New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-06-19
FAMOUS WHEAT CORNERS.
FIVE ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL PRICES
IN TWENTY YEARS.
uosr OF THEM HAVE BEEN FAILURES WITH
DISASTROUS NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. FROM
KEENE TO CUDAIIY.

Tho rnovnoctcd COLLAPSE during the last week
~ tbe lannon's Chicago wheat deal under the
management Of Joseph Letter, sometimes cal'eu
the Young Napoleon of the Wheat Pit, brings
IN n close another interesting chapter in the an
nails Of speculation Along with the names OF
Young Kecne Harper. Armour. Cudahy' far-
bridge and "Old Hutch" his will be written
down in the commercial history Of the last quar-
ter of a century.
Although only few years out OF co"ese' i'ei-
ter has been the central figure in the market ior
many months He carried along n PROJECT oil
tremendous importance and attracted the gaze
of the entire world upon himself lie hahdied
from four to five times more grain than any
other individual who ever ATTEMPTED corner
His methods have been unique No other Dig
wheat deal has been lkened 20 his Success was
thought to be foregone conclusion, and the
Cews that he had gone to the wall came IN the.
nature OF a complete surprise
Joiters failure recalls some OF tho more impor-
tant speculative operations Of the last twenty
wears. These are five in number. and no one
can be said 70 have been bowling success
while most Of them have been dismal failures.
Armour has a record for running numerous
small corners successfully before the time WIN
ter wheat was made O delivery on contract
in Chicago; but bis most important undertake
Ing. in 1852. was only fairly successful.
Next to the Letter deal no attempt to manip-
ulate tlen wheat market stands ont with greater
distinctncss than that OF James K kcene
nearly twenty years ago. The operations or the
"Keene pool" as # was called, were conducted
Oh an extensive scale over years time. They
began in June 1870. and collapsed on May 80
1880 Associated with Mr.. kccnc was Jess"
Hoyt wei known at the time 10 the trade both
in New-York and Chicago. Old-tiincrs who
bear the scars of many conflict in the wheat
ring and who have been In the thick Of the fight
In every corner the market has witnessed for the
last quarter Of a century say that the "poor
started out to "do up" the market on the basis
Of short crops in Europe. Estimates Of the
quantity Of grain handled differ, but fair av-
eraee places the sto,k Is purchased at about hf-
teen million bushels The price IN Ncw-York
was forced from 81 20 81 60 and 81 g..
EFFECT OF TIE KEENE DEAL
There are many who are inclined 20 consider
the Kccue deal more disastrous In It's effects
upon the general business Of tho country than
any other The pool. 1t is related. took The
grain as it was delivered and locked u ~ tight
as q drum for the purpose Of starving thu mar
ket Of supplies. This course had most de-
pressing influence upon ocean traffic. Vessels
by the score were tied up to their piers in this
port and sailors waEe starving for the want or
food History tells Of one transaction in which
one million bushels Of wheat were shipped 10
Liverpool as ballast the owners Of the vessel
even paying d small premium for the privilege
OF getting the grain for this purpose. Although
this corner had its headquarters in Ncw-York
several firms in Chicago had charge Of the oper
ations, among whom were J X Fisher e. Co.
and W S Baker e. Co. The ultimate outcome
OF the deal was an enormous loss. amounting to
$5.OOOOO or SG0OO0O1 1t is said that about
the middle Of December, 1879 Liverpool syn
dcate offered Keene 81 80 bushel for four
million bushels Of white and four million bushels
o. his red wheat This he would have accepted,
clearing a fortune had ii not been for Hoyt
who insisted that higher price vas sure 10 be
offered. Many queer rumors still afoat re-
garding this interesting speculative Waterloo.
II is even limited that some OF tho pool sold out
on the others. one thing appears certain, and
that is that the brokers made themselves rich
while the principals were going broke. An
UNEXPECTEDLY large European crop was RESPONSE
BILE for Keenes downfall in the end.
one Of the smaller attempts 10 jugsle with the
wheat market is credited to that celebrated OPP
orator phil Armour, in 1SS2. About that time
he was closely interested with John PiankinG-
ton. Of Milwaukee in the packing business. The
firms name was Armour, Pankngton & CO.
Winter wheat was then not delivery con
tract at Chicago, and one Of the peculiar feat
the quoting Of red winter ~ cents under No. >