Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-28
EXPLAINS HOW BIC
WHEAT DEAL WORKED
WITHOUT 4 N|SHAP
Corners in Market Now I'M
possible, Says Chicago
Beard Director.

Chlcago.-tCorrespOndence of The
Associated Pressb.-L. l.. Winters. d
director of the Chicago board Of trade
Is authority for a striking comparison
of the present methods in the wheat
business as in contrast with the days OF
odd Hutch" b. L. Hutchinson. most
famous of old-time grain operators. Re
ferripg to May wheat dealings here
which have attracted wide attention.
Mr.. Winters said:
The day of the grain corner is gone
forever. as may be seer from the So
called May deal just gone into his
tory. This has been accomplished by
strict rules of the board itself in the
last 10 or - years. In the old days.
before traders, for their own protec-
ton. had adopted stringent rules to
prevent manipulation. the recent stu
alton would inevitably have developed
INTO q corner controlled by some leader
like Old Hutch
Also he might have lost heavily. let
1t be remembered. Few corners made
money for the manipulators. 4 dozen
fortunes were lost where one was
gained. The Old Hutch of today would
have had to pay the full price of
II, 766 600 bushels Of wheat which we're
- VIZ A'Ehs 'oiiIj'tS kiliN eur. IL
tidy sum. even at the unmanipulated
price of S1.16 a bushel at which the
market closed May 81. Had there been
a corner. the price assuredly would
have been much higher. for the bull
manipulation is compelled to bid m the
market on himself. In the Letter corner
the late L. u. Armour and others de
ilvcrcd the actual grain br millions of
bushels to Mr.. Letter; Letter was I'M
able to stand the strain on his re-
sources. stUpendous though they were.
II the corner collapsed.
In the present instance. no one was
attempting a corner. Last winter GER
tain spectators thought that wheat for
delivery in May was o bargain. and they
bought independently in expectation of
an advance. BY mid-May they owned
everything III the public warehouses de
on contracts. and hence what
would have been a natural corner
that is. one brought about without
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. Sellers had con-
tracts to deliver more wheat in Chi
during May than the elevators
would hold. In the old days these
shorts would have been compelled 70
make a money settlement with the
bulls at prices set by the bulls. Such
SQuefzeS sent many Il firm on the fin
anclal rocks a generation ago.
Suggestions came from many sources
the end of May that the directors
Of the board should fix a settlement
price in order to prevent n squeeze. but
this was considered unsound and futile.
y contract is Il contract and IT'S sacred
ness must be preserved. The contracts
TO deliver certain quantities of wheat
May were valid instruments of
commerce..
What the directors of the board
actually did was far better. They
simply declared wheat in ears regular |
Tor delivery on contracts; in other
words they made each car a public
warehouse until the PASSED.
In this way every person who had
made a valid sale for future delivery,
hat is. in May. was able to deliver the
wheat. and those who bought it received
t AS per contract.
All Interests, including that Of the
.armcr and the public. were protected
md the price at which the market
'losed on the last day of May was the
air balance set by conditions of supply
md demand the world over"