THE AMERICAN WHEAT RINGWILL IT BREAK?

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1276, 10 May 1880, Page 2

THE AMERICAN WHEAT RINGWILL IT BREAK?

The World, writing on this subjeot, says :—The realisation of the pleasant anticipations of the market, however, may be interrupted by other, besides politioal, influences. For example, the sudden break of the Wheat Ring at Chicago, or rather of the unscrupulous speculators who have been trying tQ create a gigantic food monopoly in order to profit by artificially high prices, would not be without considerable effect. There are in this American ring a gang of lead' ing stock speculators; and if they wqtq to collapse in one department, their Col* lapse would extend it* influenoe here. There need be n« pity for the adventurers who have been trying to bring about an artificial grain famine in Europe by withholding from the market the produce of the United States, if they should burst, They are vulgar gamblers of the woyat. type. It was their threat to starve Europe by keeping §Q,OOQ,OQQ charter* of whetvt that have flowed thither in thg natuyal e°Mrߧ stored up in America. But their avarice has overleaped itself, Prices have not gone V\p as they counted, The price of red wheat at Now York advanced to 1 dollar and 58 centa in December ; but it declined in January tq 1 dollar and 46 cents, and in February the price was about the same. It is now certain to go lower; and the members of the ring will be forced to sell their hoarded stores at whatever they can get, in wdoP to meet the bills now with proceeds of which the. ?ing~ has Wen financed.. Spflng a fliontn earlier than usual in this year \ and in tha earliest <Sf the States it will be possible to estimate the probable supply of new wheat within three months from date. Anyhow there is no chance now of prices going higher; and the expenses connected with keeping the wheat, including storage, insurance, interest, so. ? will not bie >ftuol\ less than §Q cents per- b,us.hei. The grain must therefore bp fought tp, market, and | is now beginning to arrive ; and the apeon* lators who meant to make enormous fortunes out of starving Europe will find they are ruined men, for the losses of the ring must enormous. If they are (as we suppose) tfie same speculators who been inflating the stock and ijhare in_ America, the . will o*i t)\a other, and the eflfect will be, disturbing horo as well for a time.