Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1904 — GOES OVER A DOLLAR. [ARTICLE]

GOES OVER A DOLLAR.

MAY WHEAT REACHEB A HIGH PRICE IN CHICAGO. Goal Reached Amid Wild Excitement on the Board of Trade—Scene Like That of 1808— Third Highest Record in Last Twenty Years. Dollar wheat is a reaitiy. May wheat reached the dollar mark soon after tho opening of the market on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, nor did it stop there. Amid scenes of the wildest excitement in tlie pit, it advanced steadily until it sold for $1.03% a bushel. The price under heavy selling by large brokers broke to 99% cents. Within five minutes, while shorts clamored for it, it returned to the higher figure again. The market opened at sl. The pit was filled with wildly excited shorts attempting to secure enough of the commodity to fulfill tlrei* contracts. Undtr the wildest sort of bidding the price went up steadily. There was no wheat to be purchased and point by point the price rose. As It reached the $1.01% point there was heavy selling and thousands of bushels changed hands in a minute. _ This record price, -the third highest in the history of grain speculation in Chiengo in the last twenty years, was reached within fifteen minutes after the big gong on the floor of the exchange announced the opening of the day’s business. The dollar mark is the goal to* Ward which May wheat lias been struggling for weeks. Caah Wheat Also Up. During the time in which May wheat was eclipsing its best earlier efforts, cash wheat was not idle, and stimulated by the advance of May the price of No. 2 red winter wheat went to SI.OB a bushel. Simultaneously with the Chicago bulge the price of grain experienced a similar advance throughout the country—from Winnebago, where 99 eenl| was paid for May wheat, to Oklahoma, where wheat for shipment to Europe via Galveston commands a price of sl. The rise in price is partly the cause nnd in part the result of a similar condition in England and on the continent. The conflict in the far East, the bellicose rumors from the Balkans, the fear that the great powers may forsake their pacific attitude and become involved in one or the other of these wars, are all responsible in varying degrees for existing high prices. These conditions are further aggravated by the unsatisfactory reports from the grain producing district* and the fact that Russia has been clearing no grain for several days. In 1891 wheat for May delivery sold at SI.OB and in 1898 Loiter forced the price to $1.85. Corn and oats were affected by the wheat strength, hut iu a less notable degree. ,