The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-26

d. Appleton & Co. are publishing Bust
ness Series. the first of which, Funds and
their Uses" has been noticed. The second
of the series is entitled 1.-The Work or Wall
Street" and Trust Finance" will soon be
out. The work on Wall street is written
nv Serene e Pratt, who is thoroughly IA
miliar with his subject. The general i'm
preston of the country regarding Wall
street is not fiattering. Putting the pub
lie opinion into a few words, Wall street
Is the place where no value is created, but
wbere a few men make millions by getting
the dollars of an army of men who put up
their money on the rise or fall OF stocks
very much as they would bet on a horse
race. The reading of THE Work of Wall
Street. does not entirely relieve one of that
impression in spite of the fact that the
author treats Wall street as one Of the
beneficent institutions of the country. The
first chapter is devoted to the evolution
of Wall street, In which there is an inter-
esting description of Wall street at differ
emit periods and references to the tragic
scenes from time to time on the New York
Stock Exchange. The author concludes the
chapter with the declaration that 1.-The stock
market will no doubt continue TO show the
same contrasts of panics and booms, of in
telIigent investment and reckless specula-
ton. of splendid achievement and of scam
dalous dishonesty, ana with the preuic-
tion that wall street in the twentieth
century will show forth more of glory than
of shame" If any reader desires to know
what a stock market is and what is done
there he will find the information he seeks
i'm Chapter 8. The author says the stocks
traded in on the Stock Exchange would be
worthless unless they represented value
present or prospective" II this Is true
MANY of those whose value is prospective
are so near worthless that their only value
seems to be the amount spectators will
bet on them In this chapter is given a
list of nine stocks of which 5.961.S21 shares
were listed, that being the number of actual
shares that could be delivered when sold.
vet every share was sold in brief period
nearly fifteen times. This was followed by
this chapter is a very interesting descrip-
tion of some of the leading operators in
stocks. Chapter 4, Values and Prices" is
both interesting and instructive. In this
chapter is shown the fluctuations of values
in stocks in q year. The reader Is shown
what constitutes value and how values are
affected The Spectator who sees nothing
but the fiuctuation of prices will lose his
money. but the man who studies all the
possibilities of a stock and stays with it
will be the winner. The next chapter is
devoted to the stock company. OF the vast
volume of stocks and bonds issued by d
thousand stock companies $13. 79l 6.3l7 is
listed I'm the New York exchange. The
clearing house of the Stock Exchange the
tools of Wall street, the methods employed
by stock brokers with their customers are
described The state of trade does rot de-
pend upon Wall street: it may control
prices but the country makes values. Any
notice of this interesting book which should
be confined to less than a couple of columns
can give no idea OF any portion of its con-
tents 1t Is one of the books which must
be carefully read in order TO get an ade-
ouate idea of the information which 1t con-
tain