The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-06-25
THE PACIFIC COAST.
SOmsthing about StOek--Ths MsnipulstiSHs there
Of-Ophir-EaEEzrOO-Fr Marketing
SAy FRANCISCO, June IS, 1875.

woman and child IN tnls city, almost
buys and sells stocks, and they get up a.
heavy an excitement over it "a the gold
and railroad stock gamblers do in New
York.
The lady of the house takes her chan
ces in Ophir and consolidated Virginia,
which are high priced stocks, and the
cook in her kitchen takes shy at Poar-
mon Leapard, or any of the little stocks
which cost only from 80 cents to 81 80
per share If the stocks 90 up, madam
indulges in diamonds and silks, and the
kitchen girl Immediately sports new
calico dress ON their winnings iii they
90 down-weIl, don't know what they
do in that case. The way
STOCKS ARE MANIPULATED
may not be altogether uninteresting TO
your readers. 1t runs about this way.
A mine is discovered, or rather a location
is taken which gives promise Of mine.
1t Is named we will say Golconda, and
company is at once formed TO developit.
The ownership Is divided into one hun
dred thousand shares and the par value
of each share is made $1,000. OF these
shares the original proprietors keep in
their own names 60, 600, and place 40
900 on the market, the proceeds OF which
are to be used in developing" the prop
erty. which means opening the mine and
finding il there is ore therein, and if so,
putting in all the machinery necessary
to the working of it. 1t will be OBJ
served that the original projectors have
not put dollar of their own money III
II. All comes from the purchasers of
the 40 900 shares.
Now, we will suppose that rich bed
of ore is really found. Immediately ma
chinery is put in, the ore is taken out,
immense profits are made, and the stock
amornts up from so, its original value,
TO $50, SIS, 800, and in some cases
800 and $500, and the fortunate hold
ers of the 1000 shares dream golden
dreams. But mind, the half dozen orig
inals hold a majority of the stock, and
as they act together they control il.
Of them are all the officers OF the Com
pany. They form the Board of Direct
ors, and Smith is President, Jones Treas
urer, and Thompson, Secretary. When
the stock is up to the highest point it
can be got, say $500, then comes a
change. The shipments of ore increase,
and finally stop altogether. RumOrs get
abroad that the vein has given out, and
that to prosecute the work an assess
ment will be soon made, and the stock
drops. drops, drops, till panic strikes
IL and it goes down by terrific leaps tillit
strikes the original SO, or orperhaps lower
than that. OF course the original six
buy it all in. When it gets low enough
ore is found again, and up it goes. And
this game they play over and over again,
the deluded public being always the VIC
tim. because the controlling men hold
the cards in their own hands. The value
of the stock depends of course entirely
on the production; they can make. it
produce or not, as they choose.
OPHIR
;s inst now the football, and it is being
manipulated in the interest of the ring
that has the Bank of California for its
centre. The par value of Ophir is $50
II has been up within year TO $40, and
down to S12. Sharon & Ralston, who
own it. have made millions out of the
rise and fall of the stock, and to this
day no one but themselves know wheth-
er IL has any value or not.
Even rich mines that are not made
mere stock specializing machines of the
original owners make enormous for
tunes: for they let all the contracts for
sunnlies to themselves, and the way they
bleed the stockholders is astonishing.
Rut the stocks are only for well-todO
neonIe to gamble with. Biddy in the
Kitchen and John on the dray can be
accommodated as well as the rich people
ON Van Weis Avenue. And for people
with yery small means there are stocks
to be gambled in.
KANGAROO MINE,
for instance, is discovered and put upon
the market at the nominal price of Sl.OO
ner share. Reports are circulated of the
richness of the mine, of its wonderful
prospects, and the certainty of its be-
coming a second Ophir; and John on
the dray, and Biddy in the kitchen, in
vest their hard earned dollars. Now the
Kangaroo may be a myth, there may be
no mine. no ore, no company, for that
matter. but Kangaroo shares, despite all
that have a value in the market, and
.hev go ND and down just the same as
consolidated Virginia or any other stock
that turns out 500, 900 of ore per week.
Nobody knows anything about il; those
who buy have no idea where it is To-
Gated. or that It has any value or even
existence: but q share is share, and it
sells.
There will be an item in the newspa
ners some morning, that the develop
ments in the kangaroo district are OF the
most encouraging nature, and forthwith
Kangaroo stock goes up from 81 to SO,
and certain men rage about the street
wanting to buy all they can get OF it at
that price. Seeing that these mining
experts want to buy, Biddy and John
want to buy, and they do buy, but the
experts do not. Those who are talking
buy, are, really. through their brokers,
selling at the price that the clamor has
made. 1t is very pretty game, when
they have used all the poor dupes will
buy, they simply let it go, and Kangaroo
fades out of public sight, and becomes
one of the things that were. The peO-
pie pocket their losses, and the opera
tors begin engineering another swindie
of the same sort, which they carry
through the same way.
Of course Just enough outsiders make
money in these things to encourage peo-
pie to keep continually going in. Now
and then a man who buys at dollar,
has sense enough to sell when it reaches
ten, and the money he made ia opera
ting is enough to set n thousand wild.
And this thousand are the people the
sharks are after, and they get them every
time; there is no mistake ebout it, they
gobble them.
But the game goes on Just the same,
everybody gambles in stocks, men and
women. 1t has always been so from the
time the mines were first stocked. In
the East you hear ladies discussing
books, pictures, and music, with oc-
casional dashes at the theatre and opera.
Here they discuss stocks, everybody has
a stock list, and everybody has shares.
And everybody, but the rings that CON
troll the stock, and the brokers who get
their per cent. for handling it, Iose the
money they put in.
FRUIT.
San Francisco is better supplied with
fruit than any city on the continent
The southern coast supplies it with
oranges, lemons, and lines. Strawber-
ries ripen here ten months in the year.
New potatoes are Elways in the market,
as also are peas, asparagus, and in fact
all the vegetables. Apples come here
from Oregon. Grapes grow here TO
size and of flavor unknown elsewhere;
in short, there is not a fruit known i'm
the temperate zone or the tropics, that
you cannot find in the markets here. 1t
is beautiful sight, the markets; thsre
is every fruit and every flower that you
can think of or imagine exposed for sale.
and at very reasonable prices. Straw
berries are always high in price, for
whenever they get down below 12 cts. a
quart, they are canned for export.