Fair play., 1873-11-13
Stock Speculation.

1t may seem. in ordinary times, II hc
hugely profitable TO play the speculaior Oh
4 grand scale. To control the whole float
ing stock of a great railroad. or two or
three roads. 50 is To be able 10 put up il
price at discretion, and muict without limit
a host Of smaller operators who play in
the dark and without holding the trump
cards-what game could be S,trer: What
so certain of bringing in immense stakes
Ii is this that has made the vast wealth OF
our Vandcrbilts. our GouId-. our Clark.
our Drews. Their game WAS played with
such immense odds in their favor that al
most inevitably they WOE every time. iil,,
few men we have mentioned have succeed
ed in making perhaps S5O.Ap.0tH Out %!
the pockets Of the successive drOvc> oi
dupes who enter the spider parlor> of Wall
street.
Every now and then. however. events
demonstrate that the game of these king
players is not 80 absolutely guarded and
certain as it seems 10 be. For 4 series "i
five. ten or fifteen Years they may go ON
steadily winning. until their financial pow
er assumes the magnitude ot an appallin"
monopoly. at which the public stand
a@fast and which Legislators arr invoked
10 place under restraint. But. underlying
which when touched makes them like
other weak men. Their wealth Is mainly
employed in margins. Their ambition to
control immense sc!.cmes leads them Ia
buy five times as much a. they can pay tor.
and they have to Use the millions of stocks
they have bought "a colatcr;il> for loans.
When Il panic strikes the market. their
stocks decline. the margins on their loans
are narrowed down, and they haze to sell
like Others to make good their accounts
with their Lenders. The sales thus made
10 protect themselves further weaken Their
securities and create fresh demands 10
keep good their margins. which i follow
cd by fresh sales of their stocks and Il still
further decline i'll prices: and thus the
process OF impoveri>hncnt goes Oh until
the decline in the market value Of their
stocks swallows up their wealth employed
in margins.
This is the process we have seen in opc-
ration for the last month in Wall street.
Millions of money. which had hccn IN de
| for u few successful Spectators out of the
crowd of less s;IwaciouS ones. l.a. been
scattered 10 the winds. and is now bcin"
gathered up by the frugal investors in all
parts of the country. through purcha>in"
! at enormous depreciation the stocks which
the railway kings are no longer able Ia
hold. These great leaders of speculation.
may be, are not absolutely ruined: but
their losses may he counted by the nil
lions; and their less wealthy followers.
whose large resources constituted Il great
part of the strength Of the chici-. are "cl.-
orally wcll-ni%h or completely hr"gared.
Truly. then, there i> Nemesis in stock
speculation. The vast irresponsible
power which the successful Spectator
finds it impossible to acquire is not. after
all, beyond the reach of those natural laws
which control all the affairs of society for
the common good of aii. \ Vanderbilt
may succeed in acquiring. by sheer dnt OF
sirewdness and speculative trick. Il wealth
that enables him to control for his own
purposes the most important railroads "i
the continent: but one of those panit>
which brings all enterprises to its true
level sweeps over Wall street. and the
fruits Ofhis uiiscrupnlous sa",city are dis
tributed among the thrifty and honest men
OF the country. This may seem Il rough
sort of justice. but il may be relied on Will,
the utmost certainty 10 right the wrongs
Of the financial department of society. At
least We may console ourselves with the
reflection that the dreadful storms of Wall
street adjust a great many inequalities
and do Il deal in the way of administering
justice which none of the slort-sir!itcd
laws of men can ever do. Let those who
avOw too much faith in the efficiency of
written law compare its efficacy with that
unwrittcn law of nature. " hose potency we
have seen illustrated within this last thirty
days. and then say to. which it is the
safer TO trust for equity in human affairs.