The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-04-29
HHEN POOLS COLLAPSE.
MANIPULAToRs SOON ON THEIR
FEET AGAIN.

Wall Street Conjecture as to How the
Swestern Poop and Others are Abb
TO stand Their Losses-.Bent But
Not Broken.".. .......
The collapse in Stock Excange val
ues recently was SO plainly attrib-
utable to the breakdown of oyer-ex-
tended pool operations, that it re-
vived discussion, which had for some
time languished, in the position of the
Western clique which was belived
to have been driven out of the mar
ket in Thursdays raid" It revived,
especially, one query which has re-
peatedly been raised by puzzled obser-
ers, in and out of Wall Street. How is
it that this pool" and others. though
constantly reported as the victim of
disastrous collapse of its speeulations,
almost invariably appears on the scene
again, a few weeks or months later,
and resumes its manipulation" as if
nothing had happened? 3d.
In the first place, big operators do
not generally lose all they have. A very
conspicuous ..pool' operator. sitting
gloomily in the Waldorf Cafe on the
night Of May 9, 1901, was approached
by an acquaintance with the question,
We'll, John, are you broker" mo-"
was the answer, ''but I'm pretty badly
bent AS rule, such people are
shrewd enough to limit their losses
when they see the maket going the
wrong way.
One of the greatest adopts at this
was Addison Commack, who, it was
said. could run" as rapidly as any
body that ever came to Wall Street
when he saw that he was on the wrong
side. He was proverbially a bear"
but when he saw. strong interests sup
porting prices, he began to retreat
and frequently was out of danger when
those who were trying to follow him
had not yet begun to cover their shorts
AS a rule, large operators have a con-
siderable following" who try to do as
their chief does-sell when he sells, and
buy when he buys. But the popular be-
lief is that these leaders often find it
convenient to use their friends as a
medium for selling out, leaving the
latter to bear the brunt when the turn
In the market comes.
~ UlSi operator E6SdTu6us ny GER
tain large capitalists interests as a
valuable ally. Even should he lose all
that he has, such people are often glad
to have his assistance in manipulating
the Stock Market, as frequently must
be done, to serve the ends of the big
people, The use Of Keene in 1901. both
by the Morgan and Standard Oil in
terest, is an instance This furnishes an
excellent opportunity for an operator to
recoup himself, after he has taken
heavy losses.
This is probably the most logical ex-
PLANTATION of how operators manage to
acquire new fortunes when they have
lost all they had. They, naturally
know what the general program is
when they are asked by banking in
,terests to take hold of particular
zssstacks and bid them up; though, of
course, they may not know how far
other orders are put in to sell cor
responding amounts, with a view to
distributing stocks Keenes profits
from the opening campaign in United
States Steel shares, when they were
listed on the Stock Excange must have
been very large He made pronounce
ed success of 1t, according to the Wall
Street idea Yet according to another
story, Keene had a good deal Of United
States Steel stocks of his own which he
did not dispose of until the May break.
The report was that the promoters Of
the trust expected the preferred to sell
considerably higher as a result of the
conversion scheme and that Keene had
the same idea. 1t began to go down;
however almost the moment the scheme
was announced. New York Evening
Post.