The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-05-19

Where Nobody Else Has-Great
Losses and Maybe Failures, Which
ever Side Is Victor.
There in the middle Of the Pit, sur
rounded and assaulted by herd after
herd of wolves, yelping for his de-
struction, he stood, braced, rigid, his
head up, his bony hand. that had once
held the whole Pit in it's grip, flung
high in air, while his voice, like the
clangor of bugles sounding to the
charge of the forlorn hope, rang out
again and again over the din of his
enemies:
Give a dollar for July-give dol
lar for July"
Then the avalanche, the undiked
ocean of wheat, leaping to the lash of
the hurricane, struck him fairly in the
face.
He heard it now, he heard nothing
else. The Wheat had broken from his
control. For months he had, by the
might of his single arm, held it back
now it rose like the upbuilding of a
colossal billow. 1t lowered, lowered
hung poised for an instant, and then
with a thunder as of the grind and
crash of chaotic worlds broke upon
him, burst through the Pit and raced
/ past him, on and on.
And then something snapped in Ills
brain. Blind and insensate, he strove
| against the torrent of the Wheat. One
| function only remained active, and
that vibrated with terrible rapidly
its rhythm beating out the old and
terrible cadence:
Wheat wheat wheat. Wheat
wheat-wheat." Frank Norris in THE
Pit"
| CHICAGO, May 15.-Will the above
happen to the great bull, Jas. A. Pat
ten?
May 81 will tell the tale. That is
settlement day. On June 1 all the
world will know whether or not Pat
ten has won.
Never in the history Of the wheat
pit has any man passed settlement day
winner. Many have tried. But
wheat has beaten them. The history
of wheat corners is a story of ruin and
dishonor and suicide and financial
wreckage and broken men.
Will Patten win?
Some people are beginning to think
he will.
What Will Happen.
Let us see, in plain United States
language, just what will happen on
May 81. Whether he wins or loses
that day will go down in history as
one of the most stormy in the story
of wheat speculation.
Let's remember first that short, OF
a bull, in this story, is a man who has
contracted to deliver wheat to Patten
on May 81. The price ranges up to
1929, or whatever may be the highest
option price reached by that time.
The short, in making his contract
believed that he would be able to buy
wheat at lower price before May 81
and make a profit on his contract.
The bull, or long, is the man, like
Patten, and those who believe in him
and have followed his lead, who has
contracted to pay for wheat at prices
ranging up to the highest option price
Wheat Pit Price.
: The option price, we said. That is
the wheat pit price.
} There is a cash wheat price, too
! That is the price you'd have to pay
in open market for the actual wheat
It's been about 20 cents higher than
i the option price so far. If it were
lower the shorts could buy what they
wanted and fill their orders with Pat
; ten at proft-or else Patten would
go broke trying to pay.
What will happen then on May 81
J in the Chicago wheat pit?
, If PATTEN WINS
! The shorts, trying desperately to
t beat down the price, will have failed
! Patten has said all along that this is
a short year for wheat. His predic-
ton will have made good. The
shorts, if they have to buy wheat al
anything like the present cash price
will lose hundreds of thousands OF
dollars, millions of dollars, in the ag-
gregate.
Must Deliver Goods.
They will ransack the world for
wheat but they will have failed. In
a last desperate endeavor, as they face
ruin on May 81. they will try to buy
and fill the order they have contract