Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-31
THE INSIDE OF
WALL STREET
BY EDWIN LEFEvRn.

In Many ways the STOCK market during
the greater part of the year just ended has
been q bull market under protest, as It
were So great have the advances in GER
tain stocks been that 1t is not strange that
more than one observer should wonder
that the entire country did not go stock
mad Such performances as. for instance.
those in Shelters. Reading and Tennessee
Coal and Iron have been due to operations
which the street IL accustomed to see only
during wild hooms. But for all that. the
market has steadily been a two-sided az
fair, at least SO far as the opinions Of
equally intelligent judges went. In the mat
ter of prices there has been but one really
profitable side, and that was the bull. The
annual financial reviews will contain de-
tailed statistics showing the exact appre-
citation In stock values and the history Oh
some OF the more sensational movements.
but some OF the more unique characteristics
will not be treated, for the reason that the
underlying causes are confused and con-
fusing, and time must elapse before all
the particulars come to light.
Too Rich to Be Frightened.
There were enough unfavorable devel-
opments during the year to have wrought
havoc in the old times. The disclosures Of
graft in high places, among the insurance
companies and their allied institutions. the
agitation for railway-rate legislation, the
spread of the antitrust feeling, the Japa-
nese-Russian war and after the declaration
Of peace, the internal trouble in Russia
to mention only some of the depressing in
ences"-might well have chilled specula-
tive enthusiasm. Instead, money was
steadily on the upward side of the market,
and If the public did not go mad with the
greed Of easy money as it did In 1901,
neither was it frightened. The reason is
obviously that we were too rich to be
frightened. The best cure for calamity
bowling has always been full stomach,
and people are not to be frightened over
the future when they are too busy max
ing money to listen to pessimists. This is
why so many things that ought to have
happened did not happen. Few demon
strations of the inherent strength of the
situation have been so impressive as the
way in which the stock market stood the
high rates Of money. That stock prices
reacted when the call money rates rose
above so per cent is not surprising. That
they did not react more and sooner was
a marvel For weeks the, market disre-
garded the advancing rates until the street
almost became accustomed to 10 or 10 per
cent money and the rate had to touch a
level higher than at any time since the
Northern Pacific panic before spectators
realized that there are limits to all null
dane affairs.
No Big Plungers.
The absence of anecdotes of the years
big plungers doubtless had much to do
with the limited interest taken by the gen.
eral public in speculation. The mob was
not melted by the stbries of this or the
other mans huge overnight winnings. The
BARRIERS kept on shaving, and the Waldorf
walters did not try to emulate John w.
Gates and his pals. as they did In the
spring of 1901. The money has been made
by the big capitalists, who couldn't help 1t,
a few plungers, who are not loquacious, and
the business whose incomes grew be-
You'd their immediate needs by reason OF
active trade in so many lines. But 1t is
nevertheless difficult to escape the convic-
ton that a period of wild speculation is
imminent. 1t Is the warning note that
should be sounded. not the howl of calam-
ity for business is too good with too many
people to make pessimism convincing.
What seemed absurd a year ago looks in
evitable now, for history has habit of re-
peating itself, in Wall street as in other
places The self-reproaches of the lamb
after 1t was shcared in 1901 and again in
1903 are forgotten, and the hopes that We're
SO resolutely put away then-the hopes of
getting rich quick-are building again. In
this weeks reaction many people read not
a lesson but an opportnnity-to buy stocks
cheaper than they thought they would be
able to get them. 1t was a good year for
the country at large and for Wall street