Troy weekly news. (Troy, Idaho) 1897-1933, 1905-04-28
ON WHEAT
Widest SESSIONS EVER SEEN
- IN The CHICAGO PIT -
j. W. Gates Crowd Failed to Corner
All May Wheat in America-Price
Dropped Nearly 12c a Bushel in a
Day-corner on July Wheat Is Look
ed for-Milions of May Delivered.

ed for-MilIions Of May Delivered.
Chicago, April 23.-One of the most
celebrated deals ever known on the
Chicago board of trade came to a eli
max Saturday. A daring effort by
]. w. Gates and associates to control
all of the wheat available in America
for delivery during the month of May
was apparently ended with a whole
sale sacrifice of prospective profits to
escape possible huge losses on ex-
listing investments.
incidentally there was one of the
widest sessions ever witnessed in the
Chicago wheat pit. At one time prices
showed a loss of 11hc a bushei for
the day, the price Of the option being
driven down in sensational series
of rushes to 9S15c bushel. The clos
ing was 81, as against $1.23 less than
three weeks ago.
Scenes attending the days startling
decline were such as are seldom wit
messed in the worlds greatest wheat
pit. Almost frenzied with anxiety, the
traders in the wheat pit, awaiting the
opening bell, huddled like steers about
to stampede. The sound of the big bell
was the signal for mighty roar of
voices, a din possibly never before
equaled, according to men who were
present at the stormy sessions that
marked the most exciting periods in
the famous Letter and Harper deals
Clothing was torn, hats smashed and
bodies bruised in the frantic efforts
to sell the grain. The gallery was full
of spectators, while the floor of the
board was crowded with traders and
brokers' The din could be heard plain
ly in the boulevard below, making
wholly inaudible the clatter of horses
hoofs on the asphalt The crowd IL
the pit surged and pushed as the
break in prices continued, and mem
bers on the wrong side, in efforts Il
cover losses, shouted themselves
hoarse. with perspiration streaming
down their cheeks as they vainl.
sought to stop lne runaway market.
General opinion is to the effect tina
Gates and his friends emerged from
the battle with but little, if any, ACT
ual loss. Gossip insists that they el
! fected an alliance with Armour an
other leading traders, whereby tn
Gates party, while obliged SUMMARY
to liquidate May Wheat, on an enoi
nous scale, were nevertheless full
protected by their prior operations G
the allies in both May and later OF
tons.
May Mean More Gigantic Corner.
! Another view of the situation, az
cording to some observers, is tha
, the new group of astute speculator
r including the redoubtable Gates, ha
} cleared the road for still more g
D gantic corner in wheat for deliver
D during July. The idea is that the hig
S price heretofore prevailing for Ma
. wheat has induced a securing OF tn
country by grain traders to secur
wheat to sell to the bull traders. Il
/ dropping the price IL cents a bush'
the spectators, assumed to be in CO.
u troll have made it clear that If I'll
e country is raked over for wheat
bring here they mean to buy it at
J. figure of their own making.
More Drastic Than Anticipated.
The rushing of the price down,
d was argued, was more drastic actic
}, than was for the moment, at leas
J. required by the Gates and Armour l
h terests, the result being that they a
cordingly jumped the price back to
r, bushel.
s The Gates party, it is said, had fl
/ ured that the movement to mark
O would be practically exhausted befo
the month of May arrived. The ia
l. tor that is alleged to have caused the
n to give up the deal was the steadine
e with which heavy shipments from Il
d. interior continued, and the disappoir
ing. long drawn out dullness OF u
q. flour demand, and the apparent unco
a. Germ of the millers.
Ie Shorts had apparently complete
Ie covered, and longs, little and lars
g hurled their grain at the hands tn
were closed against IL. Nobody see
re ed to want May wheat above a d
y lar.
d. When 81 was reached the wild 70
n that marked the opening was douDl
IN But while the nearby option W
a plunging downward there was stea
movement going on in July. Broke
e. presumably working for Armour
Ia. his associates, whether including Cat
Id or not, were taking on liberal lots
D. the latter options. In one hour alo
n 1t was estimated that these broke
d. had bought more than 100000 bu'
els.
Tbia huvin0 of Ju1v nrompted frfg