The Washington herald., 1912-04-20
THE UPS AND DOWNS
OF A sTOCKE0LDER
By Q. n. KEYS.

One day in the middle of March some
OF the big newspapers OF the country
published a startling story to the effect
that certain people had discovered in
Fulton County. Pa, three mountains Of
iron ore. The amount In sight was put
at about a billion tons. The ore. ac-
eording TO the tale. was 81 to es per cent
pure.
Such a deposit, II true, would revolu-
tionize the steel industry Of the country,
and probably render Of little commercial
value the immense iron mines owned by
United States Steel and other companies
up in Michigan and Minnesota.
A man in New York who read this
story In the Sun went down In a hurry
to his broker and sold 100 shares Of
United States Steel common stock which
he had owned since 1901. II cost him
SO a share originally, and he sold It at
nearly 100 per cent profit. Neverthe-
less. he was literally scared out Of this
stock.
A little while later came the denial. IN
the shape OF a brief report made by
George H. Ashley. of the United States
Geological Survey, to the effect that
while there was in this region reia-
lively negligible amount Of low-grade
ore there was nothing there that need
be considered even a slight competitor
OF the well-known ranges OF the North.
There was nothing. however, to indicate
the source OF the tale, nor why II was
put abroad in the land.
The frightened stockholder. however.
did not take back his stock Il think,
said he, IT have gotten my moneys
worth out OF this investment. II gave
me more thrills and chills and fevers
than any other investment I ever made.
have had nearly eleven years Of ex-
citement out of it, and II has paid me
a bonus OF profit beside. Somebody else
may have II for a while!"
Briefly, this is what happened In that
eleven years. The stock started paying
dividends Of per cent, and sold as high
as IS and as low as "a in the first year.
In the break Of 1903 1t cut out dividends
altogether and plunged downward to a
price OF about s. per share. II climbed
slowly upward in the next three years.
reached the dividend stage anew, took
a tumble to 81 in the panic year-and
then a swift and spectacular rise to nearly
100 followed by a collapse to 60 II has
been the king OF all the market for
months at a time: and then again. for
other months, no man In all the market
place was so brave asoo recommend II.
even for an open gamble. 1t has been un-
der suit by the government; II has met rate
and price wars: II has swung from the
eminence OF a benevolent trust" TO the
unenviable notoriety Of a secret con-
spirator."
In this short period, the stockholder
saw his company drop once from a lofty
pinnacle OF Industrial power almost TO
the mire of bankruptcy: then back and
forth three separate times from poverty
to wealth-and then. at last, having en-
dured the strange vicissitudes Of actual
history in this wonderful period OF indus
trial development. he was scared by a
bugaboo story into a hurried sale!
There Is something worth knowing In
this episode. II is that he who seeks and
finds a great speculative chance to make
money finds also at the same time some
thing that may try his soul with many
new emotions. The man who buys even
the best OF the stocks that swing to and
fro with the industrial and commercial
pendulum must be a man OF courage and
Of grim endurance IL he would be happy
with II all
Such stocks as this are no sort of a
medium for the putting away OF funds
upon the returns of which a man must
live. II this stockholder had counted
upon the income from this Investment TO
keep the wolf from the door, the wolf
would have occupied the whole house for
at least two out OF the eleven years that
have intervened.
Here Is the income record from that
100 shares since It was bought: