The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-07-07

4
Gle on the financial page of his news.
paper. 1t was one of those rare. in.
frequent accounts which sometimes
see the light, written by an "insider. I"
an expert, detailing with fine insight
just what motives were then actuating
the bear element in the furious raid
1t was making upon Industrial secur.
tiles. In particular, Steele gathered
tnat the clique headed by Tom West,
his dearest rival of the old days, was
hammering Tennessee Rope & Irvine.
Steele considered such action I'm.
moral; West, he allowed, was nat.
uralborn pessimist in regard to stock
values, but that was no excuse for
his making T. r. & T. his shining
mark. Steele happened to know a
good deal concerning that stock and
the concern which fathered 1t, and he
was quite convinced that it was sound
worth all of par. Moreover, he held
a large block of T. R. & T. as an in
come investment; it annoyed him to
have the market value of his invest
ment deprecated.
Now, If he were back In the Street,
he would find way to convince West
and his crowd of their mistake. But
Steele sighed. He found much, in
deed, to induce feeling of depres-
sion; throughout all of his trip he was
conscious of curious, unhappy ses-
sation of utter detachment from his
surroundings.
He was orgotten-already. The
Street is tickle mistress. Even his
newsdealer in the Empire building
arcade stared blankly in Steele's face
when he paused to buy some publica-
ton he did not want, for old times
sake. To crown all, Hunt happened
to be out for the morning
Steele went downstairs from Hunts
Office, feeling, he proclaimed glumly,
like a loose tooth" He stood for
while staring desolately at the sclup-
lures on the Broad Street facade of
the new Exchange building. He hard
ly gave them thought, however; his
mind was occupied in grasping the
fact Of his complete dissertation from
the body financial.
Suddenly he found himself making
for the door of the Exchange; almost
without his own volition he pushed
them aside and entered the lobby.
There he stood, for a moment aghast.
What had he done? What right had
he there? Then he remembered that
he had every right, as yet; his seat
was still his own, the freedom of the
floor his. Why not go in and see what
the boys" were about? Perhaps he
might win a friendly smile, at least;
and he fairly ached for a word of
welcome, sign he was not forgotten.
Absent-mindedly he deposited his
coat in the cloak room, and strolled
out upon the floor of the Exchange.
He arrived at a critical moment.
The West clique was undoubtedly
pounding the Industrial more than it |
merited. Several points had already |
been Topped OF the days opening
price. Steele discovered the fact, |
frowning stern disapproval There !
seemed to be little or no buying, al |
though a reaction was bound to- come.
Vests crowd was selling short and |
would have to buy in to cover before
very long, thereby causing a rally;
a far-seeing man would seize upon this
opportunity.
Hollwedel, board member of Vests
firm, plunging back from a consulta-
ton with his partner by telephone,
spied Steele. The latter's hat was
suddenly smashed down over his ears.
He pushed it up, laughing, to see Holl-
wedel standing before him, offering a
welcome hand.
'Howdy, Steele?" he painted. You
back? Glad to see you. Sell you
thousand Rope & Irvine at 65," he
added, almost in jest.
Done" cried Steele, mechanically,
as though he had suddenly wakened
from dream.
Seemingly by magic he found a pad
and pencil IN his hand he never knew
how he had acquired them. Scrawling
a memorandum on the top sheet, he
came back at Hollwedel right man
fully. Got any more?" He was &C
to the extent of another
thousand shares, at 64A. Sara? He
never gave her a thought. The wine
of battle coursed through his veins.
His word forgotten, he hurried to the
telephone to apprise Hunt & Wilder
that he was again trading, then hurled
himself back into the thick of the
fray, to the rescue of the abused Ten
nessee Rope & Irvine. For a few
minutes he bought right and left, re-
CARELESS of consequence, then settled
down to a more sane method of pro-
cedure.
whisper stole around the room:
'Steele's back-buying Rope & Irvine
Must have an inside tip" Others, so
believing, began to buy. Vests as
sociates became alarmed; they had an.
a reaction, but not so early !
n the day.
The close of the days trading found 3
Steele sitting on one of the wall seats;
ired, happy, perturbed. He had had s
l glorious debauch; he had demon