The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-09

60 buy. But this has changed aud 20 much
discrimination IL now practlaed In Wall Street
thai only stocks Of established merit at
tract an lnfusntial following. II the Gould
interests hope TO win back. popularity for
Missouri Pacific they must begin At the other
end by putting the road In a state Of EN-
cheney TO compete on something like equal
terms with It's more progressive neIghbOr4.
At present Missouri Pacific In on a S per cent.
basis and In view OF the splendid outlook
for business all over the ountr In the COM
Ing winter the management should ave
no dificulty In maintaining that rate for
another year at least. but the time when the
road did not quite earn the payment made
on the stock Ia 30 recent that there IL naturally
a good deal OF reluctance about regarding
the 5 per cent. rate as permanent. When the
insiders let the public nee "somsthing doing"
In the management OF the road they may then
expect the public to do something In the
stock. There are great possibilities In the
road II Its managers only reallze their oppor-
t~unities.
II the Missouri Pacific insiders are salts
fed with turns Of a few points in the stock
they are perhaps justified in laying stress on
the change In the manipulation. This change,
according to rumor. consists Of transferring
accounts from one brokerage Office to an
other in the hope that the latter. by the use
Of different methods. may attract a greater
IOItOWt0R tndn the OJneF was aDlS 10 86CuTc,
Now the usual effect OF skilful manipulation
Ia to bring In q number Of wary speoulators
who take hold for a turn but are always ready
to let 90 on the slightest sign OF weakness.
Traders who buy In such cases watch the
stock narrowly, and II the market position
beg ins to look hollow they turn right about
from long to short = without compunctlon.
The insiders are then Obliged to buy more
than they can sell in order to hold the price
up. or. failing this, may see a sudden drop
back to or even below the starting point.
Now and again the shorts may overdo the
selling and be forced to buy In for the purpose
OF covering contracts, but this does not inn
prove the position OF the insiders much. as
the stock still remains in the Street, and
while those In charge OF the manipulation
may have cleaned up a eertain amount Of
profits they have made no progress with in-
vestors or the general public.
The only notabl lie departur e from the general
discrimination applied to commitments in
recent years In the present speculation in
mining stocks on the curb. but this. while
participated in by customers Of Stock Ex-
chan ge houses TO some extent, repre s ents on
the whole an entirely different clientele from
that which makes or msrsVthe success OF
movements in important stocks. Many more
or less discriminating people have bought a
little stock in some mining concern without
much Investigation but merely. as they would
themselves express il. because they wanted
ITO have a little interest in the game" To
them the loss would be small. even II their
entire commitments were lost. for they have
risked a very small proportion Of their cap
ital In this kind Of speculation-merely bidin z
their time until conditions become such as
TO rivet their attention on the larger market
again. There is. Of course. another class 20
whom che chance Of getting rich by buying
stocks quoted at cents or a few dollars q
share Is very %alluring but they could never
be under any circumstance much OF a factor
in the market for Pennsylvania or Steel pre-
ferred or Union Pacific or stocks OF that
character