252 THE BOOK OP WHEAT 



million, that seemed excessive. 1 It was the same old story of 

 the supply at the increased price being underestimated. 



The difficulties of running a corner increased with the world's 

 production of wheat. Not only did it require more capital on 

 account of the greater supply of wheat, but there were always 

 many sources from which wheat unexpectedly poured into the 

 market and broke the price. In the eighties, India wheat be- 

 came a factor in defeating corners in the Chicago and San 

 Francisco markets. As the operations of the bull clique in- 

 crease in magnitude they cannot be concealed, and "the shorts 

 become extremely wary about getting in too deep." Traders 

 as a class had a pronounced aversion to corners, ' ' for they broke 

 people, unsettled values, and made the pit as dangerous as a 

 powder mine." By 1878, many of those who were best quali- 

 fied to know did not believe that it was still possible to run a 

 successful corner. 



In spite of all these opinions, however, in spite of the gigantic 

 magnitude and numerous difficulties of the task, it remained 

 for a young man with great command of capital, with amazing 

 audacity, with unlimited self-confidence, with an unusual capac- 

 ity for appreciating and comprehending extensive business sit- 

 uations, and with a prodigious recklessness, to show that even 

 under conditions existing at the end of the nineteenth century, 

 not only is a successful speculative corner possible, but also a 

 corner in actual wheat. 2 Joseph Leiter appeared in 1897, and 

 his operations extended over about a year before they closed in 

 June, 1898. He began with the strongest position ever held in 

 the wheat trade, for the world's wheat crop in 1897 was less 

 than that of 1894 by over 400,000,000 bushels, and less than that 

 of 1895 by over 300,000,000 bushels, while the production of 

 Europe was over 200,000,000 bushels less in 1897 than in 1896. 

 The United States was practically the only country that had a 

 large surplus for export. Leiter 's plan was to control this sur- 

 plus, and make Europe pay his price for it. With this end in 

 view, he sent an army of purchasers into the Northwest, "con- 

 tracted for vast storage space, chartered miles of cars and a 



1 Hutchinson, N. Amer. Rev., 153:416-7. 



2 For verifying the correctness of this account of the Leiter 

 corner and for furnishing important statistics used in the account, 

 the writer is indebted to Mr. Joseph Leiter, who ran the corner. 



