The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-19
New york world.

falr-nehdeu, peardless man or thirty-one. younger looking by ten years than the age which he acknowl- edges. who sits in the back room of wall Street brokerage house and issues orders to score of busy clerks in a gently nodulated voice. has pos- sessed himself of every bale of cotton not under contract in the warehouses os Greater New York. and Is smiling ly watching the painful contortions of a group of grizzled bears on the New York Cotton Exchange. These bears have sold 100000 bales of cotton for october delivery. while the entire vis- ible supply In the vicinity of this town Is only 3e.000 bales the warehouse re- ceipts for all of which repose safely in the strong box of this newest Napoleon of speculation.
 Such a situation has never before heen known in the history of the local cotton market. but that 1t exists Theo- dore H. Price and all the veteran oper- ators in the cotton trade admitted yes- terday. Tn many respects It is the most remarkable corner ever attempted. ex- isting. as 1t does. in the face of glow ing prospects for an abundant cotton crop. This anidue condition is the han diwork of Jesse L. Livermore. a Wall Street lamb. who first saw the light of day in Shrewsbury. Mass. in 1877. and who has built up a.fortune of millions from an original bank roll" of s3.12.
 Recognised as Q Power.
 MT. Livermore, who is now recog- rizec as a power in all tho specula i've F srkets of the world and whose O Ier- ations are followed by cotton men from New York to Bombay. India. was an unknown quantity. as far as Wal Street is concerned. until he woke dp one mornig last spring with a bank account of s2.soo.ooo as result of . cotton deal which is almost the anti thesis of the one in which he is now engaged. The conditions were exact ly the reverse of those that exist to- day.
 After a ong-continued rise tn cot ton prices last spring the young spec ulator found the bulls loaded up with cotton, acquired at fancy prices and which. in the face of general business conditions. was unmarketabIe except at a tremendous sacrifice. Livermore flooded the New York, New Orleans and Liverpool markets with selling orders and in the wild stampede which fol- lowed covered his short contracts at from AS to S10 a bale under the levels at which he had contracted to deliver it.
 Goodness Characteristic.
 world reporter found Mir. Liver more yesterday in little twelve by hf- teen foot room in the office of E. F. Hutton and Company. Stock Exchange n,embers. No. sS New Street. smoking . nir black cigar and issuing orders Involving thousands upon thousands of of dollars as calmly as if he were nitchinx pennies in a back lot. Those nresent wondered at Mr. Livermore's annaarance of extreme youth, his heavy sneculative commitments. his eoolness ana daring In crises that have turned mems hair gray, and more than every thing, at his remarkable knowledge If economic laws. the state of supply ena aemand. trade statistics. crop con- ditions. the subtleties of sterling ex- change and international barter.
 They wonder still more when he frankly confessed that his entire school aays were spent in the public schools of worcester, Mass. and that he never went to college a day in his life.
 T am q bucket-shop graduate" was his answer. T have always been snecuIator since was in knee brooches A successful speculator must have his tools of trade. Mine are knowledge of supply and demand. That embraces many things that are not taught in co''
 KIT. Iavermore had never been inter viewed until yesterday but reluctantly consented to talk to a World reporter for half-hour before the opening oi the market.
 'They have all been after me-" he said. Out I ana not anxious to get in' to the limeliEht."
 Tells His own story.
 This is the interview, drawn out sentence at the time by tortuous cross questioning, and interrupted every few seconds by telephone calls and mes sengers with cable dispatches and sele. grams that piled up on his desk fool high before the talk was over,
 "To begin with. am lamb. am not a broker, am speculatoI pure and simple. I have been ever since I was le years old. My first venture was made in Worcester in 1893 when a boy friend and myself made turn in Burlington and Quincy In To- eai buclget-shop. My profits from the deal were Se.12. That started me trad ing, and before I was 2l had maoS between eight and nine thousand dol. lars. I had many ups and downs ano years ago, I had just SIS in my pocket
 .T had learned a few things about sneculation, and have learned some' thing new every day. It Is wonder ful schooling, but the cost of tuition lS nretty high Still, almost from the start I was moderately successrul From Boston I went to Chicago, and thence to Denver. meeting many vicis. situdes. but usually coming out ahead in the long run. never valued money for money itself. have always cared for 1t only as a means to enlarge my operations. ~
 q have not always been cotton speculator In fact. it Is only within the last two years that have give especial attention to that form ol speculation. My first big profits were made in the panic of last year. IT December, 1906. became convinced that the tremendous over-specnlatior and over extension in all forms "f busi' ness were bound to result in disastrou' liauidation. was pretty comfortably fixed at that time. and put cut a large short line of Union Pacific Read ing Copper and Shelters.
 To Europe After Coup.
 "As prices melted from the high levels increased by commitments until on March IA, I had thousands or shares of short contracts out. When the crash came that day covered every contract and, on May follow ing. Mrs. Livermore and myself sailed for a long vacation abroad.
 had planned to stay away Tor SIX months. Early in August. however. the cotton situation In Liverpool attracted my attention. Despite the growing business depression. the high price or