The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-20

that the liquidation has gone so far with
in the past fortnight. the manipulative
influences from this forward are 10 be
! secondary ones.
If the bull leader had a Is 600 900 bushel
interest April 1, 1t probably does not now
exceed 10000 900 bushels, and possibly not
! that The vast reduction of this line was
made possible by the war prospect and by
| the view the foreigners suddenly took of
| the effects of conflict upon their situa-
ton.
It has made within three weeks a, vast
diffesrence to the Letter fortune. One
operator, in group discussing Saturday
night the effect of the war excitement
upon the great wheat deal, declared it has
made change in favor Of the big holder
| of not less than s1,000,Q00; there were
others taking part in this discussion who
thought It had been worth double that,
and some who believed it had meant all
the difference between a disastrous loss
and a handsome profit, one difficult to
express in figures.
Toward the end of March the bull wheat
deal was going through a great many
western grain to Chicago at a rate as
tonishing everybody and disconcerting
the chief holder. The July price was more
than 20 cents under the May, and the lat
ter was not much over 81. There was gen
uine uneasiness among commission peo-
pie, and this was increased by an effort
to fix marginal" price. Sales abroad
were not then on a large scale; no one
knew on what price the moderate bust
ness doing was based. The SPECTATORS
pretty unanimously believed at this time
that Letter had overstayed his market
and that the winding up of his dealwould
be tedious and very expensive. There is
reason for believing the very bulls them
selvesfelt depressed at the outlook. If
their financial resources had not been
so extraordinary they would have had
good reason for so fealing. The failure
OF the effort for a marginal price
seemed to be the turning point. Within
a week the Letters made the famous com
pact with Armour, taking from him the
wheat he had accumulated at various
points and effecting an arrangement that
stopped the vast Armour grain-gathering
machinery From that moment the flood
of contract wheat toward Chicago began
to lessen. The Letter luck asserted itself
about April 1.
The prospect Of arranging peaceab bly, the
differences between Spain and this coun-
try began TO disappear about the opening
of this month. Foreign buying Of Gosh
wheat began then in a liberal way and
continued on a larger scale than the spec
ulators would at the time believe. Be-
tween March so, when Letter reported
100000 bushels sold abroad in one eran5-
action. and the middle of last week, when
in two days he reported 100000 bushels,
his sales of spot cash were almost {. $780,
600 bushels. Within that same period he
kept disposing of May on the hard spots,
possibly in the last two weeks 10 the ex-
tent of 100000 bushels. Last Friday there
were enormous July sales effected through
Caduhy, estimated by different people /
from 100000 to 100000 bushels That
drew attention to the enormous liquida-
ton of cash and Nay that had been
quietly effected during fortnight. 1t
did not require long retrospection TO make
pIainpIain that within less than three
weeks the Letter selling Of cash. May and
jury iirtd dSited LSI from - GU.usU 20 d.
000000 bushels.
What has made this possible was dem
onstrated Saturday. when, in spite of the
known enormous selling Of the largest
holder. the foreign markets came higher
and foreign buying orders were received
on scale to rally prices &c a bushel
At the close OF last week traders were
agreed that the oue-nan influences. so all ;
important for year, had at last been
sUppianted by broader ones; that what /
Letter did would not so nearly 50 infuen- /
tai for the future as what the foreigners +
die. and that crop prospects and receipts +
and exports and the other circumstances. I
Of which one operator might learn as well !
Is another. would become the important /
factors ogaln.
No one can do better than theor.ze as |
to the effect OF war on prices. There Is /
no such thing as a precedent within any
body's experience. Il would be easy