CORPORATE FACTORS IN PROGRESS 391 



soon Mr. Gates and his friends had had to pay for three million 

 bushels of corn. But all the time they were putting on a bold 

 front in the "grain pit" and successfully bluffing the bears. 

 The price of the corn ran up from 60 to 90 cents per bushel, 

 and predictions of dollar corn were being joyfully made in 

 the pit. But farmers and other holders did not wait for the 

 dollar. From 70 cents upwards they sent in every bushel 

 they could muster, and Mr. Gates saw that if he was not to 

 get his full twenty million bushels he would get an inconven- 

 iently large portion of it. So he called a halt and came to 

 terms with the shorts. 



How the two sets of plungers arranged their "draw" is 

 of no public interest, still less which of them had the best of it. 

 But it is of public importance that immediately the end of 

 the corner was announced corn dropped back from 80 cents 

 to about 65 cents a bushel. A rise of 25 cents per bushel, en- 

 gineered in a few weeks, ended appropriately in a fall of 15 

 cents in as many hours. For the farmers who were sharp 

 enough to sell on the rise the corner was a stroke of luck, but 

 for traders who were frightened into buying on the rise by 

 the alarm of an impending corner it was the reverse. To 

 the legitimate grain market it was a demoralizing evil, and 

 for American finance it is an obvious misfortune that men like 

 Mr. Gates, capable of imperilling a whole community for the 

 sake of a few million dollars profit, should be recognized 

 financial leaders. Twice within a year he brought the coun- 

 try to the brink of a panic — first by his Louisville rig and next 

 by his corn corner. On both occasions he had to be called off 

 at the last moment in order to avert a catastrophe, but he will 

 often be heard of again at the same game. 



The more respect one feels for institutions like the stock 

 and produce exchanges of the United States in their legiti- 

 mate sphere, the more he will regret the flagrant abuse that 

 is frequently made of the facilities they offer for useful and 

 even indispensable classes of business. The more liberal 

 his views as to American methods of speculation in grain and 

 stocks, the stronger will be his criticism of operations which 

 go far beyond the widest limit of financial ethics. Markets lia- 

 ble to be upset by "squeezes" and corners of the Gates type 

 are not in a fair way to be accepted as international models. 



