New-York tribune., 1909-05-30

Chicago May 29.-What is generally conceded
to have been the most successful wheat deal in
the annals of the Chicago Board of Trade
closed to-day. and. symptomatic of modern spec
ulatve conditions, it closed without that squeez-
ing Of shorts which in other days wont to
furnish a show to gallery visitors and leave
La Sale Street staggering on it's financial feet.
James A. Patten during the brief hours of to-
days session held the price of May wheat, fixed
at 81 "a a hushel Through his pit clerk, Ed"
Walker. he bought or sold at that price, but
the buying almost purely theoretical He
did take in a few thousand bushels from some
"trailers.' VINO waited until the last moment
for their profits but mainly he disposed Of about
half a million bushels to shorts who had hoped
against hope 10 the last moment and then. in
the parlance Of the pit. took their medicine"
1t was all as tranquil as a summer sea, really
duller than usual. and not remotely re
sembling the turbulence Of the sessions Of pre-
vious months. Few persons were in the pit
and Mr.. Patten was not one of them. In the
gallery, lured by the history Of spectacular fin
ishes to such bull campaigns as those of "OId
Hutch" John Cudahy, Joe Letter. Coster-
Martin and others. there gathered n dense
crowd, many Of them women. They had come
TO see Patten take his pound Of flesh along
with what blood might ensue. but what they
really saw was than half de
serted. There was hardly any noise where May
wheat concerned
In the Offices Of Bartlett Patten & Co Mr.
Patten sat facing the blackboard chewing gum
vigorously. his eyes fixed on the quotations 81
options other than May. Customers who profit
ed by following his lead were no less Immobilc
nf no loo
tory An hour after the close of the market n
procession of clerks headed for the cashiers
ONCE OF the arm wearing broad grfns- s-71T1d car
rying slips Of white paper II was then learned
that every emp!oye OF the RartIett- Patten housc
had received present from the firm OF 10 per
cent Of their annual salaries
The price at which May wheat closed to-dar r.
did not represent fictitious value It was
according 10 traders. consistent with the price
OF the cereal the world over. Mr.. Patten might
have put the price at 81 and remaining shorts
would have been compelled 20 pay it or ac-
knowledge bankruptcy. The bull leader. how
ever. according to his friends, continued CON
sistent to his assertion that he had no ~ish to
manipulate prices, but only to obtain the Iegiti-
mate profits Of his foresight
The rules OF the Board of Trade forbid cor
ners," and the short who fears that fictitious
price may be forced from him has recourse to
the courts. Some years ago Mr. Patten cor
nered the oats market, and short, fearing a
squeeze" obtained an injunction restraining
the big operator from advancing the price over
Ga cents bushel. 1t not shown that Mr..
Patten had any such intention. but there have
>oeen "squeezes' since the old-fashiOned sort
made popular by "Old Hutch" and others.
The present deal required manipulation. il
is asserted. Mr.. Patten merely backed with his
money his Judgment that there was less wheat
in the world than generally believed. Wall
Street sold short, as did some influential West
ern speculator, but Patten held to the last and
only few days ago May wheat sold TO 81 3514.
the highest price in eleven years Letter who
it is said fighting nature herself. com
PEELED in the end to care for SO 900 900 bushels
of actual wheat Mr.. Patten has only 100000
bushels to merchandise.
Mr.. Patten has made a fortune. how much
even he cannot say until his cash wheat is all
marketed. The estimate is $2OOO,OOO. His
partners are credited with being $1,jOOOO0
ahead. Together they held 35.OOOOO0 bushels
of cash wheat. The losses, it is said have fallen
mostly on professional spectators.