Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-05-30
The Science Of 4" Privilege" which IN
horsed Keenc.


As majority of people do not know
what sort of things stock privileges ARE,
it may not be out of place to say q few
.-ords on this subject. A stock privi-
lege Is a paper signed by some we'll
known person, and emitting the bearer
to put TO, OF cali from, that person a
given amount of a given stock at a
given price within a given time. These
privileges are paid for according to
their speculative value. their duration
and the amount of stock they are issued
for. They are practically insurance
tickets against losses in stock gambling.
a man who buys a privilege can not
lose more. than the amount he paws for
it. II he buys stock and it goes down,
he can put it TO the signer of the privi-
lego. III he sells it short and IL goes up,
he can call IL and cover his contract.
The so-called puts and calls 90 only one
way, and the bearer can only either put
to or call from the signer the stock con-
cerned. The spreads and straddles
work both ways; Tie holder can either
put to or call from the signer the stock
concerned. The sellers of privileges
work upon the same plan as book
makers do At the races They sell
stocks short aga INST their puts, aud buy
them against their calls. As rule
they make a great deal of money, for
the figures of the privileges are usually
far away from the market, and the pre-
MUM paid for the privilege forms in
most cases a clear profit. The largest
dealers in privileges are MessFs. Russell
Sage, j. X. Keene, M. u. Bogart and
S. V. White. Old Sage has made q
million or two by selling privileges.
Being director in many corporations,
he always knows which way n given
stock is likely to go, and sells his puts
and calls accordingly. Besides. he has
large following, and can always make
rich people buy or sell certain stock,
and thus protect his paper.
Mr.. Keene had the disadvantage OF
not being come ted with anv large cor
poration, and of having mo- following 10
speak Of But he had n perfect passion
for selling privileges. a crisp thousand
dollar bill exhibited by n curbstone
privilege broker was to him like piece
of red cloth to bull. He could not re-
sist the temptation to go for il. II he
had confined himself TO The dealing in
privileges he would probably have come
out ahead. But, being a large specu-
latOr, besides, he was all the time Grip
pied In his movement by the puts and
calls he had out. He was probably the
most consistent and intelligent bear
for the last two or three years, vet he
did not dare TO let the market 60 down
too far out of fear that an avalanche oil
stock would come down on him. The
cOnquence was that he had tO sustain
the market by buying stocks, and, a,
| prices went down Notwithstanding his
efforts, he had n mass of stocks nut e.
him besides. That game was going or
for long time, and he was bic loser
ut il all the while. His best friends i'm.
plored him long ago to give up the priv.
ilege business, and he has repeatedly
promised them to do so, but the fata
/ passion was there, aud he could not gel
rid of IT, The collapse had to come
and IL came. There can be no doub,
that he will make all his outstanding
contracts good, though it will probably
take him some time TO do so, but thu
nervous tension to which he must bC
subjected at the present moment mus
be terrible, and there is not man il
Wall street who knows HIM well who
does not deeply sympathize with him
He was always the most open-h hearted
and least tricky of the great Wall stree
men. Besides, he fought all his battle,
! single-handed, and some of them wer,
mighty big battles, too. His PLUCK ant
endurance are subjects of admiration
even on the part of his cnemies.-M. Y
/ Sun.