Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1900-11-29
PHILLIPS sQvETzes CORN SHORTS
The November Option Runs Up to SO cent,
on Chicago BOARD OF Trade

The November Option Runs Up to SO Cent,
on Chicago Board OF Trade.
Chicago, Nov. 2s.--During the fore
noon today November corn, the local
visible supply of which has been COR
nered by Phillips. sold twice at 80
cents. Phillips, having been sustained
by the board committee in rejecting
for contract grade new corn which had
gone through the drying process, and
encouraged by the small receipts of
contract grade, is quoted today as as
sorting his entire confidence that he
controls the market. The market
opened Il cent higher than the close
of Saturday at As cents. and within
an hour and a half Went to 80 cents.
At this figure Phillips sold 100000
bushels. later selling a small line at
As. The shorts We're rather nervous
today, but ii is asserted Phillips has
no desire to squeeze them severely. all
though 1t is generally believed he could
do so If he desired.
Tradition Against Him.
Against the rosy prospects of Mr..
Phillips is the tradition that the cor
her i'll grain is always broken at the
last moment. The older men are re-
calling the last big speculative price In
corn. 1T was in May of 1892 that Cos
ter and Martin engineered a deal sim
liar to that being run by Phillips. The
price kept rising during the last ten
days and on the final day the price
had been forced to 81. There was a
rush of buyers and rush OF corn. The
two leaders crawled out from under
the deluge without any profits.
Ordinarily spectators are running
with the man who has the corner. In
this deal there is a lack of outside sup
port. Phillips stands alone. The traders
are not yet convinced that he holds the
key of the situation. The young leader
declared that some of the shorts want
ed to settle at the market rate. He says
he will only settle at the end of the
deal.
The existing corner i'm November corn
is more spectacular than most ventures
of that sort. Much interest is lent TO
the situation because the man who is
engineering the corner is young and
practically unknown.
1t seems that at the time Phillips got
hold of the market there Mere about
100000 bushels of corn in sight, quoted
at 36 cents bushel. Phillips got con-
troll of this corn. Other persons opel-
ating in corn, not knowing Of Phillips
movements. had been selling; that is.
agreeing to deliver No. . November
corn These persons sold corn which
they did not have The fact that Phil
lips has all, or nearly all. of that grade
of corn in Chico go prevents them deliv-
ering any of the Chicago stock. There
fore they are bringing in all the corn
that will grade up to No. from the
country and delivering ii i'm liquidatioil
of their obligations. Apparently. how
ever. there is Very little of the required
grade of corn in the country.
OF course, it is possible at amy time
for those who have sold November
corn to come forward and settle by
paying the difference between the price
that they sold at and the present price.
but they hope to do better Than that by
delivering the actual corn. Meanwhile
the price is going up and the time for
delivery is growing short.