Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-17
THE FRIEND.

indianapolis News: The farmers may have
to take up a collection for Letter.
Chicago Post: Coincident to the Letter
wheat deal the farmers of the United States
have disposed of a wheat crop of $50, 600, 900
bushels at prices ranging from 80 to SO
cents per bushel higher than prevailed in
1896. No collapse in the market now can
rob them of this enormous profit.
Chicago Record: 1t is a significant fact
that while wheat was advanced a full dollar
a bushel only one failure resulted on the
board. And the collapse of the deal really
hurts nobody excepting the Letters. Prob
ably it does not hurt them very much.
Letter pere is abundantly able to stand the
loss and Letter fills has a world of expert
ence which to a young man of his eXpecta-
tons is cheap at any price.
st. Louis Republic: There is only one
class that has universally profted by the
Letter deal and that is the farmer. 1t has
enabled him to sell his grain at a figure
that has Cancelled his mortgages and he is
now in a position to further improve his
land and provide himself and family
with the necessaries and even the luXuries
of life. In this way it has been a blessing
and so is not without its compensations.
Courier-Journal: Letters hardihood was
wonderful, and his temporary success
astounulnE, hut he should have known the
tide would not always go his way. He had
staked millions and won, but he persisted
in stalking more millions and lost. In his
desperate endeavor to carry over options
from one month to another at an even in
creasing price he lost sight of the fact that
the earth was teeming with another harvest.
AS long as he could buy a few million
/ buSbals ba rnu1d Eoap nm tho pr;oa hnt
with hundreds of millions the purse of this
modern Croesus could not cope.
Kansas City Star: Young Mr.. Letter has
not given the public any occasion to rejoice
over the failure of his plans. While he did
not go into the wheat market as a philan-
t%hropist, he has. nevertheless, been instru-
mental in placing in circulation millions of
dollars, which have gone into the pockets
of the farmers. In the absence of his specu-
lative venture, this money would have re-
manned in the possession of his father, l.. z.
Letter, and would have done nobody any
good. If Joseph Letter is seeking consola-
ton for his disappointment he may find it
in the reflection that the good which he
expected to monopolize has been distributed
among thousands of other people.
Philadelphia Times: When a young
3peculator undertakes to run against a vet
eran like Armour, with his great experience,
his enormous capital, his Incompatible bust
ness organization, he must get up very early
in the morning; not only once or twice, but
all the year round. Letter started in To
make a fortune at Armour's expense. Now
Armour has Letters wheat, but Letter has
not yet Armour's experience, though he has
his own. No man or combination of men
can control-eXcept temporarily under some
limited conditions-the price of a worldwide
commodity like wheat. A shrewd and ex'
perienced observer can anticipate the mar.
ket and profit by its course, but the mere
gambler who tries to do more than this IL
reasonably sure TO be tripped up in the Ions
run.
Indianapolis journal: Most people will
be surprised to learn that Mr.. Letter, whit
has been reported as having cleared $1,000,
900 by his wheat transactions, is practical!
in the hands Of q receiver. He may pa!
out in the end, but he will have made NJ
millions. Mr.. Letter was all right so Ions
as all the wheat that could be counted OF
was the crop of 1897, The supply wa
scarcely equal to the demand, 1t was tn
law of supply and demand that helped NJ
Letter make the price Of wheat. When tn
reports from all wheat growing c%ountrle
showed a good yield and the report of IN
condition of the crop in the United State
indicated a phenomenal yield Mr.. Letter
efforts to keep up the prices were as futil
as would be his efforts to resist the ocean
incoming tide with a broom. Wheat vii
be lower now because of the promise OF al
abundant crop.