The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-24
The Wall Street Speculative Craze.

The Wall Street Speculative Craze.
Thu proper time to witness a display
of fireworks is when the show is on.
and most active. Wall street is lust
now the scene of the widest specula-
ton since the traffic in gold during
the Civil war In the autumn of 1879,
following the resumption of specie pay
ments Jan. l of that year, a boom In
stocks began which led to a rise of
great proportions. That campaign was
almost exactly similar to the present,
but the transactions never aggregated
the volume now recorded of more than
one million shares daily. Furthermore.
the list of shares dealt in did not con-
tain One-half the number of today. At
the beginning of the boom of 1879 the
prices of stocks were low throughout
the list. The rise was gradual and did
not acquire its full force until late
in September. From that time on for
months the upward movement con-
tinued, and the daily transactions
ranged from 900 to 500 900 shares.
Big fortunes were made. Instances
were frequent in which men going into
the street with a. few hundred dollars
soon had sums of $4,000 and 100000
to their credit. But the instances were
just as frequent of those who had been
thus successful remaining in until they
had lost all they had made and were
compelled to depart in debt and al
most in beggary.
From distance the scenes in Wall
street today as they are reported in
the dispatches are possessed of some
fascination to the uninitiated But de-
spite the brilliancy of the display as
reflected in the mounting of prices to
dizzy heights there are many dark
shadows. as there must always be as
soclated with this method of money!
making. In periods of dullness it is
the professional trading element that
Keeps the stock exchange from abso-
lutte stagnation. When a genuine "bull'
campaign, such as the present, sets in.
and prices steadily advance, it is the
larger operators who make the large
money. One by one outsiders are at
tracted to the scene, and risk com
paratively small sums. and, by the ex-
erclSes of caution and discretion. these
sometimes operate with considerab BILE
success; but the fascination seizes
them; they cannot break away; at last
the tide turns and they go down with
1t. just as surely as they have gone
upward at the food. The tales of ruin
ment are yet to be told. and that in
hA md
evitable
The danger point is just at this time
making itself apparent. The Outside
public as it is styled is rushing to
Wall street in the hope of sharing in
some of the great profits that are now
being realized. These are the lambs -
They go into the market without ex-
perience or judgment; and because a
stock has advanced thirty or fifty
points, they reason that it is lust as
likely to advance as many more 1t is
upon this class of innocents that the
large operators, who know just how
much of an advance a particular stock
will stand and who have been profitine
by its gradual advance from the low
est to the highest quotations. quietly
unload their holdings, when, with this
strong support withdrawn, the stock
begins its descent, stranding the I'M
Initiated adventurer, and driving him
from the street shorn of his original
little all
This is the history of Wall street
and must continue to be so long as
speculation on margins is INDUCED in.
The eliminating point to the
boom begun in 1879 occurred Satur-
day, July 2,r1SS1, on receipt Of the news
of the assassination of President Car
heid. From that time onward the spir-
IL OF speculation waned. Subsequent, v.
however. many shares attained to high
figures. but under normal conditions
Of trading and upon their merits as
earners OF dividends. But the specu-
iative craze was ended. 1t has revived
now, however, and is raging even
more wildly than it ragged a score Of
years ago. There will undoubtedly ho
an ending, and it will probably com.
with the same abruptness with which
disasters have hitherto made thei,
advent in Wall street At present
however. there is nothing indicative
of a crisis; but neither was there IN
the dawn of the morning of BLACK
Friday in 1863; or of the 18th of Sep
TENDER, 1873, at noon of which dav
the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. was An
nounced. or on July 2, 1881, when Car
field was assassinated, or on the beam
tiful May morning of 1884 when Grant
e. Ward collapsed.
Let the pyrotechnical display con-
tiRue. 1t is pleasant to look upon. A
dark background is always assured
and the greater its density the more
brilliant and fascinating do the fig
ures appear against it. Smoke and
ashes. figuratively speaking, will mark
the'ruin." But may this condition be
leng averted .ssa@-