The Washington herald., 1909-04-18

He telegraphed his house what he had
seen.
Depreciation by Rust.
Going northward through the wheat
/ fields he traced the. rust until he reached
fields not infected. The disease was only
! in the southern portion OF the spring
wheat country But three or four days
later he found it had worked its way
northward into new fields A week after
the first discovery the spread of the dis
ease was unmistakable. II was racing
the harvest nOrthward. Jones then sent
/ this confidential telegram to his house;
/ Looks like big reduction IN yield in
I Northwest" That day. Monday. August
\ ], in Chicago. September wheat sold at
/ 90 cents bushel The grain market got
wind Of the discovery Of rust, and the
next day wheat advanced with a food OF
/ buying orders to 81 cents.
Jones made a public report OF the ap-
| pearance of black rust.
/ On Wednesday night wheat sold at 20
! cents. on Thursday at 81 cents. on Fri
/ day at 80 cents and the grain market
went wild ove- the bull campaign Tele-
grams began 10 pour into Minneapolis
/ from all over the rust-infected area, tell
ing OF the damage 20 the crop In Wall
street. Jones was called a crop killer.
and a Calamity howler," and even he
/ himself, in an effort 20 stem the tide OF
/ speculation. issued a statement that there
was stin plenty or wheat in the North
west, although millions or bushels were
being destroyed by rust. But the public
/ had taken hold Of the market. At the
1 beginning OF the next week wheat sold
at S10 Later IN the month Il sold at
SLIP and In September the option sold
al H.l6. In the Minneapolis market,
where only spring wheat is traded in,
cash wheat sold as high as Sl-22 in
October.
True Prophecy and False.
Jones estimated the rust damage at 90
OO0OOO bushels and cut his spring wheat
figures 10 100000 bushels. Several
weeks later the government came out
with an estimate almost Identical with
the Jones figures. The early knowledge
Of the rust damage gained by the North
western farmers from the Jones reports
enabled them 10 hold their wheat for
higher prices. and easily made differ
ence Of S15.000O00 in their returns from the
! harvest To those IN the graih trade who
pinned their faith 10 Jones, his early esti-
mate OF the shortage in the crop, which
| twenty-five years. was worth millions Of
dollars. They bought wheat when II was
low, stored II in their elevators. and sold
II when il was high
COrnerlng the wheat market nowadays
IS almost a sure losing game No wise
men try f. Joe" Letters bold attempt
was typical In 1897. when he tried 10
corner the market. he had the strongest
wheat position ever known in the trade
The importing countries OF Europe had
produced only 00000 90 bushels Of wheat,
against 900 10000 bushels the year before.
Reserves everywhere were low. Among
exporting countries the United States
alone showed any considerable surplus.
To buy this surplus was 10 make Europe
pay the holders own price for it-theor-
etlcaIly.
But with every few cents advance at
/ Chicago. grain appeared as II by magic.
The Northwest scraped its granaries. Rus
STA ate rye aud emptied its mill bins OF
wheat Argentina swept the floor. In
December the Chicago market was cor
lnered-on paper: but Armour kept steel
proved tugs blowing up the ice at the
head OF the lakes. and by lake and rail
moved 900 bushels from Minnesota
and Dakota 10 Chicago IN midwlnter.
Mr. Letter paid for every bushel OF IL.
S109. still more granaries were emptied
; and wheat poured 10 market
The war between the United States and
Spain came on, as opportunity for the
deal as though Il had been carefully de-
vised Europe became panicstricken over
a vision Of American wheat shipment cut
of by Spanish men-of-War. France sus-
pended her wheat import duties Of 35 -
cents a bushel Other countries followed.
At Chicago $l45 was paid Tor cash wheat
for export The newspapers figured Mr..
Letters profits far into the millions. But
with every advance in price more wheat
appeared, and when It came 10 disposing
Of the forty or fifty million bushels that
had been accumulated in controlling the
market. the paper profits melted, a huge
deficit appeared.
Mysterious s'BuH Clique"
Then there was the Harper deal In 1S7.
mysterious bull clique began 20 dom
inate the market by enormous purchases
Of the May option. Every one knew that
a deal far greater than any ever be-
fore attempted on the board was afoot.
BY the middle Of April a rumor ap-
peared that Cincinnati men identified
with the Fidelity National Bank, Of that
p city, were long 100000 bushels OF
! wheat in the Chicago market. The Fidel-
ity Bank management promptly and in
: dignantly denied the rumor. But the pur-
chase OF wheat went on 4 thousand
carloads a day poured into the city.
/ Warehouses were choked. Railroad sid
ings were full Of laden cars waiting Tor
| some place 10 unload Still the mysteri-
Gus clique bought: II seemed to have end
J less resources. Some said this clique was
John W MaCkay and his bonanza king
friends; some said Il was the Standar I'd
Oh millionaires. More said II was E L.
Harper, vice president Of the Fidelity Ma
tional Of Cincinnati, and some Cincinnati
associates; but Harper denied this.
The air OF the board was tense with
battle. 1t was a fight between the CLIQUE
and the trade. Saturday. June II, the
! market opened firm, with May wheat Ss
cents. the clique apparently in full con-
; troll. But some operators Of skin and
power at length were ready 10 come to
close quarters-to try a thrust of pixies
? There was a furious raid on May" and
the price broke 20 S21-2 cents-not so
much, only II showed that the clique was
not omnipotent, after all. Monday there
was truce, partly because it was known
p that Wiltshire, OF Cincinnati, had come "a
town, and it was said that he brought
a g1eat roll Of clique money.
Panic end Ruin.
But early Tuesday morning the story
got around that Wiltshire and Kershaw
the cnief clique broker. had been clos
eted at the Richelieu Hotel well into the
night and that Kershaw had come away
= looking worried and discouraged. Defeat
was in the air. At the first tap Of the
, ] hell Julv was down rO 50 cents The r{,
D became a roUt. a panic. The immense
= structure OF the clique. built into the
trade by enormous purchases extending