Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-16
PYRAMID RICHES
OF SMALL GRAIN
DEALERS VANISH
WHEAT GOES UP, THEN DROPS
BACK SUDDENLY
SPECULATOR PATTEN RETAINS
HIS MIGHTY GRASP
Man Who Has Cornered Bread Stun
of Country Does Not Back
Down, Although Many
Little Ones Die
[By Associated Press.3

IBy Associated PreSs.S
NHICAGO, April 15.-Tumult and
sharply shifting fortunes marked
~ the day in the wheat pit of the
board of trade, July wheat following
an advance to new high level, sud
denly dropped 4ssc.
The pyramid fortunes of small
spectators vanished in a trice, and
the developments caused vigorous
exertions by the bull leader, James A.
Patten.
Within the last fifteen minutes of
trading Mr.. Patten bought 100000
bushels of wheat for July delivery.
Nothing but a furry" he said. but
that was after the turbulent pit had
been deserted for the day.
During the final quarter of an hour
Patten was a busy man. Into the
corridor of the building in which the
Bartlett -Patten offices are to be found
1oated the sound of high pitched.
nervous voices, as clerks telephoned
buying orders to others in the pit.
Buy fifty! Buy a hundred! Buy
twenty-five"
These numbers referred to thousands
of bushels of wheat, and there were
many smaller ones-so many, in fact.
that not all of them were filed. 1t was
a physical impossibility to do so.
Patten Is on Floor
Mr.. Patten personally visited the
floor of the exchange and directed his
own deals. 1t was Patten against the
field, and the final gong showed that
Patten apparently was as mighty as
ever. His purchases and those of his
followers, together with the profit
taking of shorts who lost no time in
securing the fruits of their bearish
daring, caused a reaction of more than
cent all along the line.
Before this occurred the hoard of
many small speculator had gone.
In hundreds of bakeries a different,
although related, scene was enacted.
Flour had risen, the bakers were try
ing to find out where their profits were
coming from unless the price of bread
could be raised.
The speculative day on the board
opened without indications of the sen :
sation to come. May and July quickly
rose tc a new high Irice, the former to
$1.29H and the latter to $1.18%. Julys
price was the highest since 1877, but
neither mark created unusual COM
ment.
Top Prices Frequent
Either one or the other of the options
has been doing the same thing since
the first of the month. There has not
been a trading day since then that one
or the other has not created a new top
price.
Patten bought and sold, as usual,
buying July and selling May. He is
said to have disposed of 100000 BUSH
els of his May holdings today. and to
be practically out of that option. His
energies are now centered largely in
July.
"I have some May STILL" he said,
but I am chiefly interested in July
now. 1 am not paying much attention
to the deferred futures. They are
new-crop months"
fore closing time when the selling tor
nado hit the pit. NStop-loss orders game
out in deluge, and the bears, stirred
by scent decline at Winnipeg, based.
it was said, on reselling by exporters,
attacked the market with great spirit.
July tumbled half cent at a time to
$1.1415, an extreme loss of 43sc; May.
in larger jumps, dropped to $1.26 and
September, an undisputed new-crop
month, which attained $1.0S%, declined
to $1.06A.
Here the Patten purchases made
their influence felt, and the close of the
session found July at $1.15&@1 1.15Ac.
at s1.o6A.
Prices Much Higher
In contrast to these prices those of
April year ago May wheat sold at an
average of 95c and July around S5c.
The first sale of wheat for delivery in
May of this year was made here June
20 last at S9%c. Whether it went to
Mr.. Patten or not is not of public rec
ord, but he was among the earlier pur-
chasers. Since then the price has risen
nearly 30c a bushel. This, however.
does not serve to give line on the
supposed profits of Mr.. Patten and his
associates No estimate worth consid-
ering can be made.
With the May deal proper to all
intents a thing of the past, battle
royal will be waged in July. Mr.. Pat
ten, at the head of an influential fol-
lowing, insists that July will be an old
crop month; that is, flour must be
MADE from the harvest of last year,
instead of the new wheat usually har-
vested in the winter wheat belt in time
for delivery on July contracts.
Unusually unfavorable weather for
planting last fall is given as the prin-
cipal reason for this belief.
Mr.. Patten said today that, even If
some of the wheat were harvested
early in July, it would never reach
Chicago, but would be snatehed up by
famishing millers before it gets near
this city
Kansas Wheat Sells High
''Why," said Mr.. Patten, they are
buying wheat out in Sumner county,
Kansas, right now. Do you know what
that means? That's the biggest wheat
producing county in the United States.
and millers here have just paid $1.50
for wheat which the farmers had pre-
viously shipped out. They have to
bring it back
"How about the scent decline at
Winnipeg?" Mr.. Patten was asked.
''It doesn't mean anything. It's big
cash market, but a small one speeu-
latively. The smaller the speculative
market, the wider the range of fiuc-
tuations."
What Mr.. Patten says about July
wheat, however, is anything but ac-
ceptable to many experienced traders.
They point to the present domestic
visible supply, which at present is re-
ported by Bradstreet's as 100000 BUSH
els in excess of the amount in sight
at this time in 1908. But principally
they insist the new crop win be on sale
in Chicago In abundance.
Tr, 1fc1t,ccfr1o hfe er,arnf ff0rto 4o6aw