Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-03-28

and many q suffering youth. unmindful
of pain, has hurried along to make his
deliveries and save hig employer from
loss.
Like every other institution, the Board
of Trade has q nomenclature peculiar TO
itself. Those who believe the market
will advance, and play the game on that
theory, are called bulls" while bears
are men who expect to see prices decline
and accordingly sell that they may profit
termed publish" and 'bealish" when
falling. il.
Bulls and bears. in the just sense OF
the terms, are your true spectators.
They adhere to their theory of an adj
vance or fall. and don't turn aside from
it until convinced OF their error.
The "scalper" may be termed the bush
whacker OF speculation. He acts in the
present. He is a bull or q bear as he
can see a chance to nip a small profit,
say a split" or Lie of a cent. He
watches the movements OF other and gem
orally larger operators, and takes advan-
tage of little advances and breaks which
may continue but a few minutes, and
which the genuine SPECTATOR. particu-
larry if he be Il "plunge or heavy oper-
ator, contemptuously ignores. The
scalper is of n cowardly nature. pos
sessed of but a small amount of gimp"
or snap.
The term corner" is pretty generally
understood, md is not confined to
Board OF Trade transactions. 1t means
the controlling of the visible supply in
the III .rket of the particular commodity.
By this means prices can be forced up to
almost any figure desired. since shorts
those who have sold-cannot obtain
the goods to deliver to the "longs-those
who have bought-without paying the
price demanded.
The troub o with corners is that thew
very often-in fact. in q clear majority of
cases-fail to corner, and in that event
the losses are commensurate with what
the gains might have otherwise been.
Not only are millionaires thus bankrupt
ed but thousands of small fry, wLo have
pinned their faith ana invested their last
dollar i'll the success or failure of the
scheme, go down with them.
Puts" and calls" are terms of very
general use. They are frequently called
privileges. The buyer Of a put" pays a
certain sum for the privilege of selling
certain thing at ii certain price.
A call" is the privilege of buying on
the same terms. They are sold for small
sums, and the purchaser generally drops"
the amount invested. In cases of I'M
usual huctuation, however, large profits
are made on puts" and calls" In the
history Of the Board. $4,000 has more
than once been made from an investment
OF 500. "straddle" is a combined put
and call, and is taking chances both
Ways.
A large portion of the buying and SELL
ing is done by brokers: Many of these
act for wealthy operators, who not III
frequently have several brokers' on the
floor at the same time. operating, to all
appearances, at cross-purposes. There
are many tricks among Spectators, and
messing is as useful on the Board OF
Trade as in a game of whist.
Many of C~hicago's people speculate
through a broker on the board. The real
harvest of the latter comes, however,
from the countrymen. or more properly,
the residents of small cities and towns.
These, dazzled by the fortunes of which
they continually read as having been
made In a day, are constantly pouring
money into that insatiate hopper Of
speculation. from whence it passes into
a mill. the tolls of which are exceedingly
heavy.
Granting that the small outside orer-
ator is as likely to win us lose, and has
CAPT ! to carry on his speculations, he
is, ID the long run, almost certain to quit
a loser; for. by reason of continual
grindine, the entire grist is consumed by
the broker in the form OF commissions
tolls.
Board of Trade men are. for the most
part, Il rolllcking set. At times they act
like a lot Of schoolboys, playing on each
other all manner Of lranks. IF IL had
the value Of all the hats that have been
destroyed Oh the Chicago Beard of Trade,
he would be a wealthy man. Sticking
burningpapers in hats. and employing sam
pies OF -four over each other, are common
Many of the large fortunes of Chicago
We're amassed on the board, and many Of
the heaviest operators were once poor
men, and that not manyyears ago, either.
Many a man, prosperous for a time,
gone down under a run of 1ll-luck.