The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1880-10-23
Jav Gould's influence In Wall Street.

Jay Gould's influence In Wall Street.
RECENT New York letter to tho
Cincinnati Enquirer says: Wall Street
is awakening to the fact that Jay Gould
can do as he pleases with the stock
market. The quiet little man who slips
down to his Office in q cab, and slips
back again to his home, and is never
seen in public, never had the Stock Ex-
change under such complete control as
of late. He engineered the great &c.
cline in prices last spring, guided the
great boom of early summer, and now
seems to have set out to depress them
again. He threw q whole shower of
hand.grenades into the ranks of the
bulls to-day, and scattered them:
The trouble began with Western
Union. 1t had been said that Mr..
Gould and his party had obtained
enough stock to control the election and
insure q traffic arrangement with the
American Union. Just as the street
was comfortably settled in this belief,
and many were buying Western Union,
expecting to see it 60 up, the story was
started by Gould's own men that this
was not 50; that the telegraph war was
to be opened in real earnest by a general
slashing of rates. At the same time
came the announcement, which was
true, that American Union stock is to DO
put upon the Stock Exchange list to-
morrow at high figure. Private sales
were made to-day at y and "A, and the
report of the actuary. to be published
tomorrow, will show that it can easily
earn per cent. on its capital of So.
OOO, 600. The effect was to crush the
price of Western Union 4 per cent. in
less than sixty minutes. It ratified
down from 1Ol 1.2 so fast that the tele-
graph operators couldn't keep up with
the sales. The favorable report of
American Union and the sharp bidding
for it on the floor of the Exchange that
| is now promised for tomorrow threaten
to dcpress Western Union yet further.
1t pleased Mr.. Could further to ham.
mer The general list. So he started a
new report that he would extend his
Wabash system from Toledo to Buffalo,
in opposition to the Lake Shore. This
was published in q morning newspaper,
and the result was q decline in Lake
Shore, Michigan Central and New York
Central. MI. Gould is said to be short
of Wabash, Hannibal and St. Joe, Kan
sas and Texas and Iron Mountain. 10
help these along down he caused it to be
said, as by authority, that the Wabash
war with Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy is to be continued withincreased
vigor. Burlington and Quincy tumbled
from points even quicker than had
Western Union. The Wabash company
fell in line for 1-2 per cent. on the pre-
ferred. Iron Mountain was close be-
hind them while Kansas and Texas
closed up the rear a shade behind Han
nibal and St. Joe. 1t was q melancholy
procession for the bulls. Union Pacific
got mixed in with the rest, and wen,
galloping down hill with them quarter
Of point at stride.
When Mr.. Gould wanted to knocl
: Erie and New York Central he had hi
: extension to the Lackawanna Railroad
organized, and he continues to hold
/ over those stocks. When he wanted Il
depress Western Union he organized tn
: American Union. When he wanted t
! menace the trunk lines, he built up hi
!. Wabash system. Now it is beginning
. to be plain to the street that he ha
9 things in his own clutches. To depres
t Western Union, it is only necessary 70
. him to cut rates with the American I'm
; ion. 10 advance Western Union he ha
4 only to cease the war. To put down tn
. prices of trunk line stocks he has onl
Q to open q railroad war, or form a com
J. pany ostensibly to build parallel roads
: TO put up the price, he has only t
t cease the war, and give out that tn
1 new parallel roads will not be built. H
L has 80 much wealth that he can mar
+ ipulate the money market at will
8 Gould will be, beyond all question, til
}, richest man in America in ten years.