Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-30
By EDWIN LEFEVRE.

Copyright 1905, by Mcclure. Phillips & Coz
There is one point on which both Wise
professionals and misguided outsiders thinf
alike. They assume that the big men OF
Wall street have but one object before
them. and that is the perennial considera-
ton of plans for parting the great Amer.-
can public from his money. 1t is not sc
much that they think the financial mag
mates wish to increase their bank accounts
all the time-whch is quite possibly true
as it is that the rnagnates are forever do
ing something or other to achieve this end
something deliberately planned, like a
Japanese campaign and iniauitously exc
cuted, like an Armenian massacre. The
average stock Spectator speaks of the high
powers as they" No names are mention
ed BY implication everybody who COM
mands enough battalions of dollars to make
himself felt is included. Somebody Is told
that they will put UP stocks or that
they are cunning for John w. Gates or
some other reckless plunger, or that they
will keep money easy until they have
marketed their stock holdings. 1t is an
impressive plural with something of the
weight that formerly attached to the edi-
torial we"
OF course. if you hear that they are
going to jack up Union Pacific, you see
a vision of Messrs. Hartman and Schiff
and possibly allies like James Stillman and
William Rockefeller industriously at Work.
If they" are at last going to move Rock
Island, the well-nformed speculator imme-
diately knows it must mean Daniel G. Reid
and w. H. Moore, possibly assisted by
financial associates like James Speyer. Ii
they are going to do something with
NJ Do tfn ss- tt,l
Gould and young John d. Rockefeller to
dodge the accusing finger of the tipster. In
such instances Of course they are not so
mysterious, for the Clique most intima tely
identified with particular stock is meant.
1t is when the goSsips generalize or when
broker seeks to explain broader mar
ket movement that they become mystic
riously imposing, almost symbolical
They are the implacable fates of the
street. always working together, and often
they" visioned a juggernaut
relentlessly rolling over the bodies of the
public-the same bodies, when squeezed.
yielding dollars. The more dollars that are
squeezed the greater becomes the crushing
power. The mighty car is weighted with
gold until they who are driving it, are
irresistible.
That the outside public, which is only
half familiar with half the facts, should hold
this superstitution Is easy enough to I'm
derstand. But many professionals, who
should know better, also share it. The
brute force of dollars will work wonders in
Wall street, brute force will in more
sanity places, but it does not follow that
it always wins out. But because this is
not realized it happens that whenever the
mob overstays it's market up goes the howl
that they have again buncoed the poor
public in the usual way. AS matter OF
fact, no fnancier or group of inancierS in
the they" class is one-tenth so rich as
the same poor public, but their resources
are more concentrated, their operations are
directed intelligently and with singleness
of purpose, whence the undenable sem
SiOnS when they are accused of having
deceived the public by manipulating stocks
or later of bludgeoning it into the helpless
ness that permits easy pocket-pickng. 1t
is then that they are dastardly, heart
less, incredibly mendacious; but also, The
mob bitterly comedies, marvelously adroit.
This curious delusion arises partly from an
exaggerated notion of the market opera
tons of the big men and partly from the
Unsuitable craving for explanations of stock
movements, not necessarily for correct ex-
plantations. but for any explanations.
Public Not Wholly Imbecilic.
The public, otherwise the lambs, is not
wholly composed of imbeciles. Among the
so-called outsiders who speculate you find
shrewd business men, lawyers and profess
-sional men of ability. They may not al
ways, indeed, they do not often, under
stand the game, but they are too intelligent
to plunge blindly into any enterprise. Be-
fore they buy or sell stocks they seek rea-
sons why they should SO buy or sell. But
those from whom they ask trustworthy in
formation are not always able to give it.
Yet the broker or the friend in Wall street
has TO say something: The lamb knows
that he knows nothing about the matter,
but assumes that the Wall street man does.
AS a matter of fact, what the average
Spectator half the time desires is not so
much a reason as it is an excuse. 1t may
be that the aroused gambling instinct dulls
the perceptions or Unbalances the reason
ing faculty so that ordinary prudence dis
appears. 1t is otherwise impossible to ex-
plain why intelligent men will risk thou
sands of dollars on insufficient information
or on no information at all. And there
fore when no other explanation Is handy,
it is always easy to say they" did 1t or
will do it. And the outsider believes 1t.
Why shouldn't he?
Wall street is the house CT suspicion.
The late Henry Keep used to say that )y-
ing in Wall street was downright stupid.
because everybody there expects lies, and
telling the truth is about the best way to
keep it from becoming known. l. must be
admitted that the high powers of the Street
are not always above ugly deeds.
But that all their actions are OF semi
criminal nature is arrant nonsense. More
than one piece of dirty work can be laid
a more than one door, but there Is no