Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-29

millionaires who will plunge at the drop OF
the hat In the second rank also must ne
Included the philadelphia crowd consist
ing of the street railway magnates and Mr.
Thomas f. Ryan and the Pennsylvania
railroad set and Mr.. Edward j. Berwind.
These second rank men, in the aggregate.
probably can swing as large line or
stocks the great leaders. but their sup
ply Of loaded dice IL smaller and their oper-
atoms are much more speculative IN cnaf-
acter, for Kuhn. Loeb & Co. ana J. r. MOI
gan & Co. must always keep an eye on the
Investor and on their credit before the pup
lie as bankers. They are more concerned
with marketing securities IN bulk than IN
catching fluctuations on speculative lines.
There are of course scores of big com
mission firms which have some very rich
men for customers, whose assistance Is de-
sired by all tie leaders and they are forever
forming or going into pools There are also
cliques like the Smelter people, whose re-
sources enormous and their operations
at times corresponding scale. But the
interesting thing about the recent rise mas
been the number of Independent pools that
have had the courage of their convictions
without bothering to ascertain II the great
powers of the street augustly approved or
not. And II was interesting for this rea-
son. That the men with stocks who Will
try to coax the public to gamble are thus
shown to be far more numerous than the
PUBIC at large TediZeS, DeEaUSe tHeii
names do not appear very frequently In the
newspapers.
Prices of the standard railway securities
have ruled so high so long that 1t has been
felt by the professionals of the street that
the public would fight shy of buying stocks
which were selling on a gilt-edged invest
ment basis The prosperity of the country
which were not over-robust two years ago
are now doing exceedingly well. Industrial
stocks which were compelled to reduce or
to pass dividends in 1903 and sold down TO
a few dollars share are now Dig money
makers. In all these companies there are
inside groups, men who have stock mar
ket affiliations and friends who are wiling
to accept tips One after another these
stocks have been taken in hand and the
prices marked up. In some instances the
manipula tive work has been clumsily done;
that is to say, inartstlcally ana uncon-
vincngiy. But in others the price has risen
because the insiders and their friends have
bought more than the outsiders were will
ing to sell at the low figures. In many
cases the advances have been either SO
great or so sudden as to justify doubts OF
their legitimacy. but there Is no question
that many industrial shares can properly
sell at higher figures on the basis of real
earnings and improved conditions.
The point obviously is that each of the
minor conspirators has friends who may be
induced to gamble by reason of real IN
side information" And each of the friends
has other friends. The big bankers tell
few friends and the newspapers do the rest.
the bankers of course seeing to 1t that the
market corroborates their optimistic views.
The western plur gers VIII buy such enor-
nous blocks of stocks, whenever they
think the time propitious, that they make
a very decided impression on sentiment.
They. however, appeal primarily to the
lesser professionals. But when you come TO
the innumerabe little groups of insiders IN
scores of stocks who tell Their friends what
to do you have an army of tlp-givers that
aims at the publ:c's pocketbook no less
eagerly than the big leaders For that rea-
son alone the recent squirt was slgnlncant.
1t showed that If monetary conditions per
NIT an effort will be made by vast num-
Der of capitalists to transfer the load from
their shoulders to the public's such as new
er before was made. And. barring accl-
dents IT looks very much as If when the
right time comes the public VIII perform It's
usual trick of buying stocks at the hlgh
leyeI-the invitations to do so Will be so
numerous so urgent, so appetlZns that
they will be Irresistible. This is altogether
apart from the triiing detail OF real
values