The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-05
THE VAR WALL STREET.

The Schemes and Counter-schemes OF
the Great Bull and Bear Cliques Un-
masked.
The New York World says: "How the great
bull clique, who got possession Of from ten to
fifteen millions of gold last summer, entangled
the great bear clique into the enormous
short transactions which eliminated on Fri
day, and how the great bear clique, in the
midst of their dilemma, secured the interfer-
ence of the Secretary of the United States
Treasury, so that the inflated price of the gold
in the bulls possession came tumbling down
about their heads, are problems, the eXplana-
ton OF which, in a concise and homely way,
will clear the minds Of men all over the
country.
1t required enormous capital to purchase
this sum of gold, and O low prevailing price to
make the pVSchase worth while. Both these
conditions existed. The bull clique had an
enormous capital to operate with, and the bear
clique had so broken down the gol6markct
that the bull ring, watching their chances, sue
ceeded in buying ten or twelve millions at l35
and under.
Another condition, precedent to the success
of the bull purchase, and absolutely essential
to the success Of the bull scheme after the pur-
chase, was the secrecy of the purchase, and
twelve millions of gold was being bought into
the possession Of this clique OF bulls.
If readers will pay attention, they may per-
haps be made to understand how the thing was
done.
1t must first be remembered that the bull
clique was formed ofseveralfirms,a and members
of firms, accustomed, and known throughout the
banking and speculative community to be ac,
customed to large transactions in gold and
securities.
The names of the men in the bull clique are
already pretty we'll known. The names Of the
men In the bear clique (without the existence
of which clique the band Of bulls could not
on Wall street, but have not got into the Radi-
cal newspapers 1t is sufficient for the pur-
noses of this explanation to understand that
both cliuues consisted of some Of the richest
bankers, brokers and spectators in the
metropolis.
The bears having entered the market first,
the object of the bulls was to corner" them,
and all other dealers in gold. The first step OF
the bulls was, therefore, to get possession and
control Of the major quantity of gold in the
market As the average total quantities OF
rold IN New York-in the sub-treasury, in the
banks and subject to the drafts of individuals
rarely exceeds twenty millions Of dollars, and
as GOOD deal of that amount belongs to the
government, or is held by parties outside OF
the field of speculation, any ring which can
obtain the control of soy from ten 10 thirteen
millions. is of course enabled to dictate the
price of gold at the Gold Room and on the
street.
Next 1t must be remembered that purchases
of gold at the gold board, OF government Sc
curities at the National Stock Exchange, and
of railway and other shares ut the New YORK
Stock Exchange, are very rarely, IN TACT almost
never, made by members of the great banking
and speculative firms, or by persons who are
publicly known to represent them.. 1t often
happens thatra single house has need on GER
tain (iay of a million or two millions of gold
or securities. If 1t should send its known agent
into the market 10 make that purchase, all
holders of the gold or securities demanded
would instantly become aware OF the firms ne
cessity, and would inevitably band together to
raise The price. So the great firm having the
million or the two millions to buy, adopts the
customary method of sell-defence. 1t sends
out through its confidential clerks directions
to q half q dozen, or dozen, different brokers
to buy each hundred thousand, or two
hundred and fifty thousand, as the case
may be. The brokers, with these orders In
their pockets, proceed to the Cold Room or
purchases Every broker las in honor bound)
keeps the secret Of who he is buying for. NO
one broker knows that another broker, who
NAV be standing by his side, holds commits
sion, similar to his, from the same principal
for whom he is negotiating. No broker pres
ent, employed by other principals 10 sell tne
gold or securities asked for, knows to Whom
he is selling: The brokers are tnus tne go
betwcens of the great spectators on either
side; and it is only by sharply watching the
offers and bids that the selling brokers may
possibly ascertain or suspect that an unusual
demand is being made for gold or the securi-
ties in their trust-a suspicion that induces
them instantly to raise the price.
As this method Of procedure Is habituallyy
adopted by single firms in the region OF Wai,
street. It was equally practicable with the 0anu
of firms and members of firms who had secretly
formed themselves into the great bull clique.
Day after day and week after week this rlcn
coalition of bull operators proceedcd-Dy
changing their brokers so as to blind even
those mole-eyed beings to the colossal Jo1
that was being put up against the pears anu
the whole specializing and business cominu, u,
nity-to gather in and lock up the vast noaru
of gold which they finally accumulated.
This was done so quietly, SO deXterously,
and with SO little effect upon the gold marker
at large. that scarcely suspicion OF the trutii
was whispered. . -,
Meanwhile this clique Oh pears kept on d
TIL The game NE Of the bears was that OF selling
&c Let readers again attend while we attempt l,t
to explain, for the COMPREHENSION OF minus os
outside of Wall street, what tne process VI
selling short' was in those days. .o,.,,
The bear clique-more than equal IN NV Weal.t1 saa !
to the bull clique of whose existence 5hey yy tSa ha
not the slightest knowledgdnsageu as sav arm ir at
Eay Ts5 T5e Se bears sS through ther brokers sold
respectively, hundred thousand s1a or tnfes three
hundred thousand dollars; goia, 10 oG Pdr.,v nexf
day 7 at noon Tor I34-l per cent. below the
To the inexperienced mind, this agreeemen1d1 e 1.a1d
of the bears 10 deliver such an amount oa gTta
at one per cent. below Its current marke' rss;
value must, at first thought, seem inexpresssl, 81
it is considered that, at the time when the II,
bears entered into the agreement, no oTe Tsot "
| ,b,,,, bod ony ,yold in his POSSESSION! 1naI,