The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-18
IEAPNED TO SPEC
UIAHE, and HOLDS HISE
OWN WITH the SHPEWD
EST TR ADERS OF the
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easy trick for city smart aleck to take
him in. Meanwhiles our great country
had been growing and prospecting.
Bountiful providence was smiling, the
land was rolling up great harvests
from year to year, and an ever increas
ing population, aided by immigration,
was holding up demand for them, while
Europe stood always ready for the
surplus. Prosperity came upon the land,
and with it came progress, new homes,
new barns, new plans and new pros
poets. And following it all came edu-
cation. 1t may seem a strained and
far-fetched idea to connect the case
hardened bull Speculation of the wheat
pit with the idea Of education for the
country people, yet he played his part,
and, with prosperity and plenty, so
education followed high prices for
wheat. =
It is a. long look back to the days
when wheat sold in the principal mar
kets for 48 and 40 cents. Men in the
grain trade today can remember the
burning Of corn on the farms for fuel;
when Is cents was the price, and the
markets SO depressed, and transporta-
tion facilities SO poor that it could not
proitably'2 be moved. But this is Of
the long ago. Not for years has there
been a selling price for any leading
cereal that was not high enough to- be
remunerative, and in recent times wheat
sold at figures to make the farmer roll
in wealth.
I. !. !.
What wonder that in country like
the northwest, where the thoughts Of
q majority Of the people center around
the great king Of food cereals there
should in time have grown up lively
country interest in the doings at the
great terminal markets. There was de-
mand for information. Not for that
information that had to do with the
selling Of wheat at country stations, but
information. about the speculative cen
ters where men Of money were known
to congregate, and where, in the roar
and confusion. of horde Of battling
men, prices were forced ahead or beaten
down. . f..
The wheat pit fascinated the farmer.
He looked upon it as the tourist looks
upon a mighty whirlpool. He saw men
dip in and snatch out a profit. Others
he saw enveloped in the depths and
going down. The possibilities and the
uduSeIS were C1ectI W u1iu. L udt CuduCo
offered the same to one as to another
was his analysis. Caution told him
to beware; but the fascination was
too much, and 80 it came about that the
farmers began to follow the futures
markets, and keep in touch with its
news. -
This was the second stage Of ex-
perience..: Very soon the farmer began
to realize that all that he had ever
fooled with before was as nothing com.
pared to this game It came home to
him that the wheat pit was like re.
lentless monster, crushing and destroy
ing men, and tearing down fortune in
one place that it might rise in another
The daily papers he read, he watched
the market reports and from time te
time, he learned that some big man in
Minneapolis or Chicago had made d
great winning; again he heard Of q
crash. Perhaps he, heard Of Keene, the
New York plunger, successful in stocks
but losing a fortune in wheat, or Of
Joe Letter dropping his father IS mil
lions in an attempt at: a corner. Anc
always a sort Of consoling and satisfy