The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-16
DAY OF GREAT
EXCITEMENT
IN WHEAT PIT
Sudden Drop in the Price in
Chicago Wiped Out the
Small Spectators.
PATTEN HOLDS HIS OWN
AND MARKET RECEIVERS
BATTLE ROYAL TO COME OVER
ULY OPTION-CHIEF OF BULL
CLIQUE UNLoADS MAY.

t-Hf.sEa AnriI 15--It was a day Of tU-
-~uIt and sharply shifting fortunes in the
rfest pit of the board of trade, July
p-rast following an advance TO new
rsq1 level suddenly dropped AS cents.
me 'pyramided' fortunes Of small spec
.1sf0rs vanished in a trice. and the de-
,7a1ouments caused vigorous eXertiOns by
tre bull leader. James NJ. Patten. With
I'm the last fifteen minutes Of trading Mr..
pafter bought 600 bushels of wheat
for July delivery.
aNot6ing but a furry ne said but
that was after the turbulent pit had been
deserted for the day. During that final
-.fsrrer of an hour he was a busy man.
Into the corridor Of the building in which
+be Bartlett Patten offices are to be
found foatcd the sound of high-pitched
nervous voices as clerks at the telephone
shot in buying orders to other clerks IN
the pit
Buy fifty. Buy a hundred Buy TWEEN
ty-fTa
These numbers referred to thousands
of bushels of wheat, and there were many
smaller ones-sO many, in fact, that not
an Of them were filled. IL was a physical
imp1ssibility to do so.
Patten Directed the Deals.
Mr.. Pstten personally visited the floor
Of the exchange and directed his own
deals
10 was Patten against the field. and the
final gong showed that Patten apparently
vas as mighty SO 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 bear
i7h daring caused a reaction Of more
than a cent all along the line. Before
this occurred the hoard Of many a small
speCulatOr had gone.
Far from the maddening scene on the
board in hundreds of bakeries there was
a different. although related scene Flour
had risen and the bakers were trying to
find out where their profits were coming
from unless the price of bread could be
raised.
Market Rose at Opening.
The speculative day on the board opened
without indications of the sensation to
come. May and July quietly rose TO a
new high price. the former TO 1891 and
the latter to s1lS7s July price was the
highest since 1Sts, but neither mark
created unusual comment Either one
or the other of the options mentioned
has been doing the same thing since the
first of the month. There has not been
trading day since then that one or the
other has not created a new top price.
Patten bought and sold as usual, most
ly buying July and selling May. He is
said 10 have disposed of one million bush
els Of his May holdings today. and to be
practically out of that option. His en-
erEes are now centered largely in July.
"I still have some May he said. but
am t-l-eLlN Interested now IN july 1
an not paying much attention to the de-
lerred futures. They are new crop
months.
0eIuge of Selling Orders.
1t was fifteen or twenty minutes before
closing time when the selling tornado hit
the Dit Stop loss orders came out in .
oeiuse and the bears, stirred by a five
cent decline at Winnipeg, based, it was
sdlu- on resellIng by exporters. attacked
HIa .- 90 eel I'll
'eo haI a cent at a time to S1-14l2. an
extreme loss of AS cents, MAY. in larger
jumps, dropped to 1926. and September.
an undIsputed new crop month. which at
tanned sl6S7s. declined to S1O6s4
here the Patten purchases made their
influence felt- and the close of the ses-
son found July at S1.155sG1 1874: May at
N--''zql-55s and September at S1.06j+.
DO contrast to these prices those of
year ago are Of interest. During April
-sar ago. May wheat sold at an average
81 % cents and July around s. cents. The
-.sl sale Of wheat for delivery in May
vi lgs year was made here June % last.
81 @,ac- Whether IL went to Mr. Patten
j. not OF public record. but he was among
E carrier purchasers Since then the
price has risen nearly 50 cents. This.
however does not serve to give line on
ne supposed profits Of Mr. Patten and
rs associates. No estimate worth con-
slderns can be made
Battle Royal to Come.
Win the May deal proper to ali intents
'-.-s or the past, a battle royal viii
Nased iu July. Mr. Patten. at the
gao o. an influential following. insists
aL July VIII be an old crop month. that
-'oIr must be made from the harvest
leSl year. instead of the new wheat
s.ai.s harvested i'm the winter wheat
L DO time for delivery on July con-
e-S- unusually UnfavOrable weather
painting last fall is given as the prin-
reason for this belief.
'.- Faiten said today that even If some
-"- wheat were harvested early in
-.5 . would never reach Chicago, but
r.t ne Snatched up by furnishing mil
--.H '-.ore 1T gets near this city.
Wheat $3.50 in Kansas.
why said Mr. Patten. they are buy
-c wheat out in Sumner county. Kansas,
ISM now Do YOU know what that
F-.i1- That's the biggest wheat-prO-
-..-- county IN the United States. and
vrg.s llere have Just paid $50 for
ertot winch the farmers had previously
-Vl OUT. They have to bring IL back
U-4N an0ut the five-cent decline at
Mr. Patten was asked
. -ltsn t mean anything. It's a big
d. Thet but small one speculative
-- smaller the speculative market,
".l-f the range of fluctuations.
v--a- Mr. Patten says about July
49, however. is anything but acCep-
r[s. u. many experienced traders. They
" -o the present domestic visible sup
Continued on Page 6.