Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-02-19
AIEIIPElIS APPEAL
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1882


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The manner in which legitimate trade is
receiving injur. from speculative operations
is exciting attention more and more, as the
markets become more disorganized owing to
the mischievous and discreditable impulse
that is corrupting the rising gener alton of
merchants, and bringing commerce down to
level with the Card-table and the faro
bank. The New York Bulletin, in a review
of the alarming extent 10 which the gambling
spirit is interfering with business properly so
called, points out in a striking way the in
roads that are making upon just business
rules, and the moral ruin that is engulfng
all honorable commercial spirit. As long as
stocks, bonds and paper securities generally
are the object Of the struggles of bull and
bear let them struggle and bankrupt each
other az they will, but when wheat, corn,
provisions, oil and cotton, and all the main
staples Of mercantile operations are "made
ducks and brakes or by harpies whose main
effort IL, not merely to get rich, but to get
rich quickly, then the very fountains of
commerce are touched and the fortunes Of
upright merchants, who deal with their Gus
TONERS honorably and on trade principles are
put IN jeopardy. very large portion of
the entire supply Of merchandise now sold
says the authority we have referred to, is
now sold weeks or months ahead OF delivery,
sold even before produced. This is done by
operators who expect to profit from the iiuc-
tuations that may occur in prices before the
date Of delivery arrives. There is a specu
latiOn that is not only allowable but bene-
hclal. When, after a poor harvest, the whea;
Is bought up in this way, the price is raised
higher in the fall than it would be if, the
grain being left in the farmers barn, the
farmer had to hunt up customers, selling for
what he could get when he wanted money. |
The next spring the wheat held over is put
upon the market in larger amounts, and at
less prices than if cheap wheat in the fall |
had so encouraged consumption that scarcity |
had to be endured in the spring. But it is |
not in this direct, useful and satisfactory
manner speculation goes on at present. To |
watch the markets and stocks, and buy while |
the supply is plentiful, to sell when the !
demand is good, is by no means sufficient |
Tor modern ideas. The object Of the pres |
ent gambling system is to manage, maneuver, |
and by ingenuity and skill by false rumors,
lying statements, and "doctored" figures, to |
affect the market according to the interest of |
the Speculation. Stocks Of goods or produce |
are brought up in hecatombs, and held out
OF market until an artificial advance of
price is secured. Capital bands together, ac-
cumulates merchandise or depletes the
money market, or misleads or alarms the
consumer, then the ''grand haul" is made.
Then the operators, instead of rejoicing over
just gains, exult over their successful trickery
as brigands exult when they have plundered
and made much booty. As the honest mer-
chant counts his gains he knows that his
transactions have profted his customer as
well as himself. The future-monger's gains
are, like the card-player's, the fruits of his
customers loss; his CORNER" is as much a
fraud as the devices Of "the confidence man."
On no principle recognized by the upright
merchant or the high-minded gentleman can
such mode OF making money be defended.
Besides this, legitimate commerce is injured
and just prices deranged by the gambling in
merchandise, and the general commerce of
the country suffers as when the holders
Of wheat put their demands so high
that the orders that should be
illed by ourselves go to the Baltic or the
Danube, and leave our own product on our
hands, to the loss or ruin of those who have
bought their stocks for legitimate purposes.
Huge stocks remain undisposed of; the {
national exports are decreased; monetary !
exchanges are disordered, and the immediate
uture Of trade IL rendered too uncertain for
IONA fde dealers to know how to buy or to
ell. Then merchants whose lives have been ::
arried on along the plane of unyielding | 8
integrity find themselves standing on shaky | !.
r lund, Tor legitimate commerce is left to | Al
rift without rudder or compass Spite of :
they are driven into speculative a.
'ansactlons, and so the vicious system -
rade becomes tainted with the fetid odors of | j.
Of triekery, and of deception. | 70
he banker no longer knows "who is who;" :,
rms that stood highest sink in a day; men =
no had lived beyond reproach turn out to 50
e either sharpers or victims, and securities oh
nd collaterals become, like the plate on the q,
'ftn-Iid, handsome enough to look at, but | TO-
ling only OF decay and death. How is ~,
Is labyrinth of confusion and error to be
capped? 1t leads to panic, bankruptcy and n,
IN. Is there no way Of arresting the mad
lnce that whirls the giddy children of folly bo
I'd wrong Down the black pit of destruction? nm