Mexico weekly ledger., 1901-10-17

ply OF grain In this country and the
demand for it,cut no figure in restrict
ing the amount you car buy or sell to
a bucket-shop at a single quotation
and your purchases or sales, however
large, have no influence in changing
the prices marked on the blackboard,
for the reason that your purchases OF
sales made In this bucket~shop adds
nothing to the supply or demand on
the Board Of Trade OF Chicago. In
other words, the trader In a bucket
shop, buys nothing and sells nothing
he is simply betting with the propri-
etor Of the buckct-shop that grain
goes up or down in the Chicago
market. All the elements and condi.
lions Of a binding contract based on
actual delivery Of the cash grain, which
l have fully explained as being SC
essential to attact the foreign and
domestic buyers for future delivery,
are lacking in a trade made in a buck
et-shop.
At the present time, / venture 10
say that three-fourths of the grain
trading public are placing their buy
ing orders in bucket-shops, where
they expect no influence on supply
and demand. The loss to the produce
exchanges OF our great grain accumu'
lating centers Of this vast volume Of
speculative trade, which in former
years they received, has curtailed the
volume Of future trading on oul
produce exchanges to such small pro
proportions, as compared to the sur
plus accommodations of cash grain, that
it is not sufficient to carry forward
this surplus accumulation, except at a
reduction in prices. Our cash grain
carriers unlike Joseph of old, who
went down into Egypt and cribbed up
large quantities Of corn in a time OF
plenty and carried it forward without
thought Of securing himself against
loss) are not willing to carry these
accumulations Of cash grain forward
for even one day, unless they can pro
tect themselves against loss by selling
the same for a future delivery at a
fair margin Of profit. So long as the
grain trading public persist in placing
their buying orders in bucket-shops,
prices viii continue lifeless or sag to
such time when demand or consump-
ton overtakes the present supplies in
our market centers. If you are be-
levers in higher prices for grain, place
your buying orders In the legitimate
markets Of the produce exchange Of
our grain accumulatiye centers where
your purchases Of future will assist in
carrying forward the burden Of
accommodating supplies. II you are
believers in lower prices, place your
selling orders where they will assist In
supplying demand. / have no doubt
that II the present purchases (which
really are only BETS of wheat, corn
and oats now made and held In the
various bucket-shops of our country,
were now transferred to the legitimate
channels Of our produce exchanges, 1t
would advance present prices Of these
cereals fully 20 to 80 per cent.
The fact that the bucket-shop inter
ests of this country are being consen-
trated in the hands Of a very few
wealty men is a very significant fact
and should make the public a little
cautious about continuing to trade in
them. What an easy matter it Is for
these few wealthy bucket-shop propri-
etors to compare notes after the
close Of some days business and after
finding out that the public is long OF
short to them a very large quantity Of
corn, with an average margin Of say
two cents per bushel deposited with
them, to send some one on the Chicago
Board Of Trade with instructions to
sell or buy las the case may bel corn
on the opening market the next day
two cents lower or higher than the
close OF the day before and freeze out
this large line of long or short corn.
This, the writer knows, is often done
and has frequently been done within
the last six months. This they do by
putting up, as margin, with a member
of the Chicago Board of Trade, the
very money their patrons placed in
their hands as margins on their own
trades. In other words, the trader in
a bucket shop takes one end Of a bet
and the bucket-shop takes the other,
holds the stakes and use the stakes
money to assist in winning his bet. In
fine, the trader offers himself as a sac
rIfce and furnishes the means with
which he is slaughtered. Frequently
to-day have Overheard grain men and
grain traders expressing great surprise
at the small advance made in the
price of corr after the publication Of
the government report on corn Of yes
terday and all agreeing that If such a
continuous government report had
been made public ten years ago 1t
would have caused an immediate ad-
vance OF from five to ten cents per
bushel. The reason for this is plain
enough when we take into account
the vast volume of buying orders
which now 20 into bucket-shops and
their influence is lost. Ten years age
and beyond, bucket-shop trading was
in its infancy and there were only a
few OF them in existence. In those
prosperous years Of speculation nine
tenths Of the speculation was done on
the produce exchanges of our market
centers and these buying orders, SO
placed, had their full influence in
creating demand and enhancing val
ues. To-day more than three-iourtns
of our trading public are trading, OF
rather betting, in bucKet-shops, where
their trades have no influence on sup.
ply or demand and for that reason ]
account for the listless and lifeless
market for corn and wheat to-day, In
the face OF the most bullish govern.
ment agricultural report ever pro-
mulgated in the history of this coun-
try.
We would pronounce a man a fool
who. having his team stalled and
DESTROYS OF extracting them, would not
put his shoulder to the wheel or try
to tighten the burden, but instead
turn to his neighbor and bet with him
that somethInq or somebody will get