The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-04-15
PATTON IS MAKING
MILLIONS ON WHEAT
Dictator in May Option Is Dis
posing Of 10000, 600 Bushels
-" Bought at ST..

= Chicago. April l3.-James A. Patten,
the new king of the wheat market, is
taking profits of 81. 000. 900 a day from
the wheat deal he has been engineering
for five months, and at the same time
is causing the speculative market for
the. cereal to reach new high records.
He sells about 5000, 900 bushels a day.
. Ratten, has insisted all the time and
he still insists hat it Is not a wheat
corner that he has merely bought
wheat because he believed 1t would sell
higher after awhile. That after
awhile" has come and he is disposing
or the 20. 900, 900 bushels of wheat he
old at a profit of 20 to 80 cents a
bushel.
With Great Skill.
Patten is. unloading his wheat with
great skill. Many Of the big shorts,
chiefly Wall street men, are hard press
ed and are willing to pay almost any
price for May wheat. Realizing this,
Patten was given large quantities at
the record prices prevailing.
This appears to be Patterns system
to sell heavily while the market is at
$1.25 or over and to stop selling at once
as soon as it falls below $1.25. Having
such an enormous quantity of the ce-
real he can thus control the market at
will.
The man who today holds the wheat
market by q firm grasp and moves, It
upward or downward at will has not
followed the usual course in wheat HQrS
ners. He has bought the wheat, has
paid for it and stored it. He has de-
manded the actual grain and as a re-
suit he has the visible supply safe in
elevators, and those who want it for
delivery in accordance with contracts
must go to him for it. No n else has
any, considerable supply. of the grain
and as settlement day draws near the
anxiety of those who nave sold short
becomes more intense.
Collected Own Dope"
Mr.. Patten knows something about
the Chicago Board of Trade. He has
made about $40, 900, 900 in speculation in
the last three or four years. Last
year he engaged in a campaign in corn,
and when 1t vas over he was 1000, 600
richer than when he began.
His present wheat campaign was
made only after careful investigation.
Experienced and trustworthy men In
his employ visited all the wheat grow
ing regions OF the world and made per-
sonal investigations. They came back
with facts and figures that confirmed
Mr.. Patterns ideas that the crop would
be short. He knew what conditions
were In Argentina and in Europe, as
well as in the great wheat growing Sec
lions of the United States. All these
figures were before him before he
bought the first bushel of wheat.
Passes Up Government Figures.
Mr., Patterns figures disagreed with
those furnished by the Government.
That did not affect his views nor his
actions. Last October he began buying
wheat and he bought steadily until the
present week. The price began to go
up slowly soon after the campaign be-
gan. The advance was so slow that
Mr.. Patten and his associates got most
of the wheat they now control at a
price ranging around 81. OF course
they continued buying after the price
went higher. That was necessary to
put the price where they wanted 1t, but
the capital invested in the high-priced
wheat has not been considerable.
And now with the settlement day
near. Patten is taking his profits. He
is letting those who agreed to deliver
wheat to him for 81 a bushel have the
wheat to deliver at $1.25 and above.
Looks Like Farmer.
Patten Is a big man physically and
looks not unlike a farmer. He wears
clothes that cost him not more than
$40 a suit. He knows scores of men
who grow wheat, men who do not spec
uIate but who have prof1ted by his ad-
vancing the price Of the cereal. For
forced by Patten are for the
real wheat, the grain is actually de-
livered and paid for.
He began his business life as clerk
In a small store in Sandwich, III. His
wife has social ambitions at which Pat
ten smiles. But when her desire for So