The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1907-06-08
MINING STOCK MANIPULATION
Dishonest Brokers Are Hurting
Legitimate Business and
Should Be Punished

| The condition OF the San Francisco
Stock & Exchange Board is apparent
ly just Ike the rest Of the town-It
needs a cleansing. A species of robbery
has been carried on there for many
months. Wash sales, bogus leases.
when a strike is made in Nevada. and
other tricks of the dishonest speculator
have been indulged In to such an ex.
tent that the public has lost confidence
in the stock exchange. Rascals have
gotten into power and it is due to the
honorable brokers that these be turned
out aud that the mining exchange be
put ON a basis commensurate with its
dignity.
To the simple minded person who
thinks the mining stock business is con-
ducted on legitimate lines based on the
value OF the property which the shares
represent, a rude awakening is Que. If
in fact it has not already taken place.
Another aud more lsmentable feature
which attaches itself to this disgrace
ful state of affairs, and which lends a
semi-respectable status to the plunder.
ing, is the fact that certain financial
institutions. that should be identified
with matters more in keeping with
their supposed conservatism, are stand.
ing behind these jackals of the Stock
Exchange Board.
| Is it not pertinent and timely sug-
gestion to offer to the present very able
and conscientious Grand Jury, namely.
to include this iniquity in their efforts
to wipe out graft?
In speaking of the conditions of the
stock market, d. G.. Doubleday, the
prominent broker of the large brokerage
firm of that name, declares that the
market will be dull all Summer. Re.
garding the long continued decline in
Goldfeld, he states that the Goldfield
mine operators are themselves largely
to blame for this condition.
"What can you expect, he demanded,
"when. every time they make a strike
of any account in the Goldield miues,
the management Immediately leases the
property to another corporation IN which
the principal stockholders of the mine
are indirectly interested in the lease,
and the holders of the rest OF the stock
get nothing, except perhaps an increase
in the speculative value Of their stocks
What the small investor wants is ,ivi-
dends. That is what they have not
been getting from G ldfi Id stocks. and
that's why they are scared"
| Relative to the same condition the
Mining and Engineering Review says
while Nixon and WinRfield' 5
methods Of manipulation may have been
primarily responsible for the unseason.
able slump. the majority of the brokers
of San Francisco have been accessories
before and after the fact.
"The number and various stripes of
wildcats listed on the San Francisco
Stock and Exchange Board is appalling
to contemplate. How did they get there
In no other way was it possible than by
the connivance of the listing committee.
with few exceptions. brokers have
been 'skinning' the public by the simple
methods of addition and subtraction.
the former applied to purchases and the
latter to sales.
at has become a common practice
for brokers to become selling agents for
wildat treasury stock. listed or un.
listed.
"These. we know are serious charges.
but they carry with them the virtue of
truth. we are sorry to be compelled to
say. They are ordinary topics of con
versation on the street. even among the
brokers.
| This statement is also true: Among
the hundreds of listed stocks on the
San Francisco Stock & Exchange Board
more than one-third are wildcats. listed
for the purpose of manipulation.
| Among the brokers on the same ex-
change we believe there are a few
honest men. but they are scarcer than
snowballs in Tophet and may be count
ed on the fingers of one hand.
"When brokers become fiscal agents
for wildcat stocks they are sowing the
seeds of bitter fruit which they shall
be forced to eat later. aud their useful.
ness as brokers is at an end. When
they buy stocks at one figure and re-
port to their clients a higher figure. OF
when they sell stocks for clients at one
figure and report them sold at lower
figure. they become thieves and are q
disgrace to a mining exchange.
''If there is one business outside oi
which. banking, more than another. de.
peuds for its existence on honesty and in
tegrity. it is the brokerage business. and
when the rules of mining exchange
are relaxed so as to admit of lax meth
ois and dishonest dealings with Gus.
toners. the end Of that exchange can be
seen without a field glass"