Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-02-26

i spent u day or two In Wall stree
this week aud learned something
The man who learns anything ough
To lose no time before he communi
Gates il ~ his fellows, hence I shall
shall give what i learned to you
readers at once.
DO you know what "builv Is, O
"bear," In Wall street. i spen
two days In learning.
In Wall street ''bnll" IL an oper
ator who believes he can push thu
price OF any particular stock to ,
higher point. Take Toledo and Wa
bash for Instance. Suppose 1t is sell
ing at 4s. The bull, from certain
indications, believes IL will 60 up Il
30 or higher. He buys at IS, anc
thon deliberately goes 10 work to pu
iii up. lie will lie like a--politician
he will invent bogus dispatches
he will spread reports Of the death
of Presidents OF railroads--publisi
bogus reports OF the business done
In short there is no villiany In the
range Of lying, perjury and fraud,
that he will not commit TO make
that stock go TO a figure above IS.
The bear Is the man who has sold
the stock. forgot To- say that the
bull buys the stock TO be deliv-
cred at certain date, say thirty
days. Now, II on that date Toledo
and Wabash Is worth so, the bear
simply pays the odd two--if, on the
other hand il goes down to i6, the
the bull pays the bear the odd two.
IT thus becomes struggle between
them--the bull to toss il up, the bear
20 pull II down.
The fight is deadly. The bear will
get into the newspapers all sorts OF
stories concerning the road. He will
have Gov. Cox, the President, dead
or stricken with paralysis, he will
invent horrible accidents, and spread
reports Of delalcation and gross mis-
management. The bull practices
tactics precisely tho reverse.
The settlement Is made on the
basis of the selling price Of the stock
on the day named.
Very frequently bears turn bulls.
IL bear sees that II Is impossible to
pull down stock, he frequently
buys and becomes a bull to cover.
This he can do, II he can buy more
of the stock than he has Sold
These transactions very frequently
involve millions, and they embrace
everything under Heaven. Cold,
Railroad and other stocks, grain,
lumber; everything that is mer-
charitable Is made the subject Of their
struggles.
a corner" Is the buying Of the
entire stock Of corporation, or at
least more than can be delivered.
Thus we will assume that there are
$4,000 shares of the Toledo and Wa
bash in all. The bears, ignorant that
"A corner has been made in Wabash,
soil the stock TO be delivered in, say
thirty days, supposing that there Ii
enough OF 1t In the market to be had,
to make delivery at a profit possible.
The time approaches and they begin
To look about for the stock. They find
to their dismay, that there is not
share to be had; for the very good
reason that the bulls have It all.
They become frantic, but to no
purpose. The bulls hold, and run
theprice up to any figure they choose,
to which the poor bears are COM
PEELED To submit. But don't suppose
it is all plain sailing with the bulls
II the bears are strong enough they
buy up one OF the bulls, which
makes break, and IL they get a
break made, Heaven help The bulls.
It's war to the knife; and no mercy
Is shown or expected.
Watering stock is where corpora
ton becomes exceedingly profitable
too profitable IN fact for the public
to endure quietly. Suppose a rail-.
road having a monopoly makes
money enough to declare dividends
OF 70 per cent. The public would
clamor for reduction Of fares, so the
directors double the number of shares
watering the capital. There is no
more capital than before, but they
cat i more. If they double 1t they
declare 10 per cent. dividends on
s2.OW, 600 instead Of 20 per cent. ON
VI ,000, 900.
SOCIETY
IL fermenting in this city just now.
Balls, parties, theatres, operas aud
entertainments Of MI kinds are In