The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-02-18
STOCK MYSTERIES.
An Explanation Of the Manner In Which
Prices OF Stock Are ManeuVered
by Brokers.
Fears of Another Snow Blockade
Entertained in Chicago Like
That Of Last Week.
HOW STOCKS ARE BOOMED,
And How the Big Spectator in Wall
Street Unloeds on the Little Ones.

New YoRK. Feb. Il To those who watch
the Wall street fluctuations ia stocks, and
wonder about the causes, this weeks quota
tions must have been mystifying. spsak-
ing generally, it may be said that there are
not more than a round dozen men who are
able to be controllers of the changeful igures
and even they sometimes fail in their at
tempts. Their nsnles begin with Gould
and includs Sage, Mills. Woerrishoef-
er, Cammack and Vanderbilt. The
smaller operators are gamblers pure
and simple, with no power for
manipulation. Daring this week the pro-
cesses of stock boom and depression have
been in unusual use, and it is good time to
explain them. The cardinal principle is the
dissemination of misleading rumors. Secrecy
is the second doctrine Q1ite as often as
not Mr.. Gould does not trust more than one
agent in q movement aud it Is not until the
sctvity has been increased by the renewal
two or three times of mis- order to buy and
sell q big lot that he begins to work his
wiTes There are in Wall street half dozen
agencies for the distribution OF news They
send out every hour printed sheets like
small newspapers, or manifold copies Of
their Information. These agencies are then
used by Gould to put his information before
the public. 1t runs something like this, as
the Union Pacific deal begins to develop:
THE recent activity in Union Psciic is
attributed to buying by Mr. Gould. His
friends say he is very bullith on the stock
! whose earniB gs for the six months Just en- J.
I ing viii show a very large increase"
A half hour later this announcement is
made: 'Some of the largest capitalists in
/ the street with Mr.. Gould in the Tn lion
/ Pacific deal, and very much higher prices
are predicted for the stock"
4 Then comes something like this:
The January earnings of Union Pacific
\ show an enormous incrtaSe over those of 8
/ year ago. and they justify the predicted in
/ ere ase In the March dividend Friends of
/ the read say that IL never was so prosper
ous"
Then it is that the average sDeculator be-
1 gins to wonder whether he hS.l not better
/ DUy little Union Pacific, Ur increase his
holding il be has bought, and while he con-
1 templates in rushes a wide awake young
man waving slip OF paper about the sizs of
/ any ordinary bank check, shouting: Sell
/ you a put on Union Pacific for thirty days.
| 100 sta'es 80 for S125. The stock Just sold
for 81. Cheapest put you ever saw, Signed
/ by Sage, 100"
This announcement simply means tn at
Sage VIII insure any one who will give him
/ $l25 against loss from the decline OF Union
/ Pacific below 90 durir the next thirty days.
| It is pretty conclusive proof that Sage be-
/ lieves that Union Pacific is to advance. Just
1 then another news agency slip is handed in.
/ 1t says; Instead of increase in the
regular March dividend of the Union Pacific
/ Road it is now sald that there will be stock
or scrip dividend of about 20 per cent
| Mr., Gould is very much annoyed because
/ this inform alton has been public before he
4 al his friends have acquired all the stock
/ they wanted. 1t is evident that there is to
be great rise in the stock"
And so all dsy long flows the news in a
dozen different ways that Union Pacific is to
boom. The put and call brokers carry it
! from Office to office. The newspaper 6nsn-
/ cial articles all discus il. The stock is very
ctive in the exchange and is advancing. It
looks as though it would never stop going
uD Every body who speculates at length
has purchased. If he did not get in at the
| beginning of the deal he is sure to at the
end. II be did not believe the stories about
/ the magnificent prospects of Union Pacific
/ when they first came out, he is sure to now,
| for they have been reiterated hourly from
| the first. The stock has advanced from 81 to
| 80. The reports are that it will 60 to 105 or
/ ITO. The reports have all proved true thus
tar, WHY should they not prove true here
/ after? So he buys. The stock holds very
| hrm for day or two, but does not a1vancs
any ore. The good news begins to fall of.
| The put snd-call brokers are offering privi-
| leges on some other stock. Nothing more is
beard of an extra dividend. The price be.
| gins tc decline. Now it is "a. now 93A, nov
| 93I. now 90 whats the matter with
Union Pscifc2" cry the spectators in
alarm. "Oh, Gould is unloading" say the
| bears. The speculators rush to get ont
Down goes the market under their offerings.
They have sold at q loss. Gould has IN.
loaded on them. He had sold them the
stock they bought at 95, and ten to one he
buys it back of them when they unload at
! % or 9215. And so the Wall street game
goes o1 year in and year out 1t is losing
same every time for the beginner, and usu-
ally for the veteran speculation.