The San Francisco call., 1907-03-03


I'd bought at small expense;
3 gripped for smother day,
Then knew ] had no sense.
hiec me 10 my broker then,
Sell, quick. Jackass is slumpng:
Be pulled his whiskers sold me out,
Then said. "Jacksss is jumping
Al who turn daily 20 that part OF
their paper marked Financial
and Commercial. few under
stand even a little about the institu-
lions back OF the quotations. Wall
street and high finance are, by the
force Of their own pressure, being
showed more and more into the center
OF the worlds stage OF events and each
day we come across some new scene
OF this absorbing and unending drama.
The poet. the playwright the novelist.
are just now finding highly colored
subjects IN the money marts OF the
world. and uppermost society and Meth
srmost sium are keenly alive TO the
war OF the. bulls" and the bears"
While the taking OF risks in COM
meroe is probably as old as trade it
self, stock speculation, as we now un-
derstand Il. is a development Of modern
business. After the formation Of the
Oldest commercial companies. the East
India and the Hudson Bay. stock GER
tifcates were for the first time issued
90 shareholders and trading in securi-
ties assumed a new significance. Specu-
lstion IN it's widest form reached a
climax IN the frenzied finance OF the
Mississippi bubble in France and the
South Sea scheme In England, the like
OF which the modern world has not
seen. So desperate was the gambling
from l7l6 TO 1924 that legislation was
resorted TO in order TO protect the peo-
pie against themselves.
In Paris great mobs used to gather
IA Quincompoix street, where every foot
of space for standing room became a.
veritable gold mine. so high were rents.
Excited crowds OF which the lackey and
the nobleman formed a part. went
about singing:
On Monday ] bought share Oh share,
on Tuesday was millionaire; -
On "Wednesday took q grand abode
I'd INuIrOlN IN my carriage rode.
On Friday drove TO the opera ball
On Saturday came TO the lsupers hall.
Speculation up TO the beginning of
the last quarter OF the eighteenth cen
tury was spasmodic. but after this time
81 became a regular feature Of CONNER
cial life. and It was then that the two
most important exchanges OF today
those of London and New York-were
organized.
Public loans OF European govern
ments whose treasures were depleted
by long and ruinous wars. as well as
the war debt OF our own country,
j; formed good material for the dealings
OF brokers and jobbers. Governmental
securities yet occupy prominent place
in the transactions OF the European
exchanges; they have lost their .specu-
lative importance in Wall street. There
was a period in the history Of the New
York Stock Exchange when the reduc-
tion Of our national debt threatened to
annihilate IL. Prior to 1895 the ex-
change dealt almost exclusively in gov
ernmental securities. When the debt
was paid of there was little left for
the brokers to do, and had it not been
for the issue of railroad stocks and
bonds the doors OF the exchange would
have closed.
Later mining stocks were added to
the listed securities of the exchange,
giving a new stimulus TO speculation.
The discovery OF gold in California and
Australia gave the greatest impetus TO
the promotion OF investments, and the
threatened collapse OF the exchange