4888 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER, 
745 
the next week, the last day of which was the 
day of settlement, the “boys” at length 
realized that “Old Hutch” had them 
“cornered ” On September 28 No. 2 went 
from SI 16 to $1.25 and No. 3 went up to 91c. 
Next day No. 2 jumped up to $1 65, and on 
September 30, it touched $2. Be it remem¬ 
bered that during the entire time when “Old 
Hutch” was cornering “No. 2 September 
wheat,” for the purpose of “bulling the mar¬ 
ket” or raising the price in accordance with 
what he and hundreds of others considered its 
intrinsic value, the bears were selling the 
same grade of wheat “short” for delivery by 
September 30, in the full expectation that be¬ 
fore that date they would be able to buy it at 
a lower figure than that at which they had 
sold it, and all the time they were on the out¬ 
look for any pretext, however unscrupulous, 
caused distress or ruin, have been relieved by 
the increase in price. It has replaced despair 
and distress by hope and relief. It has clothed 
half-naked children from the severities of win¬ 
ter. It has laid up unexpected stores of fuel 
to keep out frosts and blizzards. It has lifted 
mortgages or paid interest on them and de¬ 
ferred or prevented foreclosure. It has made 
of a year of apprehended disaster one of 
comparative prosperity. Nor are the 
good effects of the advance in the price 
of wheat likely to be confined to farmers. 
When farmers are prosperous, every other 
industry thrives proportionately. Money 
goes briskly into circulation. Manufactures 
thrive because there is a demand for their 
wares. Laborers and artisans are relieved 
because they find profitable work. Railroads 
are busy transporting the products of the soil 
Fig. 377. 
grown on a thinner one; nor can I see any 
reason why seeds or plants should be planted 
on a better soil than that in which the s°eds 
or plants themselves were raised, in order to 
reach a full development. But, as I said in 
the outset, there may be an occasional season 
when seeds would ripen up better on a thin 
soil than on a rich one, and in this case only, 
they could have the advantage. 
Des Moines, Iowa, 
“GIVING THE DEVIL HIS DUE.” 
A fair-minded man gives even “ Old Nick” 
his due; why shouldn’t “Old Hutch” have 
his? For years he has been noted both in the 
Chicago and Milwaukee markets as a bold, 
long-headed, shrewd, “nervy” speculator in 
produce. He has lost several fortunes and 
made several. When he lost he neither asked 
nor received much aid or sympathy; when he 
won he has never been boastful nor nearly as 
hard on the “boys” as Armour, Plankington, 
or several other mammoth operators in the 
wheat, corn or pork pits. It is only a few 
years ago that rumor was widespread that he 
had “gone broke” in an attempt to corner 
wheat in company with several other large 
speculators. Well, it is supposed that he 
“dropped” a million or two then into the claws 
of the bears, whereupon wheat dropped to the 
lowest figure it has ever reached in late years; 
but who execrated the bears who had pulled 
down the price of the Northern farmer’s chief 
“money crop” far below its intrinsic value in 
the markets of the world? Did the price of 
bread decrease with the price of wheat 
then? Certainly not. Was here a gen¬ 
eral howl from the press because it 
didn’t? Not a howl; scarcely an occa- 
sonal murmur. An eminent English 
statistical authority on agricultural matters 
estimates that the wheat crop of the United 
States in that same year—1885—was grown at 
a loss of from $80,000,000 to $170,000,000, and 
this loss was suffered by the farmers of the 
country—the hardest-working, most temper¬ 
ate and economical class in the community. 
Yet was there a single voice raised in the pub¬ 
lic press in denunciation of the wholesale rob¬ 
bery of the most deserving of all classes by 
the unscrupulous speculators who unduly de¬ 
pressed the price of their wheat? That year 
the “bears” were nearly uniformly trium¬ 
phant in all our wheat markets. With exul¬ 
tant shouts they dragged and pounded down, 
over and over again, the price of the product, 
in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Fran¬ 
cisco, Minneapolis and other great receiving 
centers. The “bulls” could see that the arti¬ 
cle was often selling below the cost of produc¬ 
tion, but they seldom had auy show when at¬ 
tempting to raise prices. Where were then 
the virtuous howls at gambling in produce 
that now resounded on all sides when the 
other side holds the winning hand. The 
Rural New-Yorker, I remember,more than 
once raised a vigorous protest; but few of 
the other agricultural papers, and none of 
the political papers that came to my no¬ 
tice, had a word to say against the bare¬ 
faced robbery. 
