The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-07
THE MINNEAPOLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ROUNDS OUT
A QUARTER OF A CENTURY OF USEFULNESS AND PROGRE

There was little good corn in Mime
apolis, in fact very little corn Of any
kind. One day Barden appeared at the
chamber and bought 1000 bushels of
corn for future delivery. Another day
he bought 1000 more and so on until
he had accumulated his line, which con-
sisted of five corn He was long
5000 bushels of No. corn for May
delivery. Five different firms had sold
him the stuff. Meanwhile, if any one
had looked around, he might have
found that there was heavy demand
upon the: feed stores of Washington
Minneapolis for corn. Good corn was
shipped in here in lots of a hundred
bushels and wherever a farmer ap-
Peared on the streets with corn, it was
looked over and if it was good some
mysterious person bought it and it
found its way to certain elevator,
where presently all the good corn in
Minneapolis, or probably 5000 bushels,
was stored.
Delivery day drew near. The sellers
were disappointed over the light re-
ceipts of corn here. They went around
town, but could buy none. They sent
into the country and bought corn at a
loss and had it rushed in, but it failed
to grade up to contract and they were
left.
Delivery day at last arrived. The
shorts had no corn. They could get
no corn. They were in bad way. Then
IN upon the floor walked Barden and
began, to bid for corn. ~-"Buy corn!' -
ne cried. "Ill buy corn.'' Up went
the price, for no one had any to sell
and he kept raising his bids. One cent,
2 cents, 3 cents, S, 7, 9, 10, IL cents
went onto the price. Panic reigned on
the floor: Rumor Of riot at the Chamber
Of commerce spread around town.
1 n e y ourna sent a man down to
md out Whatwas wrong. All was con-
fusion. The. day closed with five Min
neapol1s grain: firms branded as de-
= aulters on contracts for 1000 bushels
of corn each.s4 49,.
Next day the board of arbitration sat
in solemn session. It was decided that
the prices as bid up by Barden were
fictitious, since it was well within his
knloWvledge35that there was only one
supply ofs5corn, and that could not be
tapped. A price was fixed at which
settlement was effected, much to The
relief Of the shorts and the utter dis.
gust OF. harden, who declared there
was no law OF justice in Minnesota and
offered his membership for sale.
Thus ended the. first corner-a corner
that might have been profitable but
that. 1t Was%overplayed.
The First New Building.
The momentous. decision respecting
the site, OF the building the association
proposed to erect for itself was reached
July. 25, 1882. There was hot fight
over it, into which the real estate men
OF those days entered vigorously. Hen.
nePln avenue was the choice Of many
and 1t IS Interesting to speculate as ia
how this selection has fixed the center
Of trade and how realty values and the
relative Importance of certain streets
and localities in business way might
have been affected by the decision to
locate elsewhere. :.
Ihe contract was let and that fall. the
foundation went in. The chamber moved
| in two years later, in 1884. -.
Up to 1902, when the present fine
ten-story building was completed: the
chamber did business in this, old build
| ing, at first considered a fine addition
to the business structures of Minneap
| OILS, but looking rather dingy now be-
| side the handsome new Chamber, althc
| still IN prime condition and occupied
by grain firms from cellar to roof.
| The old building witnessed the first
trade in 100000 bushels Of grain fol
future delivery. That was an event
OF much Importance, representing bust
ness OF such magnitude that it called
tor spec1als:comment in the newspa
bury made the transaction. g.,
When the chamber had settled into
this home. busine in futures increased
greatly and! spectators began to an
pear. Some of the big men Of the trade
worked deals on that floor. Partridge
Hutchinson, sor Old Hutch,',l and thu
world famous Joe Letter all kept ir
touch with, the Minneapolis trading
floor, for this: market had become OF
impor lance and could at times make anG
unmake prices. There were also big 10
cal traders whose mills ground up sc
much wheat that if they bought enougl
for two months supply, it had grea1
influence for strength. And so all the
spectators watched Minneapolis. What
Charles A. Pillsbury might think about
wheat the grain trade the world owe,
wanted to know. 1t was into this build
ing that ~Pillsbury marched at the heac
Of brass band when wheat went to 81
a bushel one year.
There grew up also crowd of LESSEE
spectators. Probably the most notei
of these, man Of different type, bu1
as prominent on the floor in his peculiar
way as Captain Verhoeff is today. o. D.
Absalom, commonly called "Doc Dabsa
lom.' 49, 49, - 80
Doc had no use for figures. Primary
receipts, foreign, sales, Russian or Ar
gentine shipments. or seaboard clear
guide traders, all had no standing will
Dec Dabsoiom. Doc had no notion OF
how much wheat there was in the visi
BILE supply, and what was more, he did
not want to know. One day Al Cham