St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-15

Mr.. Gould was by no means jns0lvent
rat the time. The question was whether
an assignment would not keep. his as
sets together in case of further depreci-
alton in the stock market. There was
no doubt that sooner or later there
would be recovery that would place
him where he was before the panic.
Mr.. Gould was greatly troubled, but
he proved himself, as he had before and
as he has since. the man for the occa-
sion. He saw that an assignment would
work vast injury to others, and to the
business interests of the country, and,
Furthermore, would destroy his prestige.
He pulled through, but 1t was an eX-
perience that he resolved never to sub
ject himself to again.
Since that eyentful period he has con-
centrated his interests. and has become
lender instead of a borrower of money.
Never was his fortune in such secure
shape as at present. It has been called
paper fortune" because it is wholly
in stocks and bonds, whose worth de-
ponds OH the quotations of the stock eX-
change.
1t is true that Mr.. Gould's wealth ex-
pandS and contracts as stocks advance
and decliue. but the fluctuations in it
are nowhere near as wide as they used
to be. Mr.. Gould'S millions are princi-
pally in three prOpertieS-the Western
Union Telegraph company, the Manhat-
tan Railway company (the elevated rail
way system of New York; and the Mis-
souri, Pacific railway (known as the
"GOuld Southwestern system"). The
securities of the first two have greatly
enhanced in the past few months.
1t is safe to say that Mr.. Gould is now
in position where it is impossible to
break him. He is worth 100000, 900.
The Westesn Union and the Manhattan
properties, in which over half of his
means are represented, are independent
properties, practically monOpOlies, and
are not subject to influences affecting
other concerns, whose securities are
dealt in OH the stock exchange. A rail
road rate war or protracted ''hard
times" would probably make great
difference III his holding of the securi-
ties of the Missouri Pacific and the
allied roads. which amount, all told, to
some S25,0O0,000.
1t is difficult to see how, under any
circumstances, there could be shrink
age of over one-fourth in Mr.. Gould's
wealth, and it is liable to even greater
Improvement. Mr.. Gould speculates
nowadays to no great extent. His am
billion to acquire riches has been salts
fed. 1t used to be the object of his life
to make himself the richest man on
earth. He has found out, however,
that one may acquire so much that it is
a burden to take care of it.
For most all of the big deals in Wall
street, pools are made up. Bull pools
are naturally far more numerous than
bear pools. The purpose of bull pool
is to collect a stock and make it scarce
stock to the bears, who have sold it
When the stock is called, the bears find
it hard to obtain. They bid higher and
higher for it, but still cannot obtain it
they are squeezed" They have to pay
whatever price the pool eXactS, and
whatever is their loss is the pools profit.
A bear pool is a combination made up
tosborrow stocks and sell them, with the
expectation of buying them later at
lower prices to return to the lenders.
There are usually great many stop
orders" in stOckS-OrderS to sell when
the price has fallen to certain point.
The bear pool relies on large amounts
of long stock being dislOdged and
thrown on the market to assist it in
bringing about lower prices.
Operations on the short side of the
market are attended with much more
risk than those on the long side. For
that reason the bears depend generally
on favorable circumstances for the sue
ess of their deals. The bulls, OH the
other hand, advance the market by
force.
When he was operating on large
scale, Mr.. Gould's first step in deal
was to get the outsiders on the wrong
track. He made people believe he was
doing exactly the opposite of what in
fact he was. If he desired to unload
stocks, he would talk them up and have
tho brokers who were known to do bus
mess for him buy them. But he would
have other brokers sell three times as
many stocks as were bought for him. II