davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1898-01-14

Los vapores lie esta empresa efectua-
ran sn salida deslc este puerto EN- los
di,s ., 10, 10, 20 - de cada mes,
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BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1898-01-14

para escribir y copiar de divers
marcas. En- potes pequenoo hay IN
hnidad de ClaSeS.
The herald., 1898-06-05

he kept so close to the commander-in-
chief that the Iron Duke" not know
ing him fancied he must be either a
spy or possible assassin and threatened
to hang him if he again appeared near
headquarters.
The day of the great battle Roths-
child from his horse on the hill of
Hougoumont watched the struggle of
the nations, and when at last he saw
that the French army was in retreat,
posted off to Brussels as fast as his
horse could carry him, from whence
carriage in waiting conveyed him to
Ostend. There he found a storm rag
ing on the channel and the sailors
fearful to cross. But he knew neither
fear nor danger when he saw the CLINT
of gold. He offered first six, then eight
hundred francs to be taken to the
English coast. At last upon his offer
ing twenty-five hundred francs a fish
erman having greater courage or great
er cupidity than his fellows undertook
the dangerous task Before nightfall
Rochschild had landed at Dover and
without waiting for moments rest
was on his way to London. On the goth
of June he appeared at the Stock Ex-
change He told his friends in conf
dence, of course, that Bluchers army
had been utterly destroyed by Napoleon
at Ligny on the 10th and 18th and that
as result of this defeat there could
be no hope for wellington. His
whisperings poisoned the public faith
on every side. The funds went
tumbling into the bottomless pit of
commercial panic, while private and
| public credit ceased to exist
| AS stocks and bonds went down
Rothschild bought all the consols, bills,
and notes he could raise the money to
pay for. Then he waited secure in his
knowledge of the reaction that would
follow the news from Waterloo. On the
the 22d OF June this news reached Lon
The herald., 1898-06-05
Methods Of 6peCufatorS 10 An1aSS Vast
Fortunes bu a Clever Juggling
Of the Market
HOW CORNERS ARE MADE.

A COW may kick over a lamp, or q
Spaniard touch a button and blow up a
warship; there may be a famine in
Russia, a plague in India, session of
congress, or a flood on the Mississippi.
Wheat is bought by the professional
dealers not to use. but to gamble with.
In many respects the exchanges are
great clubs where people play with each
other for large stakes. Comparatively
little wheat actually changes hands;
and it 10 possible to buy and sell thou
sands of bushels without actually own
ing grain. Contracts, not wheat, are
dealt in. A speculator who thinks that
the price of wheat will advance agrees
to buy, say 1000 bushels of wheat at a
dollar a bushel on or before certain
date. He exchanges contracts with
bear" who expects fall in prices and
agrees on his part to sell the wheat at
the appointed time. Each man puts up
a margin" of from to 10 cents a
bushel. If speculator agrees to sell
wheat at 81, and it advances to S1.02,
he will evidently lose cents a bushel
when he carries out his contract. This
margin" is merely a guarantee that
the spectators will meet their losses.
When the loss is equal to the margin,
additional margin has to be put up.
No money is used in these transactions
The herald., 1898-06-05

the expenses of the voyage into the
bargain How it flourished and what
inducements it had to flourish, may be
judged from the fact that during the
war the blockading fleet took or de-
stroyed more than seven hundred ves-
sells engaged in the trade.
1t has been said that the purchase Of
arms added greatly to the private
means of certain officials. The works
at Springfield, where the army muskets
were made, were unable to meet the
sudden demand, and agents We're sent
abroad to buy rifles from various Euro
pean powers. The aggregate cost of
these muskets exceeded two million
dollars. They We're in every way in
ferior to those made at home, and it
was asserted that they were guns
which had been condemned by the gov
ernments from which they were pur-
chased.
The moneyed return In war time is
not always in proportion to the actual
value of the service rendered. indeed,
it would seem that the man who stays
quietly at home and allows his neigh
Dor to go to the front and do the fight
ing has every chance of becoming
rich man, while the soldier can only
hope for fame-or a pension.
Perhaps there is no better illuStra-
tion of this seeming unfairness than
that offered in the case of Captain John
Ericsson, who invented and built thl
famous monitor which defeated t,
Merrimac in Hampton Roads and fc
ever stayed the rising wave of Confe
crate success. He probably received
The herald., 1898-06-05

