Tombstone epitaph., 1891-03-01
A LIFE OF SPECULATION. T
Nerves Shattered by Gaining o1,O00 One
 Hour and Losing It the Next.

Hour and Losing It the Next.
 The following question was recently submitted to the Hon. Stephen Van Cullen White. whose reputation as a financier and Wall street Ihillie nairc is of national fame.
 What effect in your opinion and from your opportunities of observation has life of speculation upon the mind and through it upon the nerves and body of a man3 By speculation is hero meant especially dealing ill stocks or grain on the floor of the ex change, or on the street, or both"
 He said: Your question is ex tremely generic, and would admit of q volume in reply and then not ex- haust the subject. It is question more suited to a medical practitioner who has had a stock exchange ,lientage than to one of the victims But as you honor me by your inquiry with an implied expression of the be- lief that may know something to in. terest your readers, 1 will speak as from the pew and not the pulpit upon your text. All business in which a man buys more than he needs for his use and for the use of his family i speculation, and there is an element of danger of failure in any business where a man buys more than he has ready cash to pay for. Every mer chant engaged in general merchandise business, at wholesale or retail, is a speculator, and one who buys on credit is always in more or less dan. ger of failure in business. Whoever has business risk has anxiety till the prospective outcome has made itself clear, Then. If piospectively the ven ture is to become successful, what was anxiety becomes in part collaboration at success, and if a loss is developed, actual or prospective, the anxiety ano care are increased. All mental anxiety tells on the nervous system. If it is great enough to cause sleeplessness it wears fast. But if the sufferer has good digestion, strong and equable circulation and avoids excess of eat. ing and drinking, he can for long time defy anxiety, whether it is chronic or acute. Now, the only diff. ference between stock speculation on the exchange and a country stor upon invoice of general merchandise is that the amount bought or sold in stocks is generally larger in propor. ton to capital employed, and, more important still, the stock exchange prices furnish constant barometer by which that speculator can con. stantly measure his losses or hi, profits, while constant fluctuations all of which he notices, keep him { constant pendulum between a smile and tear. If a merchant goes inte business on $10,O he can buy from $15, 900 to $25,G00 worth of goods If speculator goes in with $10, GOO he can buy S1O0,0OO worth of stocks. The merchant wants two to four months before he can estimate his profit or loss. The stock speculator finds that in an hour he has a profit of say $10,- 900 which he may take; the next hour the profit is all gone, the next he sees loss of S1, 800, and at night he quits the market full of anxiety with prob ably loss of $500 to commence the next days watch of fluctuations. But added to these daily and normal fluctuations there is the effect of panics, which usually occur at the end of a protracted season of prosperity, and the profits of weeks are hopelcssly swept away in an hour. Now 1 think if l were medical man l should not be afraid to express the belief that quick transition from 0 Panama sur bath to Dakota blizzard would have a tendency to produce colds and if t.e victim had weak lungs it might natur. ally end in phthisis pulmonalis. unless death occurred from shock and gave q more speedy exit. In the same way, reasoning priori, l would always guess that a nervous man would come out of series of panics with shattered nerves. This reasoning is well backed up by the record of men in active speculations whom I have. known within the last twenty-five years Among the so called successful men probably the wealth which others covet may have been bought at toe dear cost, even if corroding care car ever be paid for by money."-Brnok- CT