Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-23
THE INSIDE OF WALL STREET
Midsummer Dizziness the Condition Now Can the
Big Men Manufacture Boom?
BIZ EDWIN LEFEvRE.

lator and so good a judge of the value of
railroad stocks Mr.. James r. Keene was
bear on Northern Pacific at $50 share.
and other experts were moro than suspi-
cious OF President Miller's reports and his
reduction OF operating expenses because
they were SO good. Yet that same stock
sold at above 500 a share this week. and
according to Mr.. Hill. it is worth more
than that. All this is in order to eliminate
the question Of whether present prices will
seem too high or too cheap six months
public comes in It will be to gamble rather
than to scrutnize securities from the point
of view Of conservative investors
1t is a safe enough assumption that the
American public is always ready to gamble
The same public now also has money. but
whether 1t will risk 1t or not Is another
after" when the Northern Pacific panic on
May 0, 1901. suddenly brought sanity and
huge losses to thousands of stock-mad
gamblers. big and little, who had made the
biggest boom in our history, is not forgot
ten. though since then We have had the sec
ond largest bull movement, following the
depression of 1903. The most interesting
point to consider is the effect of the cam
paign of education waged in the magazines
and newspapers during the past year or
two. 1t was not so long ago that the
financial rulers were almost deifed; their
careers and methods Were lauded to the
skies; it did not seem possible that such
natural-born leaders could do wrong, and
all man had to do was to get aboard when
they said so and then hold all his pockets
and a couple of valiSes open for the I'M
earned but always welcome money to drop
in a matter of course. Since then we
have gone to the other extreme, and finan-
cial writing has become one continued de
nunciation, the more frenZed the better
1t so happened that sensational disclosures
of grating methods gave confirmation to
ft,n II holi tt,,f Irtr
our grand incubator Of fraudulent practices
and that the men who were It's recognized
leaders existed merely to part the fool pub
lie from it's money. That all sorts and
conditions of men the country over can be
seized with the stock gambling mania as
they were in the spring of 1901 does not
seem possible, and yet the history of Wall
street Is that such phenomena are recur-
rent There has never been the time when
Wall street has not been bitterly denounced
as the hotbed of financial iniquity and the
place where the unwary can drop their
hard-earned shekels with neatness and dis
patch. 1t was only in the lulls of the abuse
storms, lulls which cams because the public
was too prosperous to be spiteful against
the "moneyed powers" that Wall street
had its innings because the public willed II.
The public just now has the money, and is
keeping it. VIII 1t continue wise?
\
There is no telling. Manipulation can do
wonders. 1t may be very persuasive. 1t
generally can lead horse to water, but 1t
cannot always make 1t drink. The powers
that be may think the time is ripe for the
attempt. and they may make 1t. Whether
the public will follow can no more be fore
told than the shrewdest theatrical manager
can tell whether his latest production will
be a success or than publisher can tell
whether the book he Is bringing out will be
one of the best six sellers. These men are
cited because their business consists of try
ing to please the public, and they study in
cessantly to ascertain what the public
wants. The men who make bull markets in
Wall street are also forced to study the
public's taste no less than business or finan-
cfal conditions. The most interesting point
will be the character of the manipulation.
In addition to the use OF such devices as
may revive the gambling desire, these men
must first work to overcome the spirit of
distrust that is so widely prevalent just
now. 1t complexities their problem and
makes their work more difficult That is
why the bull campaign, if one is planned
on a large scale by the great financiers,
must be psychological first and secondarily
financial. The pros and cons seem fairly
well balanced. But the public is an uncer-
tain creature in its wisdom and in its folly.