per year at four per
cent. or over 1880 per day, and it IS
not believed that Mr. Letter got the
money he needed for less than that, for
bankers do not lend money on wheat at
as low q rate as on some other securi-
".
Ii all this vast quantity of wheat
could be loaded on one train the train
would reach from Chicago 10 Fort
Wayne, Ind, a distance of nearly $50
miles AS the locomotive would be en-
tering the depot at Fort Wayne the last
car would just be leaving Chicago. The
$4,000, 600 bushels of wheat would fill
90, 600 cars, ut the rate of 600 bushels to
the car, which is the average carload.
Each car is "a feet in length, and this
would represent, provided each car was
placed end to end, distance of 6s0,00
feet, or practically 130 miles. As there
is n distance of about two and half
feet between the cars when coupled
this would lengthen this enormous
wheat train to ten miles more, or 146
miles In all.
And think of the bread! There are
50 pounds to a bushel of wheat, and
from a bushel can be made 75 loaves of
bread. Therefore, Letters 100000
bushels of wheat represent 720, 100000
pounds, or 9G0, ,O00, 900 loaves of bread,
sufficient 10 give each man. woman and
child in the United States ten loavcs
each, with 10000 loaves left over for
those who happened 10 be unusually
hungry.
THIS Letter wheat could feed the
population Of Greater New York for
year, provided the people were willing
70 subsist On nothing but bread. This
means that every mon, woman ard
child In Greater New York could have
almost two and half loaves every day
for 935 days, and In time of stress, such
az famine, this would sustain he.
II there are 100000 persons starving
in Cuba, this Letter wheat would feed
them all for three years, and if starving
people got such bread as the Letter
wheat would make they would DO well
satisfied, for IL Is the finest wheat this
country ever saw.
There is practically no limit to the
possibilities OF this great amount of
wheat. Russia's army is estimated at
z, 2,500,000 men. Suppose the Russian war
should buy all this wheat
and pat the army on rations of two and
one-half loaves of bread per day. The
army could be fed for more than year.
And no7g for little calculation aside
from the purely sustaining quality of
eight inches In length. The Letter
wheat would make 100000 900 loavea,
length Of 100000, eco
inches, or COZ, 900, 900 feet, which IS over
1903 miles, or more than four times
around the earth. Thia means that
Letters wheat made into ordinary
loaves OF bread, placed end 20 end,
would reach around the Garth four
times and lap over.
There arc nearly 100000 barrels OF
-four in The Letter wheat, or 2,sGG, ,G6s 70
be more accurate. II the barrels we're
placed end TO end, their length being
estimated at three feet each. they
would reach from Chicago to New York
md back again In a double lino.
II the United States should 20 10 war
"itr SpGia and should gebd 100, 900 men
10 dght the GpauiGEtla, lnc.uding the
Grnr and Eayy, Letter could feed this
force year and never feel IT. for hc
"oG!d uzc about 1900, 900 loaves out OF
''s 100000, or 2. .4o0, 900 pounds Of his
720,Jo0e00. 1t would mean only I00,0
bushels OF wheat, and he buys and sells
more than thnt every day.
II Letter chose TO be philunthropist
he could feed every hungry man,
woman and child in the United States
until the cold weather was over and the
warm weather Of the Gprlng set In. He
could succor the starving In India for
Inontha and yet have enough wheat
left 10 make hiIn more than once or
twice millionaire. He could do q lot
u thinga, but the probabilities arc he
will DO nothing but sell the wheat v;hcn
30 gets his plicc, and pocket his mil
lione.-N Y. Herald.