254 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



market factors were bullish. The Spanish-American war could 

 not have come more opportunely if it had been contrived for 

 the deal. Europe now desired to purchase its wheat at once, 

 for a grave vision of Spanish men-of-war cutting off American 

 wheat shipments arose. The French import duties of 36 cents 

 per bushel were suspended. Other countries suspended similar 

 duties. Anticipations of bearish crop news were not fulfilled. 

 These conditions were most favorable for the exportation of 

 wheat, and Leiter took every advantage of them. He seemed 

 to have a monopoly of the wheat business. How profitable a 

 business it was, however, is not known, for many claims were 

 made that he was paying freight charges and granting large dis- 

 counts on export wheat. That the demand was not purely spec- 

 ulative is shown by the fact that low grades of wheat were 

 bought heavily. Leiter 's profits were figured far into the mil- 

 lions by the newspapers, and the pluck and coolness with which 

 he had carried through the great deal largely won for him the 

 admiration of the American public, in spite of the prejudice 

 against speculation. He continued operations by selling off his 

 May wheat and buying about all the cash wheat that came into 

 the market. His further purchases may have been necessary 

 in order to maintain prices, but it was a widely prevalent opin- 

 ion that he courted the inevitable by not furling sail. 



It is claimed that at one time in his wheat corner Leiter had 

 $5,000;000 profits, but in the end he lost this and millions more. 

 Wheat bought by him as low as 64% cents per bushel sold at 

 $1.85. At one period he controlled 35,000,000 bushels of cash 

 wheat and over 140,000,000 bushels under options. He ex- 

 ported and sold 25,000,000 bushels during the course of his 

 famous deal. He was carrying about 15,000,000 bushels of 

 cash wheat in the Northwest and in the course of transporta- 

 tion to Europe on June 13, 1898, when the tremendous load be- 

 came too .heavy to carry, and his deal ended. 



The details of his manipulations cannot be known. He 

 doubtless lost a fortune, and he completely disorganized the 

 wheat business for 10 months. It is claimed that " Leiter ? s 

 gambling in human food" caused a great rise in the price of 

 bread in England and on the Continent, and that it brought 

 about riots and bloodshed in Italy. While the operations of 

 Leiter undoubtedly had a marked influence on the price of 



