The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-12-30
SHORT STORIES OF THE BUSINESS WORLD
The WvandOtte Shares Edgar Dayton Price

a vegetable garden, and the rest grass, |
There was a boathouse and a wharf at
the lake. and a little way out fish were
jumping" in the most alluring man
ner
what paradise this is sighed
the women; chow much better to livl
here than in that smoky city. You
could keep hens by the thousand on n
place like this, Geordie," said the wife,
w.stfully.
For the Wyandotte rooster, Stitch,
the bookkeeper developed a mighty at-
lection as time went on. He often sat
and watched the proud fowl, lord Of
the hack yard. and muttered things
beneath his breath. The finest of liv-
ing was none too good for the big
rooster and world of petting
stitch" got from his attentive master.
Was it possible that from the race Of
stitch the golden eggs were to
come?
The shipping clerk of the PEBBLES
factory was by this time a regular
sbeculator in the local industrial
stock market. The profits on his deal
in "Chu-Chu" had gone in dozen diff
ferent directions for industrial shares
which he bought and sold Industrious
w as the values nuctuated. The ship
ping clerk was not always wise in his
investments and formed the habit of
consulting with the bookkeeper whose
former connection with the big stock
market had leaked out.
81 want your advice on sewing ma
chine Sherwin," he said one day
There is something new going on in
the Standard factory and friend Of
mine there, a patternmaker, tips me
that it is a new invention, something
that will make the sewing machine
trust crazy when the Standard ma
chine comes out with it, He doesn't
know this positively, just flying shop
rumor. you know, but what with some
body buying sewing machine pretty
freely, the stock is stiffening, and
BUY it, my boy, buy it-for a rise,
said the bookkeeper. IT happen to
know that the Standard people have
been kicking the price down for some
reason, and it may be that they are
going to buy it back cheap if they've
got a good thing cooking and make
all the money for themselves. Buy it
by all means" The bookkeeper turned
, his back and went on figuring his alb
surd hen sheets and the shipping clerk
, went away. Sherwin went down &c
the bank in the middle of the morn
ing and borrowed $1,000 with which 1e
purchased poultry, making a neat en-
try on the performance sheet under
+ the head stitch"
Y The time is RIPE" he muttered.
= The shipping clerk bought Sewing
q Machine" a very little, for Sewing
n Machine" was on the rise and the
|. Standard people were buying bacl
G their stock as fast as Offered. In {
+ few days he hastily sold it, for Sew
ing Machine" never worth more thai
@ 80 cents a share, was kiting along t
the impossible price of 50, weel
@ later the shipping clerk was kicking
h himself, metaphorically, all over tn,
PEBBLES factory, for Sewing Machine
h was bid at S. sthe share and none OF
. fered. The rumor about the new in
II vention was a fact.
In fortnight it was whispered tina
the Standard people were in a hol
over their own stock. The origina
issue had been 100000 shares, at 5
per share, 10 shares being given ou
right for a time with every machin
sold, as a premium on rather poo
sewing machine. Now when they ha
an improvement which made thei
y, machine highly valuable they foun
-, that others had been busy picking Il
= Standard stock and that the compan
- was a minority holder of it's ow
stock, being short several thousan
. shares 1t soon developed who ha
= bought the stock, for agents of tn
y sewing machine trust, throwing asid
all disguise, came into the open an
IN bought right and left at any pric,
The Standard people frantically trie
~ to outbid them.
IT 1t was a fight for existence on on
e side and monopoly on the other.
70 the trust won and got a majority (
VI the shares, they took the Standal
company and the valuable improv
TO ment into camp, the improvement
X went on the trust machines and IL
ID inventors were squeezed" If IL
Standard succeeded in buying fe
! shares it could hold its position al
IN in few years wipe the trust off Il
i face of the earth with its superiC
D machine Both sides ransacked IL
n