been 14Oih, a rise of five cents. This
would have given a profit of five mil
lions of dollars to tha conspiratorS had
they chosen to sell. but they held and
Thursday gold reached $50. On Fri
day morning 1t climbed to 160-and then
at the critical moment came the news
that the government had opened the
vaults of the sub-Treasury. Instantly
there was panic; with hardly rally
gold fell to 13S There were none taken
at any price. 1.-THE real stuff" crushed
the corner in the twinkling of an eye.
The report made by the committee of
investigation shows that there were
only fifteen millions of gold certificates
in New York city at the time, yet the
clearings for Thursday We're three hum
dred and twenty-five millions, and those
of Friday would have reached cool
half billion, if they could ever have
been made.
Fortunes have been made by the
manipulation of war loans; at the be-
ginning of the rebellion the national
bond issue, and the stability of the
government, which made the bonds of
value, were both regarded with doubt
The loan could not be negotiated
abroad owing to England's secret but
bitter hostility to the North, and to the
mistrust of the Rothschilds. The late
Jay Gould, western banker, under
took the sale of these bonds; he placed
the original $40 loan of five hundred
and thirteen millions,-as well as sub
sequent loans, which in the aggregate
amounted to over one billion of dollars.
This is said to have been one of the
most remarkable achievements in the
The herald., 1898-06-05
LA YMOTTE DU POINT.

Of all description. In single year
from this source he realized four mil
lion dollars.
Devlin & Co. of New York, a great
wartime firm of clothiers, profited in
somewhat similar way When it was
seen that war was imminent they pur-
chased all the cloth they could find in
the market suitable for uniforms, and
not even waiting for the call for troops
began the manufacture of overcoats
and army clothes. They had seventy
five thousand Of these packed and
ready for shipment when the Presi-
dents call for men came, and these
uniforms were worn by the first troops
that marched to the front. 1t was dur
ing the first year of the war that the
word "shoddy" came into use 1t was
applied to the worthless garments fur
nished the government by dishonest
contractors, but after the first year the
giving out of contracts was so well
managed that frauds of this sort be-
came well nigh impossible.
| 1t was the rise in the price of cotton
that made blockade running profitable
to English ship owners. The cargoes
were sent out to Bermuda or Nassau
and there transferred to the fast
steamers that were to make the haz-
ardous run to some Confederate port
The profits were so great that a single
successful run would more than pay
for the best steamer afloat and meet
The herald., 1898-06-05

have yielded him profit Of over one
million of dollars in less than years
time, were of this nature, but their
boldness compels a sort of admiration
by reason of his youth-he was only
twenty-five years of age.
The speculation in gold eliminated in
1869, in widespread ruin. This was on
what is known as Black Friday, when
Jay Gould and Jim Fiske tried to force
it up to two hundred.
Fiske had entered into the venture on
Goulds assurance that President
Grants brother-in-law, General Por-
ter, his private secretary, and Butter
field, the assistant secretary of the
Treasury, were to have an interest in
the speculation. Fiske was aware that
together they could buy all the gold in
New York city, but he feared the hun
dred million in the sub-Treasury, for he
knew an offer from the government to
sell any part of that would mean their
ruin, as he said-"Our phantom gold
can't stand the real stuff" However,
when he was told that corruption was
to play a part in the speculation, he felt
at home, and safe. They prepared for
the struggle by buying the Fifth Ma
tional Bank of New York.
On the 23d of September, the day be-
fore the bubble broke, Gould and Fiske
had about three hundred thousand dol
lars on deposit there, but their checks
were certified to the amount Of eight
millions.
The government meantime had been
informed of the action of the bank, and
three examiners were sent to New York
! to take possession. This was on FRIDAY
morning; but they permitted the bank
to transact it's regular business. though
no more checks were certified which
were not covered by deposit.
; On Wednesday the price of gold had
The herald., 1898-06-05

except the cash for the margin. OF
course, a speculator who has given a
contract to buy may hedge by SINH
lar contract from some one else When
the day for delivering the wheat comes,
the man who has lost settles by pay
ing the difference between the market
price and the price named in his con-
tract.
A corner" is formed when a specu-
lator buys contracts for more wheat
than the shorts are able to deliver to
him, when the day of delivery comes.
He then proceeds to squeeze" the
bears; they are forced to settle at
the price he dictates. The danger to
the "bull'' lies in his Understanding
the wheat supply and the amount of
cash necessary to pay for the margins
on the immense amount of wheat con-
tracts. If he refuses to accept con-
The herald., 1898-06-05

