The Cairo bulletin., 1909-03-03
ARMOUR WILL LEAD BEARS IN
VIGOROUS ASSAULT ON
BULL STRoNGHC'
WHEAT FIGHT BREWING
Meat Packer Viii Be Asked to Do
What His Father Did When He
Broke Up the Letter Corner q
Some Years Ago.

Chicago. March Upon the
shoulders of J. Ogden Armour will
fall the task of graphing with James
A. Patten, acknowledged wheat
king" of the world, in an attempt to
overthrow the "czar of tlhe, pit" and
put wheat around the dollar mark.
1t was the late p, ID. Armour who
was called upon at the last mAnute
to overthrow the young Joe Letter
when the impetuOus millionaire tried
to corner wheat. and now his son has
fallen heir to a task With is even
greater. Letter Was nhrown over at
a cost of $7,000,000 to himself and
friends and was forced to go through
bankruptcy by the genius OF the elder
Armour, whose millions were EN-
ployed in chartering ice-crushing
boats and several fleets of the Great
Lakes, which kept navigation open
through the 500 straits and dumped d
wheat into Chicago so fast that Lei
ter and his following were unable to
pay cash for it. This spelled their
ruin.
The Armour Grain company is said
to be short on wheat and on the same
side of the market with the other
large elevator interests of the coun-
try, such as the South Chicago Ele.
yator company and the heads of other
companies in the persons of Nye
jerks, Rosenbaum, and other grain
men, j. Ogden Armour will lead
these forces against Patten, but as
yet the bears are biding their time.
Market Was Automatic.
There are still ninety days in which
To deliver May wheat that James A..
Patten has bought and the bears are
not inclined to force the fighting at
the present stage.
Wheat today acted seemingly ac-
cording to its own sweet will. 1t
opened at s1,16 a bushel cents
lower than it closed Saturday at
noon. During the trading fluctuations
were varied and brokers stormed tie
pit, buying and selling wheat in a
perfect frency. No one seemed to be
able to tell just what wheat or Pat
gag line across the chart. Patten
himself did not enter the pit, but
three of his trusted men were there,
and they automatically bought or
sold, according to the grain kings
orders. At the close of the market
Patten had given enough support to
send wheat to sl17.
This price was taken as showing
nothing of the real conditions of the
market 1t was admitted that Pat.en
could step into the pit at any time
and put wheat at sl.20 a bushel OF
even more. but the bears claimed
that this advantage would mean moth.
ing and that il would be a condition
that no man, unless he had the wealth
of dozen Rockefellers at his com
mand could support for any length
of time
Both Sides Confident.
Both the bulls and the bears ap-
pear confident and both quote volub' y
Of figures which seem to prove that
the position they have taken is the
correct one and that their knowledge
of the wheat conditions of the world
has been carefully CLEANED and theii
information accurate in every detail
Patten, as the leader of the bull
market, says that there Is not enough
wheat to supply the worlds demand
while the leaders in the bear move
ment assert and with apparent con
fidence that Patten is mistaken and
that he will awake to a sad realiza
tion of his mistake when long trains
of wheat and deeply laden ships he
gin to unload millions of bushels ot
the yellow grain in Chicago within