The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-12
for 1Wnnnen.

OG$A @&&k4A
DO women speculategs is a question
asked only BY those who know very lit
tie about speculation. or women either.
When SO small a capital as $40, sometimes
even less, IS all that is necessary to es-
tablish the possibility of making a for
tune. it could not be expected tina wom-
en- would long keep out of the game.
And they ave not. Sometimes they pa
tronize the same brokers that men do
and outstrip their competitors on their
own ground. More often. indeed increas-
ingly often, they seek offices established
expressly for them and devote themselves
to the stock ticker in absolute secIusfon
from the curious eyes of masculine
friends.
Various interesting lside-lights on wom-
ems methods of trading in the stock mar
ket may be obtained by visiting some
comfortable establishment Ike one in
New York hat has been recently fitted
up. Women come here every day as early
as 10 in the morning n spend the entire
day. Some are young women, airy n
reckless in squandering whatever money
they have. others are g~ray-hafred ma
irons of 60 or 70, who watch the 1uctua-
lions of stocks with the keen-eyed sag
acity born of long years of experience.
Some are wealthy and prosperous, and
show it; others ~arefshabby. haggard and
hopeless-luek has not turned their way.
They like to come down here" said
@ha N r4,opaon pho hos ohor of the
women's offices, because it is nearer
the market and they appreciate the adj
vantages of getting. the news at the
soonest possible moment Then all the
transactions here are perfectly reliable.
1t is very different from a bucket shop
and on a higher plane Probably a still
stronger reason why they like to have
Offices of their own is because it is Sc
cret. Most R8 ting ~wemenswho come here
woal feelV Highly xinsulted If any one
suggested that. rheD were gambling, yet
they woulHa1ot have their friends know
what they 10 FOR anything in the world.
Many of them have husbands WHO stern
ly for bid them to speculate. Yet they
come here Just the same and MP one
ever knows the difference. Women seem
to take naturally to coneealment. They
are particularly fond of concealing their
names and qaddrssses-s T-hree-duarters OF
the names we have on our books are
Smiths and Browns
Sometimes, however" continued this
experienced young person. .they have ex-
ceedingly good reason for keeping back
their true names. Last winter a woman
came to our office who called herself Mrs.
Brown. Her first speculation was made
or the first of January, and from then
until the last of February she never lost
a point. That seemed wonderful to her,
and 1t certainly was very unusual, though
! understood the reason for It. All that
time the market had gone one way
Stocks rose higher and higher. Mrs.
Brown was stemperamentally a bull" that
Is to say, she would never sell. conse-
suently every dollar that she put in in
CREASED ten fold. One day stocks began
to fall, and Mrs Brown, for the first time
lost. After a few days of losing she came
to me one night and said that she could
not come the next day and had no more
money with her. but besought me. almost
weeping. to bold her Southern Pacific for
her IN case the value should drop. She
begged me to assure the broker that she
would make the money up when she re-
turned.
II liked the woman. and we had grown
into intimacy I trusted ner. So when
Southern Pacific fell I told the broker
that Mrs.. Browns margin was three
I mes as large as it was. Her stocks
were held.
Two days after I telephoned her and
found she had given me the wrong num-
Der: I wrote to her md found she had
gwen me a wrong name. She never
came to the Office again. The broker, to
whom ! told the whole story, saw that I
was young and had been deceived and
made up the $500 which had been lost
through me"
do you find 1t necessary to be on
you guard against such women?,
Indeed we do. Women are known to
be tricky In their specuIations. They
are not as honest as men, and they are
not as good alLround spectators. They
Jump at conclusions, draw rash differences
and as a rule lack caution. Yet there is
absolutely nothing that will discourage a
woman who has once felt the fascination
Of handling stoeks
She may lose every cent she has and
she will borrow money and return. She
may grow weak and old, yet she viii
come here day after day, year after
year. The most pathetic example have
ever seen of this persistency was a
young woman who began her career in
a very prosperous condition, She vas of
good family and wealthy. Her sister.
however. had charge Of her money and
knowing the young speculatorsg weak
ness. limited her to a monthly allow
ance. rather than allowing her to squan-