More than two billion bushels of
wheat come up out of the earth every
year. The government estimate of the
1897 crop in the United States was 60O,-
900, 900 bushels. These bushels of wheat
at from so cents to 81 each are the
chips Of the great wheat gamblers.
Cornering wheat is only game be-
tween spectators. The public is not
harmed; for no man can permanently
increase the price of a universal pro-
duct that is harvested in every month
of the year and in every country. AS
the game is played with one of the
necessities of life, the public sometimes
feels the effects; but when the price OF
wheat changes permanently, it is due
to causes beyond the control of any
speculator, though a corner" may be
credited with the result But so intl-
mate is the relation between the worlds
markets and such a nice balance of
prices is maintained, that spectators
by selling or buying large quantities Of
wheat cause fluctuations in the price;
and for short time may control the
wheat supply Of a nation. The move
ment of finger Of a cable operator in
Chicago produces a flash in London;
and the tinkle of the great wheat oper-
ator's bell summoning the office boy
shocks the delicate equilibrium of busi-
ness forces, and the italian peasant
across the ocean goes to bed supperless,
because wheat has reached a prohibi-
tive figure and the bakers have closed
their shops. 1t tickles the imagination
to fancy a speculator in Chicago dou-
bling the price of every loaf of bread
in the world with Croesus-like results.
But man ascends dangerous path
to dizzy heights when he tries to con-
troll wheat. A misstep means ruin.
The transactions in wheat, as well as
in other products dealt in at the great
exchanges of the world, consist chiefly
of buying and selling for future deliv-
cry. May wheat" is to be delivered the
31st of the coming May; July wheat on
July S1st, and so on. Before the time
for delivery comes, a hundred things
may have happened to affect it's value
The herald., 1898-06-05

in wheat, began buying, until the price
was advanced from 80 cents to $1.25 a
bushel. 1t was then that the famous
speculator, Philip Armour, entered the
pit as a leader on the bear side. He
sold contracts to Handy, and was
forced to settle at a heavy loss. The
tables were turned later, when Handy
became bear, and Armour forced the
price up to S1.40 to the utter ruin OF
Handy, who was the first victim OF
Armour's speculative genius. George
M. Pullman and a number of traders of
lesser note were badly crippled by
Armour in the Plankinton corner of
1882 All of Armours immense re-
sources were called into play, and
though wheat was plentiful and
large crop assured, all the July wheat
was acquired by Armour, and the
price kept at $1.30 until the bears had
settled. This was entirely contest
of SPECTATORS in which the side with
The herald., 1898-06-05

which seems to have been about ten
thousand dollars-were eagerly sought
by spectators who bought and stored
large quantities of whisky, knowing it
would advance in price the moment the
tax was placed upon it.
One year prior to the war, cotton sold
at 111a cents pound in the markets Of
the world; two years later it was SELL
ing at 241a cents, this rise, and those
which followed forcing it up to 65
cents. and affecting the price Of all dry
goods.
Having foreseen the condition that
war would necessarily create in the
South, A. T. Stewart, New Yorks great
dry goods merchant had bought and
stored millions Of yards of cotton goods
The herald., 1898-06-05

