The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-05-27

mated at near, u not quite, 50, ,VO0, ,00O
It would not be an exaggeration to say
that If he had operated on the long sidt
with the same boldness, craft and re
sources which he has used in his shori
operations, he would have now been
possessed of fortune approaching in
aptitude to that of his great rival,
Vanderbilt, who never goes short Ol
stocks. No doubt Drew has occasion
ally made o great hit, as for instance
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 a man Of smaller
means and less resolution. But Dan
iel always makes terms If worsted, 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,
q still more instructive lesson.
Still clinging to the objects of pur-
suit which was to him q passion, his
face bearing the marks Of the fierce
struggles of his life, a broken, wierd
looking old man, he haunted the board
room like a spectre, where he had once
reigned as king, offering small lots
of five shares of the same stock the
whole capital whereof he had once con-
trolled.s 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-
ticed, he passed away from the scene,
and left nothing behind him but the
shadow of what was once q great Wall
street reputation. ~
Men 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,
give heed to the following maxims, the
fruit of dearly-bought experience.
Buy only on the amplest margins.
Be an occasional and not o constant
operator.
Cut short your losses and let your
profits run.
Never sell what you have not got
DANIEL DREW.
Drew appears under a variety of
names, "the Old Man, "Uncle Dan>
iel,n "the Ursa Major, ~ "the specula-
tive director" "the Old Bear" etc.;
these are a few of the designations he
had received. Well, too, does he de-
serve the title of the " Merry old gen.
tleman" of Wall street. In his mcst
earnest operations, he never seems to
lose sight of the fun of the thing"
His most serious moods are easily br0k-
ell in upon by ludicrous suggestions,
and then he gives vent, every now and
then, to short laughs which sound like
the cackle of hen-thrown suddenly
off from her propriety. He loves to
rally, 1.-the boys" las 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
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 q high market, he has put
out a heavy line of shorts. He is a
mighty and versatile trapper. No
game is to small or too large for him.
He lays his net for pigeons, sets his
springs for woodcocks, digs pit-fall for
bears, and lassoes the bulls. What glee
i'm that queer old face, as he pulls the
string to snare the game, and then bags
them.
If a stranger were to see him driving
down to his office of u morning IN 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 a
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 twang.
We have said his intellect was subtle.
The word subtle doe; not altogethereX-
press it. 1t should be Vuipine. His is
the intellect of fox of the antedeluvi-
an period, gigantic of size and protein
tious of brush. He is as fertile in shifts
and ruses as Reynard himself. He
covers his tracks, and takes to the wa
ter, the underb,lsh, 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 thirsted 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 ALI. THE PROFIT
The year 1858 passed swiftly, and in
the stock market, uneyentfully away.
February with the old margin
of five hund led 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
$500. 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 profit of 500 there
was interest paid, $40, and brokerage,
$500. After all my trouble and worry,
only 500, while my broker received
$40. Deduction of this. The broker
takes the money, i. e., the profit. The
customer takes the risk of almost GER
tain loss in the end. If the customer
buys and sells 100 shares of stock every
working day in the year, he will find,
by calculation, that he has paid his bro
ker nearly 5000 in, the form of COM
missions at the rate of ene-eighth per
cent. on each transaction. During u
light money market he will have paid
! large additional sum in the shape of |
.urns or extra commissions, for carry
ing his stock, and if he is cornered
md unable to borrow stock for delive-
y, when short of it, he will have to
pay fresh commissions for the use of |
stock.
During 1858, 1864, an active operator
lsing $40, 900 as almargin, discovered on
)erusing his accounts that he had paid
his broker $4,000 i'm form of commits
ions, and as his capital of so, 900 was
till unimpaired, this showed that he
lad made profit of $4,000 all of |
which had thus gone into his brokers'
i'll.
Another who started with $4,000,
md for four years operated heavily,