Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — WHEAT GOES SOARING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHEAT GOES SOARING

GREAT TUMULT ON THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE. All the Brokers Wild with Excitement and Fighting for July Options -Price Goes to 82 Cents While 250,000,009 Bushels Are Bought. Record in Trading Smashed. July wheat shot np to 82 cents Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade. As it ro9e and soared a thousand hands of yelling brokers were stretched to bring it back to earth. It was a long and exciting struggle, but just before the close of the session the furor quieted, the price fluttered awhile and then dropped to 78%, or 1% cents above the closing quotation of Wednesday. But while the wheat was going up and coming down, the Chicago Board of Trade experienced the greatest day in its history. There may have been as much excitement on previous occasions, when big corners were run, but at no time was there such an amount of business transacted, and when the closing gong sounded the brokers dropped their arms, and were glad to escape to their offices. Over 250,000,000 bushels of wheat, it was estimated, were traded in. Margins were called for and put up with astonishing swiftness. The marble steps leading to the banks which do a margin business were blackened with the footprints of messenger boys, who carried checks and notices to and from the banks. At least $1,000,000 in margins was deposited. During the great swirl John C. Schwartz, an erstwhile plunger, was blown out of the market like a bit of chaff. The tremendous boom went on. Everybody was buying, and most of all the farmers. „The failure of Schwartz was an incident; the feature was the farmer.

For several weeks now the farmer has persisted in buying wheat. He has calculated the damage done to the crops by the flies and chinch bugs at home, and, migrating to Chicago, he has taken from professional traders what they have been winning from him during the last three years. There were 500 of these farmers Thursday swarming about the Board of Trade. And they continued to buy wheat. The paralyzing feature -'f the market occurred at the opening. Wheat sold Tuesday at 71%. It closed Wednesday at 77%. But Thursday morning the first deals made were at 80 and 81 a bushel, a clear jump of 3%. When the gong sounded at 9:30 o’clock the wheat pit was filled with 400 nervous brokers, who were waiting for tlie .battle to begin. Before the sound had died away every man had his hands in the air, and was shouting like a demon. The noise rose as a babel of sound. Anticipating a lively session, the galleries were packed. Five hundred women were in one, and as many men in another. They leaned over the railing in their eagerness to watch the pandemonium in the pit below. The excitement was so intense that the other pits were almost neglected. At least 1,500 members were on the floor, and their attention was centered in the wheat pit. While the struggle was on a small army of messenger boys was chasing in and out of the building. The 125 telegraph operators on the floor were crowded to death. Every little town in the country wanted to get into direct communication with the board. The price went up to 82. That seemed to cap the climax. About ten minutes before the close every broker seemed to think it was a good time to take profits and began selling. Within three minutes the price dropped from 81% to 78%. It rallied slightly, and closed for the day at 78%. It was a great day. All told a conservative estimate of the business transacted amounted to a quarter of a billion bushels. This is the liveliest market the board has experienced since 1891, when within two months wheat rose from 87'to $1.15 a bushel. The present rise has been under way since last April. In February wheat sold at 52 cents, May 13 it was at 64 cents. Thursday it was nearly 18 cents over that price. Excitement in New York.

In New York the excitement at the opening of the wheat market Thursday exceeded anything seen in the present advance. It was a wild tumult of buying with almost a total disregard of price, so that July opened from 83 to 8314 cents at the same moment. This represented a rise of 3 to 3% cents from the official close of Wednesday. After jumping up to 83% cents, prices lost a cent, and then swung back again, advancing to 84% cents. Transactions went far above any day yet, amounting to 18,000,000 bushels before noon. Most of this great business was done during the first hour. The excitement at the opening was intensified by the reported covering of a big Chicago short. The bulls are killing the erdp off as fast as possible. In the districts west, where wheat has escaped the ravages of chinch bugs, flies and army worms and the blight of frost, the bulls are talking drouth and the bears seem too far gone to set up any opposition.

SENE IN THE WHEAT PIT WHEN THE MARKET WAS AT ITS HEIGHT.