Show r + w r a Ma r I ir i I t AMUEL PIERCE JJ A l ll I H1CAOO board of trade gossips declare that Mrs James Patten C wife of the man who BO sttccOeH fully cornered May wheat and wns declared to be engineering a inoo meat in July grain caused the cereal king to let go the market and allow It to break because she could not conscluntloiiRly let her husband boos tho staff of life outside time reach of thousands of poor people So plain Jim Iattcu went to Now Mexico Mex-ico for u rest ho wild and to getaway get-away from you Infcrnul lepottora The moimicli of the chief grain pit I stayed In New Mexico for a long time I I Ho Bald ho wanted rout and to all np pcaianrus ho got It for ho luturnod to mho strife In Chicago with n bronzed akin dear eye und with the Patten Btiillo which IH the market index on the Chicago boaid of trade lie was cheerful to his associates but to the reportcis no He I I Buenied lo have iiken a dlsllko to them despite the I j 7 i US AL 9 M i1 1 l a l t1 r u n t t r m VPy3C I11i11D ltn 1 ob l K m t b I flrI r r I f vf I A m If I 1 I J j i u i A dAMf eS A PATTFrt of tho last years crop than there were In tho h previous year Allowing r Allow-ing 5000000 bushels for the extra Increase In consumption there are still 45000000 I bushels unaccounted for The miestlon IR l y j ° ° n e w v Q j I tar 1 5 rax L Rc9 n ii 1 fst r t t I j a y a I I I I t > I r f I I I i I I I D c t ems ° HARVC T CEYe 11 LAsTCRlY RUss1A j aV i + r p asked where Is this enormous I q t kk > 9 J y + 1 Illv enorm-ous amount of grain Mr I i t Patten declares It does not t t t exist Tho consumer shakes t i a t his head and says Another I j k t rt t A ° f corner In wheat s 7 4 Millers had bid lAO per I I I 1 i i s rk + 4 f ii > iy > 34 t bushel for wheat Not since I p war days a half century ago I was wheat higher In the i I < s r b s r r I 3 tIL cA r capital city The majority i 4 m a 3e of the dealers had no recollection I I aR f recol-lection of the price ever beIng r p x r K ° x Ing any higher and declare t 4 t Y i that 140 was the record 3 i I a ° Y price There was a scarcity 1 of milling grain but the 140 ° r p offering failed to bring out t 4 4 + ua much wheat Farmers who I d 7 ors 4 ° t l had not sold stood pat asking It l 44 ask-ing 150 for a part of heir T k 4 S + ti 1 holdings It was a curious N ec R I tSCEtft ArC t t coincidence however that I K 4fr ° ° fwa4 4a m w 5 since wheat reached Its high 1fir S v I i 1HE a A t r point there was comparatively i NEAT to = r r + N J la comparative-ly little to be had which em I I WHf1 at 4 phasUed the corner point pIT J p t t e There have been a few i1 rj < corners In wheat In 1905 f i a crowd of Chicago birlls with Joseph Loiter at tho v head cornered the supply for a time and ran the price up to 124 in February In fact that hitherto ho had exhibited a fondness for newspaper men r Then May wheat dropped Hut with tho return I re-turn of Mr Patton the July edition of the i grain began to soar and tho word went out I that tho corner was on In that months grain i 4 I the May delivery having been effected I Think of putting an average of 2000000 < I into the bank each day while tho Patten linn I i was closing out Its May wheat That Is what I r Jim Patten did and before newspaper reporters i report-ers became too pernicious In their activities t he would occasionally talk about It In fact I he seemed to like to talk Hut when the great I f city dallies began to Jump upon him editorially I I editor-ially und when Secretary of Agriculture Wil ton declared that there was no reason why f May wheat should sell at 130 per bushel because t f I be-cause there was lots In time country plain Jim Patten got mad Thereafter he talked but b only in monosyllables a Before adopting the sphinx attitude he gave tho writer a long Interview the glut of which Is ax timely to day as the day he gave It out It follows t Im only a farmer rube I dont know anything any-thing but wheat but man I tell you I know wheat from the start Corner the market Not There Is not a man alive who can corner 1 wheat I tell you It is an Impossibility The l Idea that my movement In grain dent prices up Id absurd The price of grain as In everything I every-thing elseyou know It as well as I dpIs gauged according to the law of supply and demand de-mand The reason wheat went higher than ever before It I simply because the country Is I short on wheat The United States bureau of agriculture says there Is plenty of wheat Well they dont know the conditions My correspondents cor-respondents throughout the country are trained men who get right down to earth when they seek Information Postmasters and a farmer here and there comprise the staff of Secretary Wilsons forecasters The high price of wheat had little effect on bread rates Bread would have been high anyway because there wasnt enough wheat Lots of that price Increase probably went Into dealers pockets anyhow But once for all let me tell you no living man can corner wheat When till careful housewife was figuring up tho cost of the grocery hill and she pointed out to her husband during their discussion of household economics the Item 24pound bag of lour 90 cents ho bald What Hour has gone up Yes thats what the grocer Bald fatten has cornered tho wheat market and bread costs more Then the housewife wanted to know more of wheat corners and how It was done Probably no bulge In wheat ever affected all classes of peoplo more than the one said to be engineered by James A Patten the Chicago Chi-cago speculator Mr I Patten and Ills followers say tho