The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-30
Settlement Is Made With SeII-
 CTS of May Option
BONUS TO OFFICE CLERKS
Chicago Wheat King Takes the Clos ing Day of the Great May Wheat Deal Very Calmly and
 Pockets Profits.

Chicago, May 29.--What is generally conceded to have been the most success full wheat deal in the annals of the Chi cago board of trade closed today, and it closed without that squeezing of shorts which in other days was wont to leave La Salle street staggering on it's financial feet.
 James A. Patten, during the brief hours of todays session, made a fixed price of $l.94 the bushel. Through his pit clers, Ed Walker, he bought or sold at that price, but the buying was almost theo- retical on his part. He did take in A few thousand bushels from 'trailers' who waited till the last moment for their profits, but mainly he disposed of about half million to shorts, who had hoped against hope to the last moment and. then, in the parlance of the pit, took their medicine"
 It was all quite tranquil really duller than usual, and not even remotely re- sembllng the turbulence of the sessions of previous months. But few were in the pit and MT. Patten was not one of them. He sat in his office facing the blackboard, chewing vigorously at a quid of gum, his hat pushed back on his head and his eyes glued on the ouota- tions of options other than May. It was not till an hour after the close of the market that the only bit of senti- mont connected with the whole thing leaked out
 A procession of clerks headed for the cashiers office, wearing broad grins on their faces and slips of white paper in their hands, called attention to 1t, and it was learned that every employe of the Bartlett-Patten house had been given bonus of 10 per cent of their annual salaries.
 The price at which May wheat closed today did not represent a fictitious value It was, according to traders. consistent with the price of the cereal the world over. MT. Patten, had he wished, might have put the price to s5, and remaining shorts would have been compelled to pay it or acknowledge bankruptcy. How ever, according to his friends. he re- mained consistent with his assertion that he had no wish to manipulate prices, but only to obtain the legitimate profits of his foresight.
 He backed with his money his judg- ment that there was less wheat in the world than was generally believed and found himself in control. Wall street sold short, as did some influential west ern spectators, but MT. Patten, noted for his stubborn convictions, stayed to the last. He took vacation at a crit ical period of the campaign and utterly ignored decline of 12 cents which fol- lowed his departure from Chicago. That loss was more than recovered, for it was only few days ago that the cereal sold at $1. .S5A, the highest price in Il years.
 MT Patten has made a fortune-how much even he cannot say until his cash wheat Is marketed. His own infrequent admissions, however, seems to make s1,0O0,OO0 a conservative estimate. It may run very much larger. The losses, it is said, have fallen mostly on professional speculators
 The battle is not yet over, for the bulls and bears are still divided over the important question whether empty bins will be replenished by the July har- vest