1t is difficult even to approximately
estimate his winnings, but the opinion
of the leading wheat brokers places
them at about five millions. Letters
operations can hardly be called run
ming a corner, because he has actually
bought wheat and sold it to consumers.
1t is a remarkable fact that Mr.. Letter
was the first to take advantage of the
scarcity of wheat in Europe. No one
knows whether to credit this to his
natural acutenes or information re-
ceived from Rockefeller and others
who, rumor says, are behind him. He
began to buy July wheat in 1897, and
is said to have taken eight million
bushels at an average of 6S which he
sold at a profit of eight cents a bushel.
The demand for wheat increased, and
Letter repeated his performance in
September. He declared, while the
wheat pit smiled, that he was a wheat
merchant, not an exchange operator;
and that he expected to send his wheat
abroad. He began to buy wheat for
December delivery and then Armour
fought him in earnest with the whole
pit to help. 1t seemed as if the daring
fellow was doomed. Just as the pit
expected him to be swamped, his
father, Levi Y. Letter, who is said to
control 80 millions in Chicago real es-
tate, came to the rescue. The March
option matured, and Armour and other
large sellers attempted to weigh down
the young meteor with large deliveries
made simultaneously. To their sur
prise he was able to take more than
they offered. The moral of this is that
a papa with so millions is sometimes
convenience.
While Joseph Letter, backed by his
fathers guarantee, was carrying his
wheat, another move was made by the
old bears. They boycotted the cash
wheat market with the idea Of leaving
their youthful opponent high and dry
with wheat that he could not dispose
of. He was equal to the emergency,
and the bears were astounded to learn
that after buying up the May option,
which he advanced to $1.05, he was
sending his wheat to Europe. Every
available vessel was chartered and
millions of bushels shipped. So well
had he understood the conditions
abroad that he was able to sell his
wheat at moderate profit of several
cents a bushel.
Then Mr. Letter had some good luck.
He held May and July wheat only for
the purpose of providing market for
his cash wheat by increasing the
demand for cash wheat to meet May
and July contracts. Just after he had
closed out his cash wheat and sent it
abroad, war was declared, and quite
naturally up went the price of wheat.
The herald., 1898-06-05

of corners in wheat are felt both ways.
They do occasionally affect the price
of bread by causing a temporary wheat
famine, and Mr.. Letters operations in
May wheat have probably aggravated
the trouble that led to the terrible riots
in Italy. On the other hand, the ad-
vance in the price of wheat, except in
purely speculative deals like Hutchin-
sons, means more money for the farm-
ers. In the year 1897, 500 million BUSH
els of wheat were grown in the United
States, and sold at an average advance
of 35 cents a bushel over the price in
1896. The result is that the farmers
are better off by the sum of $50 mill
lion dollars. Joseph Letter must be
given some credit for this. If bread u
The herald., 1898-06-05

don. Values went up more rapidly
than they had previously gone down
and shrewd old Nathan Rothschild
counted as his some six millions more
of gold.
Of all the great fortunes of Amer
lea the one most distinctly and
legitimately war fortune is that of
the Du Points, who for almost a CEN
tury have controlled the manufacture
of gunpowder in the United States.
In 1902 Ebenthen Treme Du Pont, a
French refugee, established himself in
Delaware, where he commenced in a
small way the manufacture of explo-
sives. The war of 1912 and the Mexican
war did much for the industry which his
descendants carried on. In every gen.
Grafton one or more members of the
family have paid for the family riches
with their lives through explosions in
the mills, for the Du Points must be
their own chemists and superintend-
ents and mechanics. The priceless Sc
crets of their craft pass from father to
son. During the civil war their con-
tract with the government involved
millions of dollars, and the present war
with Spain, when the cost of firing a
single projectile is enormous, will add
greatly to their wealth. which is esti-
mated to exceed one hundred millions.
Most of the fortunes in America to-
day come directly or indirectly as re-
suit of the expansion and development
occasioned by the civil war.
The first effect of the war was to
paralyze trade Of every sort, the next
was to stimulate it. The speculative
fever broke out in 1862. Men speculated
in all the food products, in coal, iron.
dry goods, and gold. Very few of these
purely speculative fortunes were last
ing, however. They were made and lost
almost in a day. One of the most in
teresting phases of this wartime
The herald., 1898-06-05

