The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-27
TIE MARKET FOR WHEAT
. COMPLETE REALIZATION OF
EARLIER PREDICTIONS


ExpInined-OnIyH Hard and Sea-
soned Wheat Used Here In Mill
fns-Chfcago Shorts Can Use
early Winter Wheat.
The market for wheat yesterday was the
most wildly speculative in its character which
the people of the Northwest have seen for
many a day. And yet the outcome has been
lust that which was pointed to weeks ago by
The G | o b in this column. The Liverpool
market. for more than two months past.
has been conspicuously bare Of wheat The
supply there has been trundling along on the
basis of 1ee0,0 coo blu per day for consider
able while; and SO heavy have been the
crafts upon it that despite their most earn
est efforts, the dealers could not get beyond
his margin.
The worlds supply of wheat during the
past crop year has been notably short. Every
condition has tended to the establishment
Of this fact. But the eye of the people have
been fixed on Chicago and that bright par
hcular star, Mr.. Letter, whose fascinating
influence they did not fully comprehend. 1t
Is no praise of a man that he has displayed
the existence of common sense; it is depre-
catory to the community always, when 1t is
exposed as unwise in its own Judgment or
conceits. A good many prophesies have been
fulfilled, with respect to the approaching
scarcity Of wheat, since the last reaper now
I'd from the fields of the Northwest in Aug
ust 1897. How poetical it would be if we
could refer in this connection to the last
swath cut by the old-fashioned sickle.
But We cannot return to the days of ro-
nance now, when blue-eyed maidens carried
provender at noon day to the robust reapers
In the fields. The practical and stern days
Of fortune exist in the Northwest when the
steel-eyed miller and the manipulation of val
ues control the output Of the prairie lands
During the last week the query has re-
peatedly been advanced why the price of
July wheat in Minneapolis should be so much
In excess OF that Of Chicago, the great wheat
market OF the continent Why for instance,
should wheat of the July option sell in Min
neapolis at $1.14k, while 1t was selling at
sSlAc in Chicago? A well known St. Paul
broker was asked this question yesterday
and he laughingly replied: II know but that
Is something won't tell" But the reason Is
discoverable, Notwithstanding
For several days the price of July option
In Chicago, has been quoted at figures which
would enable the buyers in that market to
sell at huge profit. through deliveries at
Minneapolis, and nobody seemed to know why
such condition should exist.
representative of The Glob e Yesterday
visited two or three of the larger agencies
Of the wheat market in Minneapolis, in arch
OF information, and this is what he learned:
When dealer sells July wheat, either in
Chicago or Minneapolis, he must make de-
livery at some date prior to the ending of
that month. Chicago is 50 located, geograph-
ically, that the seller OF wheat on a July op-
ton, may take advantage of the early offer
ings of wheat harvested in the Central or
Southwestern states during that month TO
make good deliveries. But this practice could
not be INDUCED in at this point The Min
neapolis mills grind only hard and seasoned
wheat, and product harvested In July
would be acceptable at Minneapolis for
immediate use for flour. The winter-grown
wheat, harvested in July, can, in bulk, be
utilized for deliveries in connection with mar
ket sales, of that option, in Chicago, and for
subsequent storage and preparation for the
mill, but the immense consumptive powers
of the Minneapolis mills have always found
their supply in the spring wheat product
of tributary territory, and will not absorb
any measure OF the unripened and unseasoned
yield of the states In the lower parallel, COM
prising the winter wheat district This Is
in the line of economy as well as of neces-
sity.
The view is taken by Minneapolis elevator
men and millers, reflected through in
terviews by o b e representative yes
terday that the sudden flight Of the price Of
wheat is substantial, and directly the
suit of natural conditions existing and
for a long time existing in the past. The
fact is known absolutely that the world has
been short of wheat since last September.
The volume of our exports of this commodity
has substantiated the theory in a striking
degree during the past nine months. The
United States and Spain have been most
conspicuous within the past thirty days. The
volume of wheat afoat, destined to European
ports, has been comparatively limited dur
ing that time. Argentina, from whose ports
a weekly supply of 100000 bushels was ex-
pected as a contribution to the Liverpool
market, has proved a disappointment, and
an uncertain quantity. India is doing little,
and the supply from that source will probably
peter out much earlier than was anticipated.
The truth stares the world in the face that
England, or, more properly speaking The
United Kingdom, now cut off by edict, from
a supply ordinarily flowing from Russia,
finds herself short of breadstuffs necessary
for the sustenance Of the people between this
date and the period in which the new crop
shall be harvested. The incident of war has,
It is said greatly enlarged purchases of both
by English agents. A Minneapolis mer-
chant, conspicuous in the wheat and Hour
trade to the extent of commanding national
influence, so far as his utterances indicate
the real conditions of the industry with which
he is identified are concerned, said yester-
day that pending the declaration of war,
English dealers in wheat and flour had been
industriously securing in this market sup
plies of breadstuffs; and he attributed the
sudden and almost startling rise in the price
OF wheat to this cause alone. Wheat is
scarce the world over he says, and the price
cannot recede until there is some guarantee
as to the volume of the as yet, ungrown
crop. The sales of -four for export by Min
neapolis millers have been enormous duriag
the past month. The theory is advanced that
merchants on the other side have been stock
Ing up heavily with supplies in anticipation
of the outbreak of hostilities between this
country and Spain, and that their over
stimulated anxiety has resulted in the pres
ent exalted price of wheat. The permanency
of the existing figures are not relied upon at
all. The opinion prevails that within the
next thirty days, as the crop prospects for
1889 become revealed, heavy drop must en-
sue. The increased acreage sown to spring
wheat is about 10 per cent, and about two
thirds of the seeding is already done. The
weather conditions thus far are superlatiyely
favorable. But every dealer recognizes the
TACT that the wheat already grown and in
the granaries and elevators is real quantity
while the wheat that has yet to mature from
the infant plant now in the soil is an I'M
certain quantity