The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-11-12
VICTIMS OF SPECULATION.
How They are Drawn Into the MaeIstrou
Spectators SuPerstitions.
TPhiladelphia Times

-SpecuIators' SuPerstitions.
Philadelphia Times
There's a better opportunity to study
human nature On Third street than almost
anywhere else" said member of the firm
of l.. H. Taylor & Co., yesterday. "rhe most
with surprises in his rough estimate of diff.
ferent men daily. Stock specializing is ut
terly different from any other pursuit and
il brings to the surface the stuff men are
made OF. II moral courage were divorced
from stock specializing more men would lose
fortunes than is the case.
ut requires courage to dabble IN stocks
The man who makes venture on hundred
shares OF doubtful stock and regrets it two
or three minutes afterward, will never be a
successful Spectator. It's the man who
isn't afraid that comes out ahead. Some men,
when they make their first venture and lose
are afraid to follow il up, and retire after
brief and expensive experience.
sc me men won't buy stocks on a Mon
day; Others are afraid of Tuesday, or
Wednesday, or Thursday, and great many
will hardly go near q ticket on Friday. 9th
ers again, can't be induced to buy on a rainy
day. One of the best known newspaper men
In Philadelphia used to hold his watch in
his hand and buy at fourteen minutes of
eleven o'clock, for instance, and sell at eleven
minutes after twelve. In three days he had
lost all the cash he had. Some men have
certain hours in the day when they buy
and certe n hours for selling. There are
thousands of superstitions; and yet the
men who dabble in stocks are intelligent
men.
Frequently the men who do not look
overly bright are the shrewdest Some bright
looking man will get the report of a railroad
and study it carefully and then begin to
speculate with the stock. Now he's not the
successful speculator There's no system.
No science in speculation. 1t requires kno vi
edge, to be sure. That generally has to be
bought and paid for. The man who studies
the crops and Knows hoy many thousand
bushels Of corn and oats are produced
throughout the country and studies the
fluctuations of the different stocks is what is
called good Speculation"
Beginners generally buy hundred shares
of some stock on margins" said Charles
Wray, of the firm of Fell, Wray & Co. 1T
they make money on their first venture they
become reckless and buy stocks promiscu
ously and, as rule, come out at the little
end of the horn. The novice on the street
generally makes his first investment through
hearing of some lucky hit friend has made.
Of course he never hears of the friend
losses The friend never tells about them
lis only when he makes hundred or two
that he tells his friends and that generally
results in some one of them making al in-
vesiment.
About the men who are wrecked through
speculation, the stories are exaggerated very
greatly. There are failures in every bushes.
The only difference between the Spectator
who loses and the storekeeper who fails is
that the speculator loses his pile quicker.
What the speculator loses eventually goes
into the Golfers of the big spectators like
Vanderbilt and Gould. The man who takes
the quick profit makes the money. The
man who holds on, hoping for bigger rise,
loses, as a rule, in the end. | remember a
grocery clerk who was discharged from a
large wholesale house in this city. He had
s., 800 and went right on the street aud be-
gan selling Northern Pacific preferred short.
He kept it up for six or seven months, and
then stopped short, worth nearly 500, 900.
Not long ago he went abroad to see the
world.
Hell come back again after he's spent say
S25 000," went on the broker land he'll be
back on the street. Nine chances out of ten
he'll lose all he's made. The great wise
man is be who knows when to stop. But L
know of hardly any instances where men let
we'll enough alone.
Gam bleTs who win at cards invariably
lose at stock specializing, and yet they are
nervy as a rule. know of many instances
where large pots won at poker found their
way a few hours later on Third street and
that was the last the gambler would sea OF
the money. Some gamblers are successful,
but not many:
Politicians are great spectators, but
taken as whole they are not successful.