| supply, this wheat which costs large
sum for one days storage, may break
the market when he tries to dispose OF
1t; and all the profits may vanish like
handful of liquid air. The bears"
who We're not put hors de combat by
the corner will then recuperate. This
happened to ]. B. Hutchinson, the
celebrated "Old Hutch,' who succeed
ed in cornering wheat, but parted with
most of his profits in marketing his
holdings.
There must be a short crop If wheat
is to be successfully cornered. The
world is secured by wheat spectators
for information concerning the proba-
BILE size of future crops. The number
of considerations affecting a monthly
crop Of 100 millions of bushels is in
finite and here the superiority of brain
over brain is manifested.
1t has been said that Mr.. Letter was
led into purchasing wheat through the
reliable information that he received
concerning the condition of the 1897
wheat crop in Europe and India. The
shortage abroad was so great that it
offset the effects of large crop in the
United States. But the prescience of a
prophet will not avail a speculator in
his efforts to corner the market, un-
less he has cash for margins on his
contracts. He must be prepared to
carry from 10 to Is million bushels of
grain; and for margin of 10 cents
bushel a million and a half dollars are
needed. Mr.. Letter at one time was
obliged to use about ten millions for
this purpose. 1t is no joke to attempt
to corner wheat, as nearly every man
who has attempted it has learned One
of the first to make this discovery was
The herald., 1898-06-05
SPANISH PUNCTILIO.
Amusing Phase Of Castilian Charac>
ter Exhibited by a Cabinet Crisis.

The cabinet crisis which took place in
Spain in 1883 exhibits an amusing
phase of Spanish character. The min
isterial crisis had existed almost year,
when the resignation of the cabinet
took place as the result of a trivial
question of military etiquette. The
queen had left Madrid for an excursion
to Valencia, which the minister Of JUS
tice insisted on her making, according
to the published arrangement, lest the
postponement should be construed as a
sign of fear of the Zorllist repub-
licans, who had convoked mass meet
ing in the same city. The Infanta Isa-
bel, who was left to represent her, de-
cided to take a journey also, and in
formed General Martinez Campos that
ner sister, the Infanta Eulalie, would
give out the military watchword. The
military Governor of Madrid replied
that the married infanta was not legal
ly competent to perform that office, and
that it was impossible, according to
military rules, for him to receive the
parole from her husband, Prince An
tonic, Due de Montpensier. who was
only a captain in rank. The minister of
war, who was not on good terms with
the captain general, sent a brusque
telegram, ordering him to receive the
password from the Princess Eulalie,
whereupon General Campos offered his
resignation. All attempts to accommO-
date the quarrel failed, and as major
ity of the cabinet sided with the cap
tain general, General Cassola and the
ministers who had supported his view
resigned their portfolios. Senor Sagas-
ia handed in the resignation of the en-
tire cabinet to the queen regent, but
subsequently, upon the latter's request,
forp,od nav ministry
The herald., 1898-06-05

Instead of selling his May and July
wheat at slight profit and just saving
his neck as he expected to do when he
bought it, he found that on account of
the war and the shortage due to i'm
mense exports the demand for wheat
sent the price to nearly two dollars a
bushel and his operations were more
surprisingly successful than the quest
of the enchanted prince in widest
fairy tale. But Mr.. Letter needed
something more than luck to enable
him to carry off riches in the teeth of
the wealthiest and most experienced
spectators in the country The effects
The herald., 1898-06-05

the greatest resources won. The fulfil
ity OF man attempting to corner the
market with limited capital was
demonstrated in 1884 by Harper Pres
ident of the Fidelity Bank of Cincin-
natl. He forced the contract price up
to "a cents and then the great bears
began to deliver cash wheat to him in
an attempt to break his bank" Ten
million dollars worth of wheat was
presented to him; he could not buy it
so he failed. He used several millions
belonging to his bank in his efforts to
save himself and his career ended in
Jail. The most sensational wheat
corner occurred in 1888. The crop was
very small that year and Hutchinson
slyly got control of the visible supply
of wheat, which was only 20 million
bushels. and bought contracts for
September delivery at from so to 80
cents. Two or three days before the
last day of September the bears dis
covered that there was scarcely any
cash wheat to be had. There was a
rush of bears to cover and the price
went up to 81. Many fortunes were lost
but "Old Hutch" was not much ahead
after he sold all the wheat he had
bought. In this same year John H.
Cudahy bought an immense amount of
May wheat. He er-estimated the
supply. and after forcing the price up
to 80 cents he was obliged to unload at
a loss Of several millions which went
to line the pockets of Philip Armour
and the bear leader, Edward Pard-
ridge.
All operations of the past are
dwarfed by the achievements of Joseph
Letter, the youngest and the most brill
liant operator in the Chicago wheat pit.