It is now over three months ago 
since “Old Hutch” came to the conclusion 
that wheat was selling a good deal below its 
intrinsic value. In this country there was a 
yery heavy shortage in this year’s crop, and 
the surplus on hand from old crops at the be¬ 
ginning of the cereal year, was unusually 
small. The best authorities declared that 
there was a shortage of several hundred mil¬ 
lion bushels in the aggregate wheat crop of 
the world. As usual, the bears’ policy was to 
throw discredit on all such statements and 
beat down the price of wheat until most of it 
had gone from the producers’ hands into their 
own; then to turn bulls and put up prices, 
putting all the difference into their own 
pockets. “Old Hutch,” however, began to 
buy in wheat even before the present crop 
began to move, and kept steadily buying dur¬ 
ing all the early weeks when it began to move 
to market. Usually as the new crop starts 
for market prices begin to go down, and con¬ 
tinue to descend till most of the crop has 
pas sed from the farmers’ hands; this year,o wing 
mainly to “Old Hutch,’’the reverse was the 
case. It should be borne in mind that the 
only kind of wheat handled for speculation, 
is No. 2, and this was the only kind touched 
by Hutchison. 
From a file of the Rural I see that on 
June 30 last No. 2 spot wheat at Chicago was 
79c. and No. 3 nominal. On July 28, No 2 had 
advanced to 81c. and there was still little or 
no demand for No. 3. About Augut 25th. 
“Old Hutch’s” operations began to influence 
the market, and No. 2 was quoted at 88%c., and 
No . 3 at 83. On September 1, the former 
went to 93%c., and the latter to 85. Wheat 
fluctuated considerably for the next three 
weeks, ranging, on Sept. 22, from 95% for 
No. 2, to 83% for No. 3. Towards the end of 
for lowering prices and bamboozling the 
farmers who had wheat to sell. If they had 
been successsful wheat would have sold at the 
ruinous figures which beggared so many 
farmers in 1885 Many keen observers honest¬ 
ly believe that wheat is really worth upwards 
of $1 25 per bushel. After the close of the 
corner, prices naturally tumbled, so that on 
October 6, No. 2 was only $1.09% and No. 3 
98c. On October 13, however, prices had 
again mounted to $1.14 for No. 2, and 99c for 
No. 3 , and to-day—October 30—quotations in 
Chicago are $1.17% for No. 2. 
To prevent the taking up of too much room, 
I have given quotations only for “spot” or 
“cash” wheat; that is, for wheat deliverable 
at once. Putting the present price of this 
non-3peculative kind at, say, $1.17, it has 
gone up 38 cents a bushel in Chicago since 
June 30 and^28% cents since August 25. 
There is little doubt that even it there was no 
“corner,” wheat would have steadily risen in 
price; but it would have done this so slowly 
that the farmers of the country would have 
gained comparatively little by the rise. As 
the case stands, the advance in the price of 
the product just at the time it occurred, has 
put many millions of extra dollars into the 
pockets of the farming community, especially 
in the West and Northwest. Thousands who 
have been struggling bravely but almost 
hopelessly along during the late years of de¬ 
pression in wheat, and who would have been 
inevitably ruined had prices this year been 
low, have been saved by the timely advance. 
Thousands whose decreased yield would have 
and of the workshop. Should the other pro¬ 
ducts of the farm bring remunerative figures, 
a prosperous season for all classes is before us. 
The advance in the price of wheat-bread is 
not general, and is at most a mere trifle. The 
outlay for bread is a comparatively small item 
in any family. Three years ago wheat was 
down so low that farmers lost by its produc¬ 
tion; now it is up to its intrinsic value in the 
markets of the world, and farmers are mak¬ 
ing a fair profit from it. “Old Hutch's” man¬ 
ipulations of the market were doubtless sel¬ 
fish; but they have accomplished an excellent 
result for the largest and most deserving in¬ 
dustry in the country: and why should far¬ 
mers revile the old speculator who merely 
succeeded where hundreds of his loudest 
denouncers have failed ? Why clamor so 
vociferously when the farmers’ products go 
up to their legitimate value, and remain so 
mum when they are dragged down far below 
their real worth? 
I feel no inclination whatever to canonize 
“Old Hutch,” but the farming cummunity at 
least should give the old man his due. 
