The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1902-01-17
PHILLIPS FAILS AGAIN
Corn King" Unable to Meet His
Margins on I Chicago
Board of Trade.
THE CAUSE is A SLUMP IN RYE
Tried TO Dispose Of the Grain Outside
the Pit. but Failed-Effect
Of Collapse.

Chicago Jan IA notice was
posted nj the opening of the board OF
trade calling fer the closing of all open
deals with George II Phillips, the for
mer corn king" A heavy call for
extra margins is said to have been the
cause OF the posting of the notice. The
call was made the previous afternoon
and Phillips and his staff worked all
night over the firms books The trOu-
BILE is said TO have been due to Il 31s
cents break in rye. Phillips is credit
ed with holding line of 100000
bushels of this cereal, mostly i'm May
options. The break was caused by IA
sale of 10000 bushels. Phillips is said
TO have on his books also from 1000
900 TO 5.0C0,O00 bushels of May wheat
and about 100000 bushels Of May
corn.
Failed to Negotiate.
phillips opened negotiations with ell
evatOr men before the opening of the
board of trade i'm an endeavor to dis
bose of his rye outside the pit. The
negotiations fell through and May rye,
which closed the previous day at GG%
cents, opened with sales from 81 to
60 cents. The whole Phillips line was
dumped on the market Brokers act
ing for Armour n Co, however, bought
nearly all of ii and the market i'm con-
sequence rallied rapidly to 90 cents.
The effect Of the notice posted by
Secretary Stone was instantaneous,
the whole list opening off sharply.
Wheat opened / to 11a cents lower;
corn p to ] cent down, and oats near
ly cent depressed Mr.. Phillips could
not be seen following the announce.
ment of the closing of his deals, but
members of his staff stated that he
was still in good financial condition.
Phillips Makes "a Statement.
Mr.. Phillips gave out statement,
in part, MS follows:
The amount involved in my trOu-
bic of today is about 10000. My Gus
toners had their trades well margined
and if the trades closed out today bring
a fair price | can meet all my obliga-
lions. | was long about 100000
rye. 100000 wheat and 100000 corn
and oats. Saturday a member of the
board interested in breaking the rye
market sent notices calling for an eX
ira margin of 10 per cent. on rye. This
naturally caused selling orders Mon
day, and the representative of member
mentioned, finding the market bare of
orders, forced the market down =
cents This was done i'm moment
and the news flashed all over the coun.
try. caused CONSERVATION among hold
ers of rye contracts, many of whom
sold on a weak market. A decline of
l cent in wheat, coupled with rumOrs
rejecting on my strength. resulted in
was for the moment unprepared and
the only alternative left was to close
out. | have no excuses to offer and
no complaints to make"
Career OF Phillips.
George II. Phillips career on the
board of trade during the last two
years has been such as to keep him
most of the time IL, The public eye.
A clerk originally for ore Of the large
commission houses he finally branched
out as a broker and member of the
board and in the early summer Of 1900
began to attract attention when ii be-
came evident that he was engineering
q corner in corn. \ young man, he had
the old timers Of the corn pit hard UP
against the wall bsfore they realized
the fact and for months he had them
at his mercy. dominating the corn pit
at his pleasure and forcing the price
up as he saw fit.
Axiom Held True.
But the axiom Of the floor is that
no man ever successfully ran cor
ner' and got out of il safely, and il
turned out so i'm the case of Phillips
Careless bookkeeping and the fact
that some of his partners became sub
merged with private deals resulted IN
the firms asking for a receiver in Au
gust, 1901, and the affairs of the old
George II. Phillips company were
wound up and it was only recently
that Mr.. Phillips started anew, backed
by many Of his old customers who
had implicit faith in his honesty and
ability.
M