Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-03-10
SPECULATION'S VORTEX.
ANXIETY AND AGONY OF ALTERNAT-
ING HOPE AND DESPAIR.

Swallowed Up in the whirIpool--Sev-
erai Cases.
have observed for years how money IS
swallowed up in the vortex of speculation.
am continually going TO Wall street,
feel proof against its temptations-aS l like
to watch its currents and study human nat
ure of which Il is an excellent school,
meet acquaipsances there from every part
of the Union One day / encounter Smith,
Of Denver, and / inquire after Jones, Of
Omaha, who told me, three months before,
that he had cleared S500,0 by bis opera
lions.
"Jonesl Oh, they've scalped him. That
last bear attack on the market cleaned him
out completely. He has gone homo without
anything; and he had 100000 or $5o000o,
made by land speculation, when he came to
New York two years ago"
81 am very sorry for JONES' reply. HE
was good fellow and full of energy
"He was all of that" remarks Smith.
ssBut he wasn't quite smart enough for Wall
street. told him last spring how he was
going, but he wouldn't believe me. Now
he wishes, fancy, that he had taken my
advice A man has to get up pretty early in
the morning to stand the racket down here.
"Aren't you afraid Smith, that they'll get
your scalp one of these daysp
''Not bit They've tried it often; but
wear all my hair yet. know their ways.
I'm too old bird to be caught
Some months later / ran upon Brown, OF
Chicago and after little chat l express the
hope that Smith is flourishing.
"F1ourishing? Not exactly. Haven't you
| heard what happened to hima Nos He went
short on Reading and he got busted in short
order. He's so poor that he's in o cheap
| boarding house in Harlem. You remember
| what a figure he used to cut at tho Windsors
| He's trying TO get up again; but he never
| can. His father left him a handsome for
| tune ten years ago, and he couldn't raise $500
| today. He's too hopeful, too reckless He
| doesn't know when to take in sail.
"But mayn't you be in tho same condition
| some time? Tho Stock Exchange is the most
| uncertain Of places. A man of your pur-
| suits is always living on mine"
| "Don't bother about me. | watch these
| thieves They can't hurt me. | always sleep
| with ono eye open, and they know 1t. CHI
| cago is sharper than New York. A man edu-
| Gated there can get on anywhere Robinson
| and I-you know Robinson, of st. Louis
haven't got caught yet, and we don't intend
boys, and they know it"
| Six months later am ehaking hands with
| Robinson in Exchange place, and refer to
| Brown, hoping he is still prosperous.
| az wish he were; but the fact is that he is
! broken down. That big tumble in Western
| Union hurt him irreparably, and he had q
| stroke of paralysis the next week, and no
| hasn't been down town since. 1t was partial
| only but it makes Brown look old. He's
| grown fifteen years older since last June.
| His sudden success turned his head, and
| he went in too Deep I'm afraid he hasn't
| much left A man in Wall street has to
| learn when to DO bold and when to be eau
| tious, end Brown never learned this. 1t was
| one of tho first lessons that learned, and
| learned it thoroughly. I've been operating
| here six or seven years, and in that time Two
seen scores of fellows ruined. But I've never
| been crippled even and ascribe my uniform
| success to Judgment. Some people call it
| luck Bah, thers's no such thing as luck"
"But is not your Judgment falliblea One
1 can not always keep on the right side of
| the marketF'
'Few can; but I am one of the few"
| One evening, just after week Of great
| disturbance in stocks, a disturbance almost
| approaching panic, ran upon well known
L OrOHGT, many Vi WuOoc Cuobuuttlb u u Al Oui
| the west. We fell to talking of the disasters
/ of the week, and he mentioned that Robinson
| had lost lot of money on Manhattan, and
| his margined stocks had been sold out. "He
| must have lost several hundred thousand dol
lars, may be $4,000. He is going to st.
| Louis to dispose Of some real estate belong
| ing to his wife. who has entire confidence in
| him and his ability, and with the new stake
he will enter tho street again
| "You have been stock broker long
| while,n / asked an acquaintance lately,
''what do you candidly think of speculationl
| What Is tho result of your observations Is
| much money made in Wall streetp
| "Almost nothing Men who make in one
| thing lose in another. Two been twenty-five
| years in the street, and OF the hundreds who
| have operated on margins through me l can
scarcely recall half dozen who have not
| suffered in the long run. The truth is nine
teen out of every twenty men-perhaps
thirty-nine out of forty-are gamblers by
Constitution. And when they begin gam
| bling they don't know when to leave off. No
| one can imagine what misery and crime
| Wall street causes unless he is on the inside
! often wish / had gone into some other
business. have seen so much Of the evil Of
| speculation that never speculate myself
| since then my Dfokef IIleHu mas ialieu ny
his rash attempt to keep up "A line Of stocks
that had been dropping for months, and it is
doubtful ii he can resume He is reported to
me as a desperate Spectator for man of his
means, though for many years he was one of
the most conservative members Of the board
The worst thing about Wall street is that it
ruins men morally not less than financially.
The habit of specializing is as bad as dram
drinking or opium eating. No one knows,
when he begins, where he viii end. full
course Of Wall street is apt tosap the founda-
tions Of character debauch the sentiments,
| overthrow every principle. 1t begets with
the successful lust Of greed which nothing
tr