The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-08-20

fallen over this northwestern wheat
belt. Damage was reported from all
quarters. Every day increased the
apprehension. When there had been
second week of June, there was a
great scare.
The result was that the northwest
ern farmer, who could look into his
own fields and see his wheat drying
up, sought to make up a part of his
loss In the market and rushed to the
nearest town where there was a
brokers' agent and plunged in his own
small way. He figured that the men
in the Minneapolis pit didn't know as
much about the grain prospects as he |
did, and he would get the bulge on |
them.
A Great Bull Market.
The bull market which followed |
was one Of the greatest the northwest
had ever known. Prices went to
921ac, as the high point. At that time
some of the Oldest grain men here
estimated that Minnesota and the Da-
kotas wouldn't raise more than 1907
100000 bushels of wheat. Some said
90,000,00O. Then came a Chicago
grain man, who, after a trip thru the
country, solemnly announced his posi-
tive finding Of maximum possibility
LOT the Lnree STATES OIL op,UVV,UVV.
Buying was terrific.
The Minneapolis pit had never been
in such chaos. Rural buyers took a
final look at their whitening grain and
rushed into Minneapolis to see how
their brokers handled their money.
The brokers, of course, tried to make
it pleasant for their customers. They
introduced them onto the floor in
large numbers, SO large that the old
chamber hall was damned to suffoca-
ton, and business was seriously i'm
peded. The conditions could not con-
tinue, and SO the chamber appointed
special committee to keep the floor
clear enough to permit the traders to
execute sales and purchases, and
special guards were placed at the
doors. The excitement was intense,
the nervousness growing daily.
Then 1t Rained.
Meanwhile clouds appeared over
| the wheat belt, and there was spill
/ which sent the price down some; but
! the cry went up, especially from the
| farmers who had invested, that it was
| too late to save much Of the crop.
Then III. v. Jones, T. e o ur-
ais crop expert, hove in sight
From the fields thru which the paper
| had sent him tramping for days and
weeks, the Minneapolis man sent in
an estimate of at least 135,000,00O
bushels of wheat for Minnesota and
the Dakotas.
The bull market was all over.
Wheat fell off from to 10 cents al
/ most at clip. The calculations from
/ records Of receipts in Minneapolis and
| Duluth, and country milling capacity,
i and Of wheat disposed Of thru other
/ channels, showed Jones' figures out
I Of the way by only a few millions.
That was where Jones made his rep
j utation. He has maintained 1T since
4 SO well that not only Minneapolis, but
! Liverpool, responded yesterday to his
i report Of rust In Manitoba.
Disastrous to Many. 'c
The present market may develop
! some of the sensations Of the one of
| 1900 before it is over. It is just at
that stage where every trader is
| watching and thinking and doing a
little business cautiously. The "elev-
/ enth'' hour is when the sensations
/ will come That's when the bulls will
| get busy in an effort to save them
selves. Most Of the b@ils in the 1900
market were eleventh-hour bulls.
There were some bulls when the price
was around Sc, bat most Of the buy
ing came after 900 had been reached.
| One prominent miller and well-known
! North Dakota politician lost $4,000
4 by coming in as an eleventh-hour
bull.
/ Only a few daring traders made
nerve enough to sell short. One Min
, neapolis miller made 100000 at the
spectacular windup. The trading in
futures in those times was very heavy
i In the midst of the boom one day the
! trading In July in the pit ran close
to $21,00O,O00. This, however, was
for but one day, and the average was
considerably below that figure.
However, the sufferers from the
; 1900 markets turn were the farmers
} Of the northwest. They really die
:. lot of business in wheat, and had
J. it not been for the rain they prob.
| ably would have made out pretty well
Their losses were large in the aggre.
gate and, altho comparatively small
in Individual cases, made the rura
buyers SO sore that they have no
been patronizing the Minneapolis pi
much since. This year, tho, they have
drifted back. They have seen thu
actual conditions in the fields, and
believing that they gage accurately
( and getting over their scare of fou,
years ago, which has been the tall
, in country districts ever since, the.
, have been putting their money int
the brokers' hands and are breath
? lessly awaiting the outcome Of thu
mysterious performances of the quee,
: acting men I'm the Minneapolis pit.
How 1t Is Done.
r WALL I declare, If them amt tn
foolishest lot of men ever seen" de
t clared Hiram Jones, from Grad
Crossing, N. D., as he watched the an
tics of the traders from the CALLER,
over the Minneapolis pit. Then h
wrinkled his brow as tho trying t.
comprehend something beyond hi
ken, and looked appealingly to tn
old man who sat at his left. 4sWha
on earth air they dom ?"
LII Ever speculate in wheat?" aske
the old man in return.
eyes some. Gin my money to Shar
, | of North Dakoter, and he sent it t
Minneapolis, I reckon. So he toll
me-
WELL said the old man, who wa
v dressed in a faded black suit. we
worn about the corners and fitted wit
odd buttons, II can tell you, for use
81 to be In the business-was until I go
e nipped. When your order to buy Sep
e i tember wheat was given to the brok
4 er's agent in North Dakota, it wa
s i teIegraphed to the trader on the foo
4 here See that boy there in the blu
uniform who is shouting while he run
among the men? He's got messag
i something like YOU sent. There h
: gives it to Blank. that man with tn
:. fiery red hair. Now you see Blank
:, yelling. I can't hear him, but h
! probably shouts:
: It'll buy five Sep.