The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-08-15
WALL STREEr.
It's Effect on the Life Of The Country.
Ihe STOCK Barometer.

NJ =. Post
II anybody should attempt to write I
book on Wall Street in imitation Of Mr.
Bagehot's Lombard Street. he would ilnc
the composition Of lucid work an exceed
ingly difficult task. 1t begins to play {
larger and larger part in the fnancia
world owing to the enormous amounts O.
American capital it holds and OF foreign
capital it distributes. Since the substance
too, OF war politics it occupies larger and
larger share OF the attention OF the Ameri.
can people.
Nothing is more curious about it than its
effect on the Imagination even Of those
who do not speculate in stocks at all. The
great hotel-keepers in places like Saratoga
rely on 1t with the utmost confidence as
an indication OF the kind OF season they
are likely to have. II .oCks are high In
Wall street, they are certain their houses
will be full; II low, that they will either
lose money or fail to make any money, and
this not because their customers are per.
SONS who are dependent for their luxurles
on the result Of speculative operations, but
because when stocks are low people who
neyeIg 20 near Wall Street feel poor though
imagination. People who never speculate
at all, whose investments are Of the best
class, who have nothing in their safes the
dividends on which are likely to be in the
least affected by any ups and downs on
''lhe street." feel when they see the price
Of their securitieE falling, as il they must be
prudent or economic. They not only deny
themselves on their summer tours, but in
all their luxuries. The centsgion even
reaches people who own no stocks at all.
A falling market diffuses through the air
the feeling that 1t Is time TO be thrifty and
careful, and that there Is no knowing
what is going to happen; that even the
man who has nothing 10 lose is somehow
in danger Of losing something.
In fact, the Wall Street stock quotations
have on large body OF people at the North
somewhat the effect OF thermometer on a
hot day on the fancy Of wayfarer. LISA
very common experience for man who
has felt quite comfortable with the Their
mometer at 50 degrees, to be made nervous,
and even alarmed and incapacitated for sll
further exertion, by seeing the figures
himseIf. He suddenly feels much hotter
and more languid, and begins to be afraid
TO move about.
The exhilaratiug effect OF high prices is,
too, Just as great rs the depressing effect OF
low prices. There is hardly any one,
whether he owns any stocks or is specu.
latipg in stocks or not, who is not cheered
by rising marketin Wall Street. Every.
body in New York, when it has lasted a
week or two, from the millionaire
to the bod carrier, feels that good times
have come, that his future is more assured,
that lie may indulge in more luxuries, al.
though he may know perfectly well that
the condition Of the stock market has not,
and cannot have, the smallest influence on
his income. TIE brokers feel the genial
glow first, and provide themselves with
uog.carts and saddle-hofses, and from them
it d. ttuses itself rapidly through the com.
munlly, till 1t is felt wherever the telegraph
goes. II stimulates retail PURCHASES Of all
kinds, from houses down togloves. 1t in
creases in particular the consumption OF
champagne at the restaurants. Delmonico
can always tell how the market is without
ever looking at the newspaper or "the
ticker" by listening to the popping OF
corks.
There Is nothing quite like this in any
country in the world. We do not propose
to analyze its Gauss here. We merely wish
to point out that the phenomenon probably
has good deal to do with the prevailing
depression in business, OF which 10 much
complaint is made aud for which 1t seems
80 difficult TO account. For two years the
conditions OF business prosperity have all
existed in abundance. There has been no
great financial disturbance or political
complication at home or abroad. The
haryests have been abundant aud
immigration enormous, and every
thug dependent on abundant harvests-
the railroad traffic, for instanGe-has been
doing well. But stocks have been "dulP'
ever since Garfeld's death, and have been
growing duiler, and it apparently makes
no difference whether they pay dividends
or not. The general tendency during all
this period has been downward, although
there Is no proof that they are any less
valuable now than they were In 1881. In
fact, the probabilities are that they are
much more valuable than they were two
years ago. But it has, nevertheless, been
impossible to get up u "boom" 10 them,
and nothing could be more ludicrous Than
the failure OF all propsecies Of an approach,
ing period OF "better prices"