Evening star., 1926-11-28
BY /. A. FLEMING.


true that "old things are new every
four years." then the Jack Sturgis
corn corner" way back in the late
70s is as fresh as Thanksgiving day.
Those were the days of p. D. Armour,
founder of the great house OF Armour
& Co; John T. Lester, J. d. Lyon.
Beta million" Gates and preceding
by more than a. score of years Joe
Letters $10,000.000 wheat corner
failure-at least, it cost Levi q. Letter
that much, plus.
In the month of September Jack
Sturgis, debonair, handsome and am
bilious, started a youthful corner IN
corn, the contracts calling for the de-
livery of so many thousand bushels
of the unground meal before the tap
Of o'clock at his office. on La Sale
street, on the last day Of the month.
Would Not Ring.
There were many new features to
this corner; indeed, the movement did
not develop in it's viciousness until
the month was almost gone.
1t was the custom on the board of
trade for operators having open trades
both ways to ring their purchases
and sales: frequently. They main
tanned a staff Of messengers for that
purpose. Ringing" trade meant
calling it off. with the payment of
the difference in price being settled
by check. An operator having Sep.
tember corn bought from one firm and
sold through another could make the
substitution of the seller in his stead,
and thus be relieved of all obligations.
There had been several attempts at
corners in wheat and corn before
Jack Sturgis' attempts. generally re-
81 H. J;e,oe f4,< n
very large amount of cash to pur-
chase and store all the cereal arriving
in Chicago. while attending high
prices proved a magnet to increase
the shipments to the center. Usually
at the expiration of the month the
party or parties operating a corner
found themselves with an enormous
amount of high-priced grain on hand
and facing a heavy loss. for the mar
ket once relieved of the manipulation
would drop back sometimes nearly
dollar a buShel, which loss would be
further increased by the storage
charges.
Introduces New Method.
Jack Sturgis must have pondered
long before deciding to revolutionize
corners" to put one over on the
the penalties and absorb the profits.
He did this by selling a bushel for
every bushel of corn he purchased
and in this way lulled the market into
the belief that a naturally good
speculative market was under way
with none Of the appearance of any
one being caught in the trap and Sc.
riously injured.
Messengers made frequent efforts to
ring" trades with Jack but he de-
clined to ring" declaring that he
wished actual deliveries on all sales
made to his office.
This statement caused some furry
and corn rose several cents bushel
as the nervous among the traders got
out from under. But the majority
were satisfied that if Sturgis could
make, deliveries in his sales they
would be able to get the certificates
and warehouse receipts back to him
before the bell tolled the delivery
hour.
Before the last day of the month
corn had advanced some 20 cents a
bushel and there was considerable ex-
citement with scores of traders un-
easy but still confident that if their
corn receipts were delivered on time
they would be able to make deliveries.
and if not, then it was nothing but
stand off, as if nothing had been
done.
Jack Sturgis Tricky.
Here is how Jack Sturgis tricked
them. whipsawed them both ways. or
in other words consumed his cake and
still had it.
For every delivery of September
corn that he had to make he engaged
messenger boy and for a week or
more. always at night. had each boy
making the best time possible between
his (Sturgis) Office and the office of the
buyer Of the corn. Records were kept
of the minutes and seconds required
to make the round trip, so that
Sturgis knew exactly how long it
would require to cover the distance
between points at night with prac-
tically a clear street.
Comes Delivery Day.
The last day of the month rolled
around and the day wore on with
September corn far above wheat and
none for sale. Traders with de-
liveries to make knew nothing about
the night running and the plot that
Sturgis had Matched up to make them
big losers. They sensed something,
but were at sea as to the nature of
the surprise.
La Sale Street was not unaccus-
toned to some fast speeding by
clerks and messengers on the last day
of a month, and there was usually
a crowd in the street to cheer on the
runners.
There never was day just like
this 30th Of September. Men having
corn coming to them stood waiting
in their doors to grab the certificates
from the boys and clerks who raced
to and from their offices to make de-
liveries and Joined the racers to make
their own deliveries.
The walters in their offices had
watches in their hands noting the
passing of the precious minutes.
Jack Sturgis released his messen-
gers with corn certificates 5000
bushels, 10000 bushels or more as
the contract called for. and started
them on the road to delivery according
TO their schedules, each boy knowing
exactly what he had TO do and the
time limit, and they carried out their
program.
AS the nervous trader grabbed a
certificate or warehouse receipt, ex-
changing certified check therefor,
he rushed out Of the door on the way
back to Jack Sturgis' office, usually
getting under way just as the great
bell Of the Board of Trade tolled 3
o'clock and defeat, and Mr.. Sturgis
had put over the most successful cor
ner in the history of the grain trade.
Called it UncOmmerCial.
Corn plunked down 20 cents a
bushel or about that amount. On the
stroke of the clock Sturgis had little
or no corn left.
Victims howled long and charged
INncommercial conduct, investigation
followed. but nothing happened to re.