The Portland daily press., 1898-07-20
SOME FAMOUS WHEAT CORNERS.
They Have All Resulted Disastrously for
Their Planners.

The collapse of Letter suggests to the
New York Tribune the idea of giving
some account of the more important
speculative operations of the last 20 years,
which it does as below: These are five in
number, and no one can be said to have
been o bowling success, while most of
them have been dismal failures. Armour
has record for running numerous small
corners successfully before the time
winter wheat was made delivery on
contract in Chicago but his smost i'm
portant undertaking, in 1882, was only
fairly successful
Next to the Letter deals, no attempt to
manipulate the wheat maket stands out
with greater distinctness than that of
James r. Keene. The operations of the
"Keene pool'' began in June, 1879, and
collapsed on May 30, 1880. Associated
with Mr.. Keene was Jesse Hoyt, to whom
the failure of tho deal was perhaps due.
Old-ttmers say that the "poop' started
out to edo up" the market on the basis
of short crops in Europe. Estimates of
the quantity of grain handled differ, but
at about 100000 bushels. The prics
in New York was forced from 81 to 81. Is.
Many consider the Keene deal more dis
astrous in its effects upon the general
business of the country than any other.
The pool, it is related, took the grain as
it was delivered and locked 1T up tight
for the purpose Of starving the market of
supplies. This had depressing influence
upon ocean traffic. Vessels by the score
were tied up to their piers, and sailors
were starving for the want of food.
History tells Of one transaction in which
1000, OCO bushels of wheat were shipped
to Liverpool as ballast, the owners of the
vessels even paying a small premium for
the privilege Of getting the grain for this
purpose. The ultimate outcome of the
deal was an enormous loss, amounting to
SIS, 000,00 or SC, 900, 900. 1t is said that
about the middle of December, 1879. q
Liverpool syndicate offered Keene $l.50
a bushel for 1900, 900 bushels Of white and
4, 444 900 bushels of his red wi eat. This
he would have accepted, clearing a
fortune, had it not been for Hoyt, who
insisted that higher price was sure to
be offered. Many queer rumors are still
a1oat regarding this interesting specula-
tive Waterloo. 1t Is even limited some of
the 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
responsible for Keene's downfall in the
end.
4 Ons of the smaller attempts to juggle
With the wheat market Is credited to that
celebrated operator, "Phil'' Armour, in
1899. About that time he was closely IL
terested with John Plankinton of Mil
waukee in tine packing business. Winter
wheat was then not o delivery on con-
tract at Chicago, and one of the peculiar
features of the result of the attempted
corner was the quoting OF red winter
wheat 20 cents under No. 2 spring. 1t
is said that Plankinton started the ball
by trying little scheme of his own in
July wheat He got in over his head anu
Armour jumped intokthe breach and triad
to save him. 1t was a short struggle,
lasting little over month, and resulting
in fair success, although it Is said that
neither Armour nor his partner made
much in the transaction. The attempt
was made to put the prics up to ST 80 but
one of those unlooked-for big surprise
crops came along and dropped the bottom
out of the market in no time.
Armour may be counted as the king in
the way Of CORNERS. For number of
years he did little else but corner every
commodity where there was an oppor
tunity. With an immense capital under
his control he twould wait until some.
thing reached a low level of prices, when
he would buy everything offered and then
sit by and watch the shorts squirm.
No one man has figured more promi
nently in the grain trade than B. P.
Hutchinson, commonly known as s.Old
Hutch" His corner of the market in
1888 will long be remembered as one of
the most brilliant in the history of speou-
lation. The old warhorse sprang It SO
unexpectedly and worked 1t SO successful
ly that it was all over in about two
weeks. Traders generally got wind of his
designs about the middle of September
and the last day of that month found
him taking in millions of profits Well
posted dealers say the corner was a
natural ons. The crop in the Northwest
was badly damaged, tie reserves were
low, and "Old Hutch was simply long
headed enough to take advantage of the
opportunity. In his September deal he