Evening star., 1901-05-31

when they are cheap, and even when gen.
eral conditions improved in the United
States the speculative investor here was
not to be tempted. Certain OF the sinister
persons who loomed large in American
railway finance a decade ago may have
disappeared, but their deeds live after
them, and the frantic proceedings in New
YORK on Thursday are not calculated TO
arouse enthusiasm for American railway
shares on this side of the Atlantic.
A few professional operators here have
been severely hit; others who got in at an
early stage in the advance have made for
tunes. One lucky individual bought Atchi-
sons at "a and sold them at 30. Another
man changed his tactics three times and
lost on each occasion. When he bought
there was a reaction, when he sold a rise
set in, and finally he bought at the very
top prices of the boom. In normal times a
rise Of five points is considered a handsome
profit. but in the mad speculation OF recent
weeks profits Of forty and fifty points have
been realized by men who plunged into
the vortex.
The American public seems to have
rushed madly into the gamble. Owing to
the industrial prosperity which has pre-
vailed in the United States vast sums of
money have been made by the people and
many Of those who participated in the
commercial boom have apparently hastened
to pour their gains into the Golfers of Wall
street magnates.
Meanwhile the fierce struggles of the
money kings for supremacy have brought
lesser people to the ground, and the spasms
OF Wall street are drawing pious homilies
on the horrors Of gambling from those who
were afraid to buy when prices were low.
Rules of the Game.
There have been wild scenes in Capel
court before now, but the rules of the
game as it is played in London do not con-
duce to the frantic. frenzied excitiment that
characterized Thursdays proceedings in
New York. In Wall street transactions
entered into have to be settled oU the same
day; an operator who is cornered has no
time to pull himself together. Here on
the other hand. fortnightly settlements are
the rule. and many things may happen in
fortnight. Even if the worst comes to
the worst the agony is drawn out, and
though the end may be disastrous, it does
not come like thunderbolt from the blue.
The immediate cause of Thursdays crash
was simple enough. Two great financial
groups were competing to obtain control of
the Northern Pacific railway. and each was
greedily buying up the company'S shares
The sensational rise in the price that fol-
lowed induced selling on the part of those
who had no shares to deliver, and in the
end the buyers had purchased a larger
number of shares than were actually in ex-
istence. Then followed bear squeeze
The people who could not deliver the shares
they had sold were stricken with panic
They obviously could not hand over what
they did not possess, and they were abso-
lutely at the mercy of the buyers, who could
have called the price not 81 900, but s10.-
600 per share if they had chosen. 1t is re-
ported that in order to obviate absolute
disaster certain great financiers have re-
solved not to insist on the delivery of the
Northern Pacific they have bought-an out
burst of philanthropy they well afford
to indulge in.
The difficulties in which spectators found
themselves over Northern Pacifics caused
them to sell other shares on a wholesale
scale, and then came the deluge.
A Mistaken Enthusiast.
Meanwhile, Throgmorton street is COM
paratively tranquil. 1t has not always been
thus. During previous American booms
madly excited shouting crowds have surged
in Shorter's court after the stock exchange
has been closed. There is story of wild
eyed foreigner, mistaken as to the nature
of the assembly. adding to the din by cry
ing ''Vive la revolution.'
The reason that Americans are dealt in
after stock exchange hours is to be found
in the difference in London and New York
time. Thus when Wall street is opening
for the day Capel court is about to close its
doors; hence the adjournment to what is
known to the stock exchange as ''the
street" An old stock exchange hand pass
ing through "the street. on Thursday night
declared that he had seen greater excite
ment in Shorter's court during much more
peaceful times than are now being expert
enced in New York. 1t is Uncle Jonathan
on the present occasion who is suffering
from SpaSmS.