The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-14
MADE $1s7,Ooo IN 20 DAYS.
How Phillips Jumped From Clerk
ship to King of the Corn Pit.

How Phillips Jumped From Clerk
ship to King of the Corn Pit.
The New York World to-days prints
the following interview with Broker
George Fl. Phillips:
II predict a thing, and then make
1t come true" said George II. Phillips,
the young corn king, who has just
opened offices in New York. But
am careful to predict nothing except
that which should come true"
Phillips is fair haired and slender.
80 years old, with bright, deep-set eyes
and cheeks as rosy as a farm girls.
He is handsome and quick in move
ment; HE hair is cut evenly and
combed down tightly, his tie is tied
just So" and from it no one would
suspect that few years ago he was
clerk in a country store.
Mr.. Phillips has pretty wife and a
little daughter whose birthday comes
on his--Jan. 19-and to whom he is
greatly attached. They live in a neat
lake shore cottage above Chicago. Ha
bought the place with his first win
nings in the grain pit.
THAT was In 1885, he said. II had
been working for 500 month in a
country store. AS living was cheap,
l was able to save. With my first 5000
L DOuRnG WHGdL-lV,UUU QuSHclS-dIlQ
lost. You see, / simply bet 5000 that
the market would go up. l bought
margins with stopper on it, so that
l only lost 5000. and the broker closed
out the deal when my money was
gone. / saved another 5000 and lost
that And so on l don't know how
many times / bet and lost. But / knew
that l must strike 1t right some time.
l couldn't lose always. And / made
- utz Nv ~ hn In
ally l saw where corn ought to be
worth more than 20 cents, The glucose
people were preparing to use great
quantities, and so put up my last 5000.
In a month l was $4,000 to the good.
That was all l thought the market
would stand, and l closed and bought
our little home on the shore of the
lake.
How did / run a corner? Well If
it is a corner all right. 1t is per-
fectly legitimate. / had quit the store
and was in the brokerage business for
myself. / saw that corn was worth
more than 80 cents. l bought corn,
and the only way l knew in which to
make the price go up was to make
other people buy SO 1 advertised in
the papers. just line, reading: Buy
Corn. George II. Phillips Nobody had
ever heard of me before. On the floor
of the Board of Trade they made lots
of fun of me because nobody had ever
done that before. They pinned the adj
vertisement to my back, called me
bull and had lots of fun. But l was
able to convince the people that l was
right. They did buy, and corn went
to 40 cents.
THAT helped. In October l closed
and advised my customers to do So
Then, in looking over the reports, l
found that there had been a wonderful
demand for corn and that all that had
been shipped in had been used, so that
only 600, 900 bushels remained in the
warehouses. / knew that that was
all the contract corn there was in the
country. The rest had been cleaned out.
So went to a customer of mine and
l told him could make a fortune for
him. Iie wanted to know how much 1t
would cost / told him probably not
cent, but that l ought to have $25, 900
or $50, 900 back of me in case the banks
should call for deposit. He faid to
go ahead: that he would back me for
$50, LOCO.
"In six days / had bought 100000
bushels of November corn. / knew that
there was only 800, 900 bushels that
could be delivered. That was at 40
cents. Then 1 sold 100000 bushels at
about 43 cents. and that covered all
my expenses and margins. The rest
was mine to do with II as ] saw At.
called for deliveries. The 500 900 BUSH
els were delivered, and then they dug
up every little granary in the country
and managed to make II a million. but
that was all. Then they had to come
to me and buy corn so that they could
deliver 1t to me.
THAT was a corner. made s1S70OO