The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-03-30
'1WOULD HIT
THE FARMERS
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Continued From First Page
| Milwaukee was once the greatest cash
1 wheat and futures market, and there are
| several promine nt Minneapolis grain men
who began as employees of companies CON
trolleds by Alexander Mitchell Peter Nc,
Geogh. Angus Smith and other old time
Milwaukee capitalists. Milwaukee also,
boosted Daniel Newhall the first man to
| trade in privileges.
1 The system took root abroad and there
Were. great markets for grain futures the
world over before Minneapolis was heard
Of.
.s~~ Trade Beginning Here.
Meanwhile, however, the milling-indus-
| try, which was to make Minneapoli was
growing up Here were mills buying
wheat every day. The grain men had an
exchange and an institution known as a
call board. At 1880 every morning buy
ers and sellers would get together. Colo
mel George D.. Rogers, now secretary of
the Minneapolis Chamber of. Commerce
was call board auctioneer. seller would
hand up memorandum of what he had
| TO offer. Five thousand bushels. No i
IS offered. the auctioneer would an
nounce. What am bid?' The highest
bidder took the lot. Price variations were
wide. Even after bidding began no seller
knew within several cents what figure
ne would get. and no buyer was sure of
ms ground. 1t was a crude, unsatisfac-
cory way and instability was the feature.
| "A. j. Sawyer was the father Of future
l trading In Minneapolis. Mr. Sawyer was
4 Inc owner Of q, line of country elevators
along the Northern Pacific road and had
his headquarters in Duluth. About 1885
ne came to Minneapolis to reside per-
manentfy From the first he argued that
win the prestige Of a large wheat-con-
Stunning. point to build upon, Minneapolis
should become "a. great market for flu
lures. Mainly through his efforts a pit
was built and continuous trading inau-
i surated. Mr.. Sawyer was the first Min
neapol1s man to bid for 100. 900 bushels
OF wheat, then considered a big trade.
,E trading in futures grew, and with it
there began that development of Mime
apolis, which. continuing to the present
day, has astonshed the world. Millers
4 could now buy either spot wheat or wheat
i for future delivery at home, and elevator
men could hedge here against country
purchases. This business had been going
to Chicago and New York = '-s.ri-
Effect Seen In Big Elevators. r..
Seeing the advantages of carrying grain
in store where there was the enormous
consumptive demand resulting from the
operation of the -four mills the one
hand and an active future market on the
other, elevator men erected houses here
! until to-day Minneapolis boasts the great
est carrying capacity in the world, with
forty-tWo houses dotting the city, with
J capacity for 34,475,0 900 bushels.
Then came the drifting in of the small
, scattered country interests and their
welding together here. The founder of
the great Peavey system had his head
quarters originally in Iowa. and many of
the great local grain houses whose mem
I bers are powers in the trade, are the out
growth of smaller country companies that
found it advantageous to shift their head
| quarters with the rise of MINNEAPOLIS
| The city became the center towards which
the unattached interests in the northwest
grain trade gravitated, and in the Cham
| Der Of Comm cree, the -four exchange and
the Corn exchange were found the men
who financed the companies that pene-
trated the new west as fast as it was
opened up, just as to-day they are be-
ginning to back the American grain men
who are Invading the Canadian northwest
MiIers as Factors.
, The millers, meanwhile, with the
product Of their twenty two mills and the
advantages Of a sure supply Of raw ma
! stability, have broken down old trade bar
riers everywhere and spread the
fame of Minneapolis around The
I world. And in financial circles ii
our own country it became q
matter for comment that while Mime
apolis was eighteenth in population, she
stood ninth, eighth, and. sometimes
/ seventh, on the list in bank clearings
+ This much the trading in futures ha;
/ helped to do for Minneapolis. Grain mer
i are therefore amazed that there are Min.
neapolis representatives in the state legis.
] lature to-day who by their attitude toward
the anti-bucket-shop bill should show
themselves either profoundly ignorant o.
the great business that has built the city
or utterly Indifferent as to the city's wei
fore. -
Benefit to the Farmer.
But if the system has helped Minneapo
lis in a far greater degree has it benefited
the farmers of the northwest. With the
greatest market in the world close a
/ hand the Minnesota farmer is in an en-
I viable position and every acre Of Mime
sofa farm land has risen in value Will
the rise of the Minneapolis market. II
! the Minneapolis pit are found men rep
Y resenting the three great elements, thu
t milling buyers, the sellers for elevators
and the spectators who are buyers or sell
j ers as they find to their advantage.
\ The speculative element is an impor
i tant consideration, but 1t does not domi
I nate the pit to the extent that superb
cial observer, or one unfamiliar with tn
> trade might suppose. These Speculation
: serve a good purpose since they are read
i to buy and carry wheat when it show
a tendency to sink below legitimate value
t as is sometimes the case when the ney
9 crop moves freely and a thousand car
t or more a day pile into Minneapolis. Thi
. pressure of wheat for sale does not ofte
weaken prices materially. Six Thousand
cars Of wheat or much more than tn
mills can grind, may come into. Mime
. apolis in. q week, and the market shoN
I no decline Elevator men will buy it
s there is a carrying charge, or at the small
e est discount: for as fast as they buy the
9 can step into the pit and sell future
: against it. The wheat goes into elevator
l. and the elevator man, having sold 1t fo
!, future delivery, is protected against los
: by decline; neither does he profit by a
e advance. He makes the legitimate prof
= Of Warehouseman.
J, - A miller may receive an order for lc
r. of flour. If the order is satisfactory, b
) ltelegraphs or cables acceptance, steps int
! the pit and buys a quantity of wheat fe