Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1907-02-14
LESSON In A SUICIDE

A few days ago the New York papers
and the Associated Press contained an
nouncement that Howard P. F~rothing-
ham, noted Wall street stock broker
-or gambler, as you please-had
thrown himself from a window of his
residence in thai city and thus ended
his life.
It was stated that his desperate deed
was caused by heavy losses-fnancial
ruin-incurred through being on 1.-The
wrong side of the market"
Moralizing on this suicide the oval
Street Summary" a financial journal,
whose editor is abreast of speculative
dealings, writes strongly on the gamb-
ling craze and points a wholesome les
son that should be gravely conned by
all-for we are all human.
Here is what the editor of the paper
cited says:
ssThe pathetic sel~f-destruction of
Howard P. rockingham constrains us
to make a point which we wish might
penetrrte to every speculator in stocks
throughout the country. Mr.. Frothing-
ham was a man who enjoyed to an I'M
usual degree the confidence of large
financial interests, both bankers and
dealers in stocks. In his capacity Of
money-broker he knew daily the
amount Of funds that the largest lend
ers desired to place in the market, and
he also knew the requirements of a
x,oru 1orno nro.onto oa of tho 1oronr
stock brokerage firms and even Of in
dividual operators. He thus constantly
had information as to the resources
that dealers in securities rely upon and
he also knew where the money was to
be used>and, as a rule, for what pur-
pose; since the character of the collat-
eral was invariably expressed in every
iInportent negotiation he undertook.
Moreover, he was popular with many
of the larger spectators and in his
later days carried, it is understood, his
speculative account with one Of the
most prominent members of that fra
ternity. In spite of all this information,
he, according to all accounts, sustain
ed losses in the stock-market of such
an extent that they unstrung him nerv-
ously and finally drove him to the pre-
mature end of his comaratively young
life.
1.-THE point we desire to make is this:
If a man occupying such 81 position of
confidence and enjoying such extraor-
dinari1y. valuable Information as he
possessed could go wrong in b stock
market, what must happen to thou
sands of smaller spectators, who ap-
parently rely upon professional tipsters,
who fill column after column of the
Sunday newspapers with their delusiye
tips to speculators?' No intelligent
mar in Wall street believes for a mo-
ment that any one of these so-called
Information bureaus and financial and
speculative advisers possesses the in
i've dollars per message or two or three
times the amount for a month. It is
possible that once in a great while an
unscrupulous ~speculator will pass some
misleading information to these profess
sional tipsters for the purpose of delud-
Ing the prOucs Dub LII CdA p0 Lulu OOWA
as an absolute fact hat not one of
them enjoys the confdenc of those who
endeavor to.make Or unmake the stock
market. Right here it may be noted
that even the men who undertake this
job are frequently mistaken as to future
conditions and developments, as wit
ness the terrific punishment that has
boon administered to a number of he
new multi-millionaires within he last
few months"
1t could hardly be made palmer that
SPECULATION as it is practised in Wall
ytreet nowadays is a hazardous game.
8Despite the light which has been
thrown upon the methods of the Wall
street men, and despite their knowledge
5f the hazard incurred, men will specu-
ate in stocks SO long as unwisdom ex-
SITS and there are lambs which may be
%shorn.