The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1870-05-27


huying of stocks, under fair mercantile
conditions, is perfectly legitimate and
regulated by rules of finance, which in
the long run brings the holder Oui
"whole" or with a profit, operations
on the short side2 are always nearly
akin to gambling, in which the " bank
has q percentage in its favor, and on
| the doctrine of chances is at least the
winner against the gamester who bets
| his money on the cards. If A con-
tracts to deliver 100 shares of a certain
stock in thirty days, and if 3 has the
whole of the stock in his hands, how
can A close his contract without pay
! ing B his price? A history of the lead
ing bears of Wall street, for the past
twenty-five years, illustrates our prop
OsitiOn. Two examples will "pOint our
moral,n if not "adOrn our tale,n viz /:
Daniel Drew and Jacob Little.
The losses which the former has sus-
tianed on the short side during the past
seven or eight years, have been esti-
mated at near, if not quite, S5,00O,O0O.
1t would not be an exaggeratiOn to say
that if he had operated on the long side
with the same boldness, craft and re-
sources which he has used i'm his short
operations, he would have now been
possessed of a fortune Drc ehing in
aptitude to that of his great rival,
Vanderbilt, who never goes shOrtsOf
stocks. No doubt Drew has OCCASION
ally made a great hit, as for inSance
in the winter of 1867, during the Erie
break; but his successes in this line
have rather served to diminish the
grand total of his losses than to build
up fortune on the piOus column. The
traps which have been set for him
would be the death of man of smaller
means and less resolution. But Dan
iel always makes terms if wOTsted, and
uses diplomacy as skillfully as he
wields that large hammer of his with
which he knocks down the price of
stocks.
The closing years of Jacob Little con-
vey to all who would sell stocks short,
a still more instructive lesson.
Still clinging to the objects of a pur-
suit which was to him a passion, his
face bearing the marks of the fierce
struggles of his life, broken, wierd
looking old man, he haunted the board
room like spectre, where he had once
reigned as a king, offering small lots
of five shares of the same stock the
whole capital whereof he had once con-
trolled. Where, then, were the piled
millions which that cunning hand and
scheming brain had rolled up? Where
the prestige of his victories ON 'Change?
Gone, scattered, lost. Poor and unnO-
ed, he passed away from the scene,
see5d left nothing behind him but the
shadow of what was once a great Wall
street reputation.
s'NIen and women of America who,
making haste to be rich and taking evil
counsel, would enter Wall street, and
put your money on the hazard of die,
= E,T
fruit of a dearly-bOught experience.
Buy only on the amplest margins.
Be an occasional and not u constant
operator.
Gut short your losses and let your
profits run.
Never sell what Ot got.
= ~ DANIEL DREW.
Drew appears under variety of
g the Old Man, y /" Uncle Dams
RUrsa NIajor,'' the specula-
=. the Old Bear,b ETC.;
the designations he
Well, too, does he de-
of the " Merry Old gem
20 Jstreet. In his most
IS, he never seems to
g fun of the thing"
Gus moods are easily brOk
y
ythen he gives vent, every now and
then, to short laughs which sound like
the cackle of hen-thrOwn suddenly
lOff from her propTiety. He loves to
rally, the boys" (as he is wont pater-
nally to call his younger speculative
acquaintances), on the losses, or jest
with them over their gains on Occas-
ions when, as he would say, they have
Z" taken a slice out 'em." 1t is "as
good as nuts and cheese" to him, when
he has succeeded in getting up a corner,
or when, on a high market, he has put
out a hRayy line of shorts. He is a
mighty versatile trapper. No
game is to sftsanlI or too large for him
springs for woOdcOcfl esdigs pit-fall for
bears, and lassoes the b Yhatgl
in that queer old face, asS Sllls the
string to snare the game, anu7t bags
them.
If a stranger were to see him driving
Gown to his office of a morning i'm his
= One-hOrse shay" he would at once
pronounce him some hard headed old
farmer, visiting Broad street for the
purpose of putting his savings into q
small lot of government bonds. He
who would learn the eccentric habits
and odd ways of the man, has only to
deposit a small margin with David
GrOesbeck, his partner, and one of his
brokers, and then frequent the office
and watch the old man as he goes pot
tering about, talking little, but that lit
tie is homely phrase, and with strong
nasal tWaST
Weave SsIfcl fIIs intellect was subtle.
The word subtle does not altogether eX-
press it. 1t should be vgapi,c. His is
the intellect of a fox of the antedeluvi-
an period, Gi-32ntic of size and protein
tioJis of brJisTIt.ehI1e is as fertile in shifts
and ruses as Reynard himself He
covers his tracks, and takes to the wa
ter, the underbTush, or the open cOun-
try, as circumstances may require.
Traps innumerable have been set for
him, but he generally eludes them, or
if caught, has broken away, though
sometimes torn and bloody, from Jaws
that thiFSted for his blood, tor what is
much the same, his money!. The
hounds of the street, for twenty years,
have been following his track, now in
silence and now baying in deep mouth
chorus, when they had run him to
earth but his twistings and dOublings,
and countless devices, have fOiled them
at last, and he now sits in his strong
hold with a grasp ON his ten millions
which only the last great enemy can
relax.
THE BROKERS GET ALL THE PROFIT.
The year 1853 passed swiftly, and in
the stock market, uneventfully away.
| Starting February with the old margin
of five hundred dollars, found that
after twelve. distinct purchases and
sales, in which have been playing the
ancient Wall street game of see-saw,
up and down, making and losing alter
nately, upon looking over the account
/ in December, my net profits were about
5000. And now first occurred to me
the fact which strikes every one after
/ operating for time in stocks, viz :
| how the interest and brokerage items
run up. Against a profit of $500 there