The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-28
MYSTERIES OF "THE sTREET"
How the Majority of Amateur Spectators
Happen to Come Out Losers.

How the Majority of Amateur Spectators
Happen to Come Out Losers.
National Republican. .a,r.,,i +.
Why is 1t that outsiders always lose on the
stroetf'" asked prosperous broker
They do not always lose," was the reply, tbus
a great majority do, and the explanation Is SIM
pie enough The outside crowd speculate on APP
pearances, and trust TOO much to surface indica-
lions. If they went about stock or produce deaL
ing the sane as they would go about the prrr
chase or sale of real estate merchandise they
would not lose"
Explain"
"What do you do when you want to buy q
horseY Why, You look around until you ind a
morse that suits you, and then you buy it as
cheap as you can. You DO go to a public
auction and trust to what the anetioneer tells
you about the merits of the animal he gets
commission for seling-that is, I assume
you do not, believing you to be
you want to sell house you do not advertise
that it ID in bad neighbour God, or that 1t is a
rattletrap, ramshackie building OF course Won
don't You praise 1t up and talk about its adj
vantages. That Is precisely what holders of
stocks do. When you see rose-tinted newspaper
gossip about stocks you may depend upon it
that holders have been talking up their property
to induce the crowd to take it of their hands.
And generally the crowd does just that thing
and gets caught.
"The first thing bull pool does is to publish
stories of decreased earnings in the roE; whose
stock they propose to trade in. They can con
troll the reports and doctor them to suit Them
selves. They then cause IL to be announced
that new issue of bonds or other evidence Of
luu6oteuu0tb is auouL 10 De put on Jne market,
and in various ways attack the credit of the
company, In the face OF This vicious hammer.
ing the stock generally remains about
stationary, some times sagging little, but sell
dom going off more than few points. Mean
while, however, timid holders are letting 90 and
the bull operators loading up When they
have enough the earnings OF the road suddenly
increase, the gloomy talk ceases, and instead of
songs of sorrow, one hears nothing hut
ness is discovered to have been Imaginary,
and everything is lovely. Then the crowd be-
gins to buy. The holders are reluctant 10 let go
such good thing, but finally consent to part
with their property at handsome profit.
The crowd Invariably buys most largely at
top figures and sells at bottom prices They
go altogether OF appearances. When the
enough to cause an apparent upward
drift everybody rushes in to buy. 1t is then
that the big fish unload. They alwayssell on a
rising market, and having control of stocks they
are not afraid TO sell on a falling MARKET They
know the actual value of property they deal In,
and know when 1t Is time to sell and when to
buy When they want TO buy a stock they do
not go about telling the men they expect to buy
from what a good thing iG is. On the contrary,
they run it down. When they want to sell a
stock they pursue exactly opposite tactioB iuss
you would do IL you had a horse a house
you wanted to get rid Of
''Wbenever the current OF talk Is bearish, de-
pend upon II that some of the big men are load
ing up, and whenever the drift of gossip is hope.
full you may rest assured some big fish feed
ing shaky stock to lambs. In nine cases out Of
win, because they will be with the big men-the
men who control the market ...
ait ia absolutely within the power Of suoh men
as Gould, Vanderbilt Sage, Keene, Armour and
Fairbanks to fix the price OF any stock com.
modify traded In, within reason 1 mean, and IL
you stop to think you must see that they will
not go to work to bid up the goods they propose
buying or decry the value of the property they
wa tn sal