The times., 1899-06-04
SYSTEMS TO beat
THE STOCK MARKET
Plans Leading to the Slaugh-
ter Of Innocent Lambs.
Machine Roads Through Which
Many Expect to Reap Fortunes.
Wiii-o'-the-Wisps Only to FaIl
Into Quagmires.

! The New York despatch printed In The
! Times recently, telling Of company be-
ing formed in that city to boom machine
/ that VIII tell the future quotations Of
stocks and other securities and thus guide
its owners to assured fabulous wealth.
I started an old Washington specuiator or
on train of "reminiscences last night.
| These are some OF the things he said:
This machine Is system for beating
the stock market. II is like all the other
: systems that have ever been invented since
I the world began to beat games Of chance.
i the stock market among them. and chief
of the lot. They are all founded on the
! simple proposition that a nickel viii never
/ turn up heads always unless II is a queer
/ nickel with both sides heads. The people
| who bet their money on this proposition
and double their bets are sure to win In
/ the end-if their money does not give out
| and If the nickel is on the square. Wash
/ ington has great number OF system play
| ers- The race meets always bring out one
! large group and in the old times the faro
layouts had their many devotees- One OF
the horse race system players asked me
TO stake him to a dinner not long ago and
[ promised as an inducement to tell me Of an
absolutely sure thing in the way OF system
He explained that hiss pile had only been
| a thousand dollars and that it gave out on
the very last race before he would have
| won everything back and hundred more
with it.
But 1 am particularly Interested in the
people who play the stock market by sys-
/ TEN, because Just at present they are
( most numerous. the great craze for spec
ulation has attracted people to the stock
market who have never known what mar
I gins were before. and who couldn't tell
| you the difference between a put and a
ATlllh ~
/ Government clerks invest their monthly
salaries in Continental Tobacco. and wild
ows and orphans buy Sugar Young
Mems Christian Association members dal-
I iy with International Paper. and Sunday
day school superintendent pin their faith
! to Air Brake
THE course of these new people in
speculation is almost always along the
same line and the results very se.dom dif-
/; fer. Your new speculator begins near the
\ end of a great boom in stock priees that
has surprised the entire country, the old
spectators, and the professionals. The
stories he reads in the newspapers OF enoF--
! nous fortunes being made, and of the ap-
parently endless advance in prices, after
/ everybody who ought to know has begun
to predict a big decline finally makes an
| impression on ni-I t5at +. cannot resist
( He waits and hesitates and watches the
movements Of stocks fiom day to day. and
7 they always seem 10 go exactly as he had
{ predicted they would. There is a period
/ during which he invests certain sum in
imagination simply and watches it grow
from day to day.
When he really puts up a margin with
broker he usually wins at first because
( the bull movement Is not yet over. His
/ account sweils and he buys more stocks.
7 He begins with 100 shares and inside of
! hes - in Oh Iat
I This plan naturally wins-for the other fell
I low in the end When the end OF the
boom does come decline of three or four
points wipes out all the winnings that have
been made in a twenty-point advance.
( 1t is at this point that the new specu-
lator invariably begins TO listen TO the song
Of the system player. He discovers this
very clever gentleman. somewhat shabby.
and possibly red of nose, sitting quietly in
! corner Of some brokers' Office. studying q
group of figures in a small book. At in
Jervals this gentleman places new figures
in his book with infinite satisfaction The
new speculator who has been bitten in his
first round soon learns that this book con-
tains an absolutely sure thing in the way
of a system to beat the stock market. The
owner of the system is usually entirely
willing TO share his gold mine Some
times he suggests that the new speculator
divide profits, but usually he wishes simply
TO be a benefactor TO mankind. This old
hand never plays his system himself He
has the utmost faith in it, but has never
been able since the time when his first
pile did not quite hold out, TO try again.
The Government clerk or Sunday school
superintendent studies the system long
and earnestly. and it seems TO him to DO
an excellent thing There is only one Giffi-
culty-the same that is encountered in
matching nickels. But this is so remote
that the old-timer very soon conyiuces
him that It will not Interfere with the
practical working of the game.
'.Atchison preferred has been down to so
eight times, the old-timer suggests. 1t
has been down to 80 IL twice. 1t has
never been below that this year. Buy At
Gibson preferred when it gets down TO 60
and sell it at 62. 1t is of course, possible
that it may go TO 80 1-2 after you buy it.
If this occurs buy more
"Atchison preferred, however. fuctuate5
around this level for time and then tn
accountably begins TO go lower. Nothing
can explain it, When Atchison preferred
is selling at SO this new devotee OF the
system sells out, and then his stock be-
gins to advance again. This Is the sim
plest form of system The explanation Is
very clear. The system has not failed. but
the wheat crop in Kansas No system
could stand against failure of the wheat
7 CIOp III hduSdS-
The chart maker is a student Of much
the same idea in more elaborate form.
He watches fluctuations over longer peri
ods. The chart system OF beating the
stock market has Wall Street publica-
ton devoted exclusively to expounding Its
merits Several Washington people who
keep charts went broke when Governor
Flower died.
"A third system consists in simply fol-
lowing the rule to take point or two
, profit always and never to take loss.
People all over the country are followers
, of this plan Stocks fiuctuate every day.
lis deyotees point out You can usually
, take your profit of point every day on any
: active stock You cannot lose, Of course.
| il YOU will never take loss, but hold your
stock until its price shows you winner.
This system is naturally unassailable as
| theoretical proposition. All that one must
be careful about in playing this game Is
not to buy stocks at so high price that
he may die before they reach the same
i. level again. And naturally this plan does
not take into account the fact that com
! pany may cease to exist.
1.-The people who played this system in
1887 are still holding their Missouri Pacific
at 112 Since that time Missouri Pacific
, has been down to 10 and would have re-
quired over 100 points margin to protect
il to say nothing of the interest on the
! money invested. u is now selling at A.
The end Of all the sure plans for beating
the market is the same. There have been
instances where luck and noS the system
has won money for time, and then more
luck has induced the player OF the game 10
give it up and take away his winnings. But
they are rare.
THE old advice is the only absolutely
\ tTa1I nat