The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-01-01
BRlcE ADMITS HE'S BUYING.
One of the Senators Who Does Not Share
f.. the Stock Scare.

One of the Senators Who Does Not Share
'... the Stock Scare.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.-The heavy
buying orders which poured from
Washington into Wall street yester-
day, as announced exclusively in The
World, were not from senators and
representatives alone. There is no
city in the country where a"good
thing is so quickly recognized by the
general public as in Washington.
Hundreds of Government Clerks and
business men, who for years have
kept closely in touch with Treasury
operations and the movement of mar
kets, were alert and buying.
The heavy operatorsat the Capitol,
of whom Senator Brice, Senator Jones,
Of Nevada, and Senator Cameron are
the most conspicuous examples, place
their orders directly in New York by
wire, and not through Washington
brokers. As rule they are reticent
about their financial transactions, but
yesterday witnessed an exception to
the rule, and there was free express
sion of opinion that the opportunity
for investment was of the kind that
happens not oftener than once in five
years, and that they were utalizing it
to the limit. b.
Senator Brice did not hesitate to &C.
knowledge the part he was taking.
He even seemed to think that he was
doing patriotic and public service in
coming to the support of the market
by buying. eyes" said, he 81 am
buying. and / reckon a good many
others are, not only here, but all over
the country"
A well known Eastern senator,
whose face is familiar in Wall street,
said tonight: 'There has been a heavy
buying movement, not only from
Washington, but from elsewhere. I
see signs, too, that the small investors
have been buying stocks outright, not
for temporary speculation, but with
q longer purpose. The opportunity is
of the sort which thousands recognize
and take advantage of.
ssH on January you could examine
the books of the hundreds of savings
banks in New England, New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania you
would find that their deposits had
shrunk millions of dollars. I speak
advisedly. That money will have
gone into stocks where wise heads have
taken advantage of weak ones. 1t is
strange but true that the weak heads
are generally the professional specu-
lators who got scared, while the wise
heads of people who do not know what
the inside of a stock exchange looks
like, but who have faith that common
sense will never permit a war between
Great Britain and the United States. -
There is a big Western cattle raiser
in Congress. No one would dream
that he knew anything about puts and
calls margins, bulls or bears. A
World correspondent asked him yes
terday about the Beef Trust. Don't
know and don't care, he said. ''I'm
too busy buying railroad stocks. This
is q cinch," and he rushed for the tele-
graph office.
A California senator, commenting
on the unexplainable vagaries Of
speculation, referred to the decline of
Pacific Mail from 80 to 81 during the
Scare. 'What arrant nonsense, " said
he. %'oThat stock has fallen on the
theory that in case of war the com
;pany's business would be smashed.
Yet 1t is certain that in the event of
hostilities the Government would buy
every Pacific Mail Steamer it could
getand pay a big price for them at
that" ~ ...., b..
The general opinion of the specula-
tive contingent at the Capitol is that
there may be still further fluctuations.
but over narrowing range, and that
before the week is over the tide will
turn and move strongly upward
New York World. -.