Yeah, I think it's just because it was actually like feasible for somebody at the time to buy all the onions in Chicago. Most commodity markets are too big for any one actor to do that, especially now that commodity markets are often global. You can't just like, buy every barrel of oil on earth. Too many.
Plus onions can be warehoused for several months (a year in the right conditions maybe?) so they won't spoil while you're executing your devious scheme.
Yeah, I think it's just because it was actually like feasible for somebody at the time to buy all the onions in Chicago. Most commodity markets are too big for any one actor to do that, especially now that commodity markets are often global. You can't just like, buy every barrel of oil on earth. Too many.
Plus onions can be warehoused for several months (a year in the right conditions maybe?) so they won't spoil while you're executing your devious scheme.