The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-06-15

that he always gambled on certainties, and
that by so doing he turned sharper corners
on smaller margins than any other operator
in the world. His method was simple
he paid enormously for advance news that
was authentic
The world had waited many moons and
many years for the Russo japanese war.
The Chicago Board of Trade had waited
for it, But waiting Is tedious business
men soon weary of it, 1t was only VIII
loughby G.. Schenck who held tenaciously
to the watch lie knew too well that one
may wait all day to see man swing around
the corner, but he knew well that it took
that man but a second of time so to swing
when once he had arrived
He sat lazily in his office one afternoon
when messenger brought him telegram
in cipher 1t had come to him via New
York. He waited for half an hour, and
received auother-by way of San Francisco.
Then he went down to the Pit and sold
wheat-sold it right aud left 1t had been
standing at seventy-fve. Willoughby &.
Sehenck sold until the price dropped to
seventy And then the hand of the clock
aud the clang of the gravel stopped his
operations for the afternoon. But he
knew that he had sown the good seed.
Wheat had been plentiful and weak
| by tomorrow, he told himself, u II
have a cinch. And she must 90 down
away down, before I'll buy-and before
these people get the news.
| And dOwn-down-dow she went
Day by day, week by week, Schenck sold
sold sold the wheat which he did not
have. On any day he could have bought
and made good profits, but he would not
do it.
There must be no demand to check
the fall, he whispered to himself ''Sel
-sell-sell
And then-there came a crisis; a DAY
when Scheuck had to think-to hesitate
between the possibility of enormous profit.
on the one hand, and Of safety on the other.
\ vague uneasiness was in the air Thi.
was caused by the fac, that he had driver
wheat to the bottom point.
Tomorrow, he said, ''Ill buy-and
deliver And buy-and deliver And
then I'll buy, and hold-hold- y
Tomorrow. Tomorrow was TOO late,
For on that very day, as the gong changed,
the world had the news that Schenck had
had many days before. It was--war
War. with its huge demand for breadstuffs
war, with its eeascless cry for wheat
wheat-wheal
Schenck did no, sleep that night. HI
walked the floor. lie did not even chang,
his clothes The next morning he wa,
the firs; man upon the steps of the Pit
his haud was the frst that thrust itsel
into the air "a the business of the day be
gan.
Buy-wheat r. Il was the cry tha
oncircled the world Il made no differene,
what kind Of wheat, "Buy-buy--buyl
Bat though the hand Of Schenek was th'
first hand in the air, it was not the oull
hand. All Chicago seemed to poise itsel
upon the edge Of the Fit, crying, Buy
buy-buy
T And at closing time Schenek found tha
he was man who day after day had beer
selling what he had not found that h,
could no deliver what he had sold; that h.
could not buy what he had bound hiursel
- to deliver. The next day he watchet
, wheat going up-up-up, TO the break
neck point Over night the press has
made the uncertainty more certain, tn
possibility Of war more possible; the un
casiuess in the far East was setting dowl
! into a monstrous fact.
Inside Of a week wheat had gone to one
eighty. Brokers laughed in their sleeves
/ They knew well enough that the deelara
tion Of war was only responsible for tn
commencement Of this thing. They knew
, at last that Willoughby q. Sehenck wa
caught; that he had sold short to fore
| wheat to a bottom price, where he eoul'
| bus all he would, aud, after deliveries
hold his biz balance for the rise that wa
, sure to come, They knew that he eoul'
not deliver.
, He knew that he could not buy. Why
Because no one would sell Wheat ha,
| become a thing for half day, without
, priee-no one would sell.
/ In the midst Of it all Willoughby G
; Schenek leaped to his feet.
e They can't beat me, he told him
/ self, they must not beat me. For h
had. at the last moment, thought of tha
3 which operators. as a rule, isnore-tha
back in the storehouses Of the country, i
the elevators in the towns and cities, ther
! was real wheat He needed wheat-h
needed to deliver. He could not &
, wheat in Chicaso-he could not get 1t il
the centers- not even in the big towns; h
knew that. But he knew, furthermore
that many, many farmers had almost aban
doned their wheat at-were starving, htera
IL, with well filled granaries that the worl
would not empty for them.
"A week he thought, "a short wee
it reached its price in that short time
. They'll sell, back their in the field,
They re not sure. They Il sell-for song.
! Rapidly he sent his emissaries out to bu
real grain. He sent them away trou
Chicago, away from the big towns; int
the small villages that boasted but one {
two big s;orehouses.
, II can just get out even, he told him
e self, II can just save my bacon-if | ca
/ buy wheat at one dollar and ten cents
| In cost me money, but Iii come out so
It vent Itll wipe out what | made 81
1 months ago bat I'll come out solvent
n I've got to doit. II must have wheat.
Slowly and surely his agents bough
r wheat-some at dollar-some at a dolls
b ten-some, even, at ninety. The marke
a price in Chicago was but a will o the wis
i to the farmers on the outskirts. Cash WI
the thing that talked to them.
i Zone dollar bushel, one of Shenck
! men would say And when he said 1t, b
laid the money out across the counter
t Ready money-it makes its own price
e almost.
. 1t was Tamblyn, one of Schenck 5 be-
. men, who, by wire and mail and rail, raj
t sacked Nebraska.
o 1t was Tamblyn, dusty and tired VIII
alighted at Keno early one morning.
'sIf there amt any wheat here, h
told himself, "and there not likely to b.