The Lambertville record., 1888-02-15
SPECULATION'S VORTEX.
ANXIETY AND AGONY or ALTERNAT-
ING HOPE AND DESPAIR.

ING HOPE AND DESPAIR.
Wall Street an Excellent School for the
Study OF Human Nature-HOw Men Are
Swallowed Up in the whirIpool--sey-
eral 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 it is an excellent school,
meet acquaintance 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 S500,00 by his opera
tions
s'Jonesl Oh, they've scalped him That
last bear attack on the market cleaned him
out completely. He has gone home without
anything; and be had s400, 900 or $500, 900,
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.n
''He was all of that" remarks Smith.
''But 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, l 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
'sNot bit. They've tried il 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 1vpress the
hope that Smith is fourishing.
''Flourishingl Not exactly. Haven't you
heard what happened to hims 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 figure he used to cut at the Windsorl
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 the same condition
some timei The Stock Exchange is the most
uncertain of places. A man of your pur-
suits Is always living on mine.'
"Dont bother about me. l watch these
thieves. They can't hurt me. always sleep
with ono eye open, and they know it. 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
to be. We're as wide awake as any of the
boys, and they know it,
Six months later am shaking hands with
Robinson in Exchange place, and refer to
.f11art 4, fu ctf1
81 wish he were; but she fact is that he is
broken down. That big tumble in Western
Union hurt him irrcparably, and he had
stroke of paralysis the next week, and he
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 be hasn't
much left. A man in Wall street has to
learn when to be bold and when TO be eau
tious, and Brown never learned this 1t was
one Of the first lessons that learned, and
learned it thoroughly. I've been operating
here six or seven years, and in that time I've
seen scores Of fellows ruined. But I've never
been crippled even, and ascribe my uniform
success TO Judgment. Some people call 1t
luck Bah, there's no such thing as luck.n
But is not your Judgment falliblei One
can not always keep on tue right side Of
the market!a
Few can; but am one of the few
One evening, just after a week OF great
disturbance in stocks, a disturbance almost
approaching panic, ran upon a well known
broker, many Of whose customers are from
the west We fell to talking OF the disasters
OF the week, and he mentioned that Robinson
had lost a lot of money on Manhattan, and
bis margined stocks had been sold out. ''He
must have lost several hundred thousand dol
lars, may be S500,000 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 viii enter the street again"
"You have been stock broker long
WHILE / asked an acquaintance lately,
what do you candidly think of speculationi
What is the result OF your observationf Is
much money made in Wall streetg'
almost nothing Men who make In one
thing lose in another. I've been twenty-five
years in the street, and Of the hundreds who
have operated on margins through me can
scarcely recall half q dozen who have not
suffered in the long run The truth is nine.
teen out OF every twenty men-perhaps
thirty-nine ont Of forty--are gamblers by
constitution And when they begin gam
bling they don't know when TO leave off. No
ons can imagine what misery and crime
Wall street causes unless be Is on the inside.
l often wish / had gone into some other
bnEiness- have seen so much Of the evil Of
speculation that never speculate myself
Since then my broker friend has failed by
his rash atteinpt to keep up line of stocks
that had been dropping FOR months, and 1t Is
doubtful IL be can resume. He is reported to
me a. a desperate speculator 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 II
ruins men morally not less than financially
The habit OF speculating is as bad as dram
drinking or opium eating. No one knows,
when he begins, where he will end. A full
course OF Wall street is apt to sap the founda-
tions of character, debauch the sentiments,
overthrow every principle. 1t begets with
the successful a lust Of greed which nothing
can satisfy, and with the unsuccessful self
contempt, morbid anxiety, shattered nerves,
the agony of alternating hope and despair.
Wall street puts human nature in the gutter,
and keeps it there.-Junius Henri Browne IN
Globe Democrat.
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