hltua tlon puts the stamp of denial on tho assertion that thero Is a corner In tho grain They say that tho real wheat Is scarce that the world Is short millions of buBhols compared with normal that It has been short fat practically prac-tically two seasons and will be short for au other year however government experts have taken issue with the assertion that thereIn there-In a world shortage or In truth a shortage In the United States One authority says that there wore virtually 50000000 moro bushels of wheat at the close August that same year the low price was 77 cents In 1904 the high price was 122 during the months of September Septem-ber October and December In January of the same year the low price reached was 811A cents In 180S another crowd of hulls made a corner cor-ner and ran the price up to 183 In the month of May 1 In Oceober of the same year the low price was 62 cents rime highest price ever recorded on the Chicago board of trade was in 1869 when tho price reached 247 In tho month of August In December the same year the low point was 70Vi cents The next highest price was 220 paid In July 1868 The cheapest wheat that year was 1 04 and there was no corner In September 1888 the high price was 2 and tho low price 71 r4 cents In the month of April The lowest price ever reached on the Chicago board was GO cents In September 1891 During the corners engineered by Leiter Old Hutch and other Chicago speculators prices never held nt the high points but a short time and tho corners usually foll of their own speculative weight Tho Patted corner tottered several times but with boundless nerve and with millions behind him Patten has always stemmed tho tide of the engulfing market by buying everything dumped on tho market with such an abandon that tho timid hears were forced to cover and fall In line with the bulls In cornering any kind of grain the operators must have a sure knowledge of economic conditions con-ditions or at least a simulated knowledge before they begin operations After once starting the huge speculative ball to rolling It Is an easy matter to keep It going provided one has money and nerve enough for the grain world like frightened sheep always fallows Its leader until tired out Figures compiled by statisticians showed the worlds wheat crop as follows For 1 1907 there were iOC2120000 bushels raised for IDOC 3411400000 bushels for lOOi 3249700 000 for 1904 IJlU120000 bushels Of these amounts the Lnlted States grew tho following 1907 fi3U > 00000 bushels ISOfi 735000000 bushels 190 69300000 bushels 1904 652 1 000000 bushels I I Jim Patten doesnt care for money lie likes to make It but he sheds no tears when ho I I loses Thats one reason why he wears a 25 suit and tells funny stories It Is not so many years ago that he was j I plowing on the old homo farm at Sandwich 111 Thats what makes him such u forceful I figure In the pit he knows the same Intimately i i Intimate-ly from the growing of the crops to the shipping ship-ping marketing and manipulation Later ho tended store and then made a quick grab I at an education studying at Northwestern University Uni-versity In Evanston I the classic Chicago suburb sub-urb which Is now his home He didnt stay long plunging after a year or so Into the hurlyburly of tho board of trade I Up and down in his meteoric career succeeding suc-ceeding and falling he has always bobbed up I with the hearty laugh and merry joke God didnt make man for tears Is his motto If youre sad Its your own fault Riches are only a toy If you lose them find another one The only good in life Is to bo happy Hiding now on the top wave of success he Ib hailed In Chicago as the legitimate successor succes-sor of Old Hutch Partridge Gates Armour Leiter and the other giants of the pit who swung those tremendous deals that In years j gone by were the wonder of the world The characteristics of Patten therefore are now being noted In great detail The other day tho Chicago pit was in a frenzy I A wild shrieking moss of men surged over j every Inch of tho long quadrangle The din as the jangled chorus rose up from the mob struggling for foothold echoed far down La I Salle street To tho packed galleries of spectators the SCene was like an Immense I gridiron where n hundred football teams were simultaneously trying to buck the center Hour after hour the pandemonium Increased I live 125 for wheat a bellow could be heard above the uproar hut no answering voice or raised hand come In answer Only more din Give 126 for 1000000 bushels The hoarse cry only fed tho lame of frenzy and successive succes-sive bids of 1264 127 and 128 seemed but to Increase the fury of every broker on the floor In tho despairing effort to buy Finally toward the closing hour as the anx iety of the shorts grew greater a disheveled broker raised himself up out of the fighting mob and waving his clenched list yelled One twentynine Thero was stillness for tho one Instant it took tho clamoring seekers of grain to realize what that meant then In greater volume ascended the roar as from ono end of the room to the other came the chorus Ono twentynine one twentynine But It beat futilely against the gray walls rho market In wheat was appaiently cornered Outside In the rotunda a heavyset twinkling eyed mnn sat In a chair tilted hack against a column beside the fruit stand of Apple Mary calmly and Joyously sucking an orange Curious ones from tho galleries filtered down to gaze nt him from a dust ace while excited brokers rushed out to tell him of the soarlni prices It was he new King of the Pit |