The Washington herald., 1913-01-25
A TALE OF jim KEENE

4
| The "old gray fox" of Wall Street is
and ten. having crowded them full OF
excitement and gone through more vicis'
situdes Of fortune, good and bad, than
| fall the lot OF a dozen ordinary men
| Sometimes he was known as the most
destructive bear" that Wall Street ever
knew: and then again. as when. for
| instance. he was helping Mr.. Morgan dis
! tribute the stock Of United States Steel
he gained fame as the most skillfuI bull
in history.
II is this two-sided characteristic that
| makes him a worthy subject for an ar
| ticle about investment matters, for il
is worth while for the investor. who is
| always e bull that is. always wants
| TO buy securities. TO realize that there
are many men in the world to whom
| II is just natural to sell as It is TO
buy. There are many, indeed. who never
buy stocks at all except for the pur-
pose of filling contracts Of sale which
they made some time before.
One day. about ten years ago. a re-
porter for a financial paper in New York
visited Mr.. keene in his Office high up
in a Broad Street building. Mr.. Keene's
Office was on the west side of the build
INK. anu lTpul one pI IHt NlnuONS- totll-
manded a view Of the North River.
which is the main gateway of American
foreign commerce. On this particular
day there was a good deal of traffic NOV
ing up and down.
Mr.. Keene was rampant bull He
expressed the opinion that the growth
Of the United States knew no bounds:
that the whole country was in a great
upward swing which would result in
putting the prices Of all securities to
levels they had never known before. He
took his visitor over to the window and
pointed 10 the river.
Look he said, lat that traffic. You
see the ships outward bound carrying
American commerce to the markets Of
Europe In return for that commerce.
which is the product of our forests, our
fields. our mines. and our mills, We will
draw from all the markets of Europe
continuous flood Of wealth. which will
form the basis for a new industrial and
agricultural expansion and will double
i'll the course of time the, amount We
produce and the amount we sell in all
these worldwide markets.
THE ships that are coming are bring
ing us that wealth of money. and they
bring us also sturdy men and women TO
fill the Western country. and they bring
US a certain amount of luXuries that we
do not produce and that we will not have
time TO produce for another generation.
Nou cannot look at these great ships
without realizing the tremendous growth
that is going on in the country. There
is no limit to it: and you know as well
as / do that the prices of securities that
represent our great railroads and fac
tories have got to respond to that in
hUence."
That reporter left Mr. Keene's Office
full OF enthusiasm. The paper which he
represented abpted a tone dictated by
that interview. The reporter was a per
fectly honest fellow. and the opinions of
the newspaper were also perfectly hon
est. About a month after that inter
view the editor of another financial
paper happened to meet this reporter at
lunch. and was told about the interview
lie determined to go and see Mr.. kccne
himself. He did II.
At the very- outset of their talk 1t
transpired that Mr.. Keene did not believe
I'm the United States. His visitor was
wise enough to make no mention or the
fact that he knew about the former in
terview with another reporter. but just
led the old man on to talk. He diiated
on the faulty currency system OF the
country, the extreme difficulty of moving
the crops. the weak position of big oper-
stors in the stock market, and dozen
other items OF great market lHlpuI tdiS''
Toward the end OF the interview ne
got up and walked over to the window
1t was in the afternoon and there was
not much traffic moving. As the reporter
came over. however. a single small for-
cigp steamship. flying the Italian Has'
showed her nose past the edge OF one
OF the tall buildings on broadway ana
moved gracefully into the picture.
"You see that ship questioned the
cid man.
Yes" said the reporter. shes from
Italy
"She Is" said Keene. and she's fuil
Of cheap Italian labor, the scum OF the
earth. coming in here TO compete with
our own labor. TO gather IN as much
money a they can, and send II nome
each year to Italy. II is no wonder
when you figure on :he amount OF money
that is shipped out of this country every
year. that We never have enough money
10 do business with Our wealthy people, |
also buy a very large part OF their cloth !
ing, their luxuries and tnelr equipment
In foreign markets. and | would not nlhd
a little bet that that snip carries IN her !
hold a lot OF foreign made stun that |
will represent a drain on the productive |
power of this country by the time 1t Is |
paid for"
There was a lot more of the same. |
Mr.. Keene was of the opinion. in fact, |
that almost everything that could be !
thought of was lin on the money power !
pf the couitry lie predicted that unless |
A miracle occurred the average price of /
railroad stocks would be thirty points