To sum up: the late Chicago corner in wheat 
was a struggle between the “bulls” and the 
“bears,” the former trying to raise prices, the 
latter to depress them. For the last nine 
years, in similar contests, the bears have been 
nearly always successful, and little or no 
clamor was made at their victory: now, for 
once, the bulls have 'triumphed, and the wel 
kin rings with indignant uproar. Had the 
bears won, the bread-eaters would have been 
the gainers; while the victory of the bulls 
makes the bread-producers the winners. For 
the last nine years the case has been generally 
the reverse; but surely “turn about is fair 
play.” The fact that the price of wheat 
a month after the c’ose of the corner, persis¬ 
tently remains nearly 50 per cent, above its 
price at the opening of the ‘ deal,” and that 
all grades of wheat went up and have stayed 
up with the cornered grade, is a strong indi¬ 
cation that wheat now is really worth about 
50 per cent, more than its price in June last. 
It is really this fact much more than the 
conduct of Mr. Hutchison, which has raised 
the price of wheat, flour and bread. The old 
man perceived the true state of the case be¬ 
fore, others had done so, and in helping him¬ 
self to a profit by his foresight, he helped the 
wheat raisers of the country also at a very 
timely moment. Just before the end, he 
warned his opponents of what would occur, 
thus enabling them to settle up at a moderate 
figure, and after the close of the corner he 
was unusually “easy” with those who persis¬ 
ted to the last in opposition, as is proved by 
the fact that there were much less bank¬ 
ruptcy and ruin among the losers in this 
“deal than among those in any previous one 
of equal size. Yts, farmers, at least, the 
greatest beneficiaries of “Hutch’s” corner, 
should give the old man his due. w. L. H. J 
George Frederick Parker, “Gentleman 
George,” whose picture is No. 1,729 in the 
Rogues’ Gallery at Police Headquarters in 
this city, and who gained much notoriety as 
the founder of the “ British-American Claim 
Agency” in this city two years ago, is at his 
old tricks again. This time he is operating 
from Brooklyn under the name of the “In¬ 
ternational Claim Agency.” Of late several 
papers have contained an advertisement of 
the concern a column in length under the 
heading: “$480,000,000 awaiting claimants. 
Enormous fortunes lie buried in the Court 
of Chancery, Bank of England, France, 
Germany and other countries amounting to 
over $480,000,000, a great part of which be¬ 
longs to the people of America, including all 
classes of the community.” Then it is alleged 
that the “Chancery Paymaster will gladly 
pay the money to the rightful owners” if they 
will only put in their claims. Then a book 
said to contain the names of 50,000 people to 
whom this vast wealth belongs is offered for 
$1. In the book only surnames are given, 
and in most instances a number follows each, 
as “Smith 980,” indicating that there are 980 
families named Smith who are entitled to 
money in various countries of Europe. Each 
page bears a line stating that full informa¬ 
tion regarding any name in the list will be 
given for from $2 to $10. Claims will be also 
prosecuted for round sums paid always in ad 
vance. Of course, all the allegations re¬ 
lating to the vast sums awaiting claimants 
in the English Court of Chancery, the 
Bank of England, and in various European 
countries are absolutely false. It has been 
more than onee officially stated in Parliament 
that no such deposits exist in Chancery or in the 
Bank, and our Ministers in London, the Hag¬ 
ue, Berlin and several other European capitals 
have officially reported to the Department of 
State at Washington, that all such allega 
tions are false. They are made for fraudu¬ 
lent purposes by a lot of rascals who seek to 
obtain money from credulous people who 
imagine they can obtain vast fortunes in 
Europe This Parker, as president of the 
bogus British-American Claim Agency, was 
arrested on March 4, 1887, for obtaining 
money under false pretences, mainly through 
the presistent denunciations and exposure 
of the swindle by the Rural New-Yorker. 
During the trial it was revealed that he had 
served two terms in the State prison for lar¬ 
ceny and it was also reported that he had a 
criminal record in Canada. After remaining in 
the Tombs here till March 25, he was acquitted 
owing to the difficulty of proving the charges 
against him, chiefly because mostot his victims 
lived at a distance, and would not go to the 
expense of coming here to prosecute him. He 
made several thousand dollars out of his 
former dupes, and doubtless he now expect* 
to be equally fortunate. 
The gullible public—farmers to a great ex¬ 
tent—have just paid $200,000 or thereabouts 
for a lesson taught them by William A. In¬ 
gham of this city. It is now about two years 
since this fellow started the “blind pool” 
called the “Speculative Syndicate” on lower 
Broadway. He advertised very liberally by 
*12 
DEVICE FOR WASHING APPLE SEEDS FROM POMACE. Fig. 378. 
