Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-12-15

| The success of the recent corner in
corn concluded 10y George II. Phillips.
the young financier. who is again said
10 be cOrnering the corn market, has 4
peculiar interest 10 people Of Morris,
Ills. because Phillips was born there.
and the man that gave him his chief
aid in the deal at critical moment
| was also n citizen of that city. Daniel
Hi. says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
| The inception of the deal is an inter
| esting story. Mr.. Phillips was n close
| student of tie market situation on corn
for several months past He had
| number of large deals in the last May
| option for himself and customers and
| made n nice little bunch Of money out
| If il. He knew that the farmers had
! depleted their cribs OF old corn, which
| had been sold when the price mounted
| to - cents during the summer, which
| gave the farmers an average Of 40
| cents At their home markets. He real
| led the enormous demand for corn
| for home consumption and for ship
mcnt. He found that with practically
| only one crop Of corn on hand. while
| estimated TO be as large as the crop
of last year depleted reserves We're
prompting the cattle feeders OF the
west to pay 80 cents and better for the
| new crop. He discovered that while n
large quantity of corn was coming TO
market only a small percentage of it
was contract. He saw the situation.
He talked with friends and confided
his beliefs. They were financially IN
able to support him in a trial of his
theory that It would net handsome
tn, Il,
knew the big houses We're all selling
corn and that they would sell all they
could Of it. \ couple of million bush
els would take all in sight, and Phil |
lips wanted it. He lay awake nights |
SChcIning a. TO methods to accomplish |
il.
The last week in October. without |
any definite plan ahead of him, but |
confident his position was right, he J
purchased 4 big line Of November corn !
for his own account. Ills original i'll |
tcntion was To hold this amount rs Il |
matter of profitable speculation. Ev- |
cIyhody had it to sell in the pit, and |
some of the traders in the pit who |
knew Phillips and knew that his re
sources were limited sold him the corn.
but with the admonitiOn that they hat
ed to do it because it would cost him |
all lac had. Everybody at the time was |
"hCarisllH on coru-iu other words. be-
licvcd the price was So high that corn
would Ice much cheaper and that it
was policy To sell il. Tho small pur-
chaSc Phillips made. however. seemed
to give buoyancy To- the market. 1t did
not sag. as had been anticipated. The
demand was heavier than ever. Phil
lips bought little more.
Some of the bigger houses. noting the
strength of the market. thought it
good time to sell and started at il.
I'll" offerings were 80 great the market
became heavy al once. For 4 few mo
mcntS Phillips thought II" would hav"
to dump his small holdings to save
himself heavy loss. Before doing il
he found AN old customer of his. who
has recently aided in the incorporation
of the George II. Phillips Commission
company Daniel Hill of Norris Ills
who happened to bc in the building
that day. Hill owns Il number of rich
farms in Illinois. Phillips briefly told
Hill the story-how the market had
gone up on his small buying. but how
the big fellows were pounding the mar
kct down 10y their offerings. that no
4
sell ut great loss. But Hill said: Go
buy some more for Yourself and 800
600 or 100000 for me. We will see
what that Will do for the market
Phillips was back in the pit in ten
seconds lie knew that his theory on
shortage OF November corn WAS TO
have Il trial. lie quietly took every
bushcl Of corn offered. He got il ut ,he
price of the sellers. The market closed
a shade lower but firm. The next day
bought another half million.
The market responded 10y advancing ! {
slightly. The buying continued for ;
week. as Phillips could pick it up. At
the end of that time he found himself | Z
with n little less than 100000 bush
Els bought for November delivery.
None of the traders understood the I
deal. They knew Phillips had little I
ready money and thought he had lost
his head or was filing commission or /
lcrs for some of the big houses.
Phillips kept his own counsel. Ten :
lays OF November had passed before | {
anybody in the trade began to realize I
hat November corn was Il scarce aru- I
,lC. The demand was such as To take
most OF the corn in stock for shipment.
The price was steadily advancing and
held every point gained. The market I
went gradually 10 10 cents. Phillips
greatest worry At this time WAS To I
HCcp the price down. 1t WIS becoming
known that he had bought a biz line.
more corn than there WAS for delivery,
and those who had sold him were be-
,omiu-a little a-itated- II the price went
NJ. Phillips knew cash corn would be-
Forthcoming in greater quantities, and.
while lie was glad 10 see the farmers
'rofit 10y his purchase of the stock in
sight for immediate delivery. he was not
-eady for it. The price went UP on the
demand in spite Of him. Then the big
operators. knowing vino had the corn,
, now ms bis IimLL.d Ls.snurccs imme.