The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-16

long yachting tour in the Gulf of | Mexico, he began, in the spring of 1897, | the most remarkable grain deal in his | tory. He was novice. but soon devel- | oped abilities which stamped him as d | great leader.
 The first lot of wheat he purchased was at 12 5-S cents a bushel. The market was heavy and seemed to have no sustaining power. As it sagged and sagged he add ed to his purchases. 'The price dropped i to 64 3-4 cents. All this time the traders thought young Letter simply was tak king flyer" in the market and was waiting only for an opportunity to get out with profit. From 6i 3-4 cents tine price bc-
 gf.n 10 climb. It advanced slowly at first. then more rapidly, and then by periods
 of convulsive bulges and breaks. Dozens of room operators were in Letters em- ployment. He was as adroit and as qullK as the oldest trader
 When the advance was more rapid than Letter thought reasc nable he was sell CT, unloading part of his accumuia tion and gathering in Erofts, only to buy again at lower figure when the marl;et unable to absorb the amount of grain | offered, 'broke." He had mapped out his
 course and was working toward one end l That was a corner" such as had never 1 been seen before. At one time hc was long 5U,0J00OO bushels of wheat. He
 was absolute master of the grain trade
 and had hundreds of wealthy men so 1 .mpletely at his mercy that he could ] ruin them at a moment.
 l MT. Armour, the most DONrTlui bpCE- 1 ator and wealthiest of men in Chicago, ! was one of those caught in Letters net [ He sued for peace. he who had been . supreme. He was willing to pay Sl,000 =
 0O0 or s2,00OOOO to this dashinS young { man of Q to be released from his obli- I gation.
 Letter Could Not Let Go. l Letter had forced the price of wheat up i to $l.s5 a bushel. and it seemed he could 1 put it to any figure he wished. He had | II. .I b., l,f | ping millions of bushels of wheat to Eu- 1 rope as fast. in fact, as the Stutf was | delivered to him, and he had become in | one short wear known throughout the l world. His father had placed SI,OOo.0W 1 to the young mans credit to carry out l his gigantic project. To this young Letter
 had added d profit of $4,5O0000. He could | have retired from the field and held a | place as one of the greatest plungerS in
 history. But he found it hard to let go.
 He had his appetite whetted had felt | his power, and rather than close out all 1 his trades he carried his operations into | the new crop. OVerWeening ambition had | led him into a dangerous field. He had | been master of the May option but when 1 all those he had driven turned and be- | gan to drive him he discovered the diff | ference between having his speculations | limited to a crop grown and one yet to | be grown. It simply was a question or | money-which side would hazard the | most. Letter had his father behind him. | The opposition had ten times more money
 than the Letters. The crash came so sud denly, on June 1S 1898. as to amaze the ! public. Letter confessed that all his
 profits were gone. and $9,500,O00 in addi- ton MT. Armour, who had sued for peace, was the man with whom the elder i Letter had to make terms.
 But that wasn't all. MT. Letter had eN- 1 ported such vast quantities of grain that l he reduced the reserve stock in this coun- ! try so materially that the way was paved | for better prices the season following his | great plunge Prices have been good ever l since The longer they remain so. the
 longer will prosperity last.