The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-09

One cannot make a complete and accu-
rate picture of this section of the market.
because 1t Is too variesated to lend itself
to any Photographic process. One may
make a good photograph Of tree or
forest, but II will not reveal much of the
habits and behavior of all the birds that
perch on It's branches at one time
There are about eight stocks that
make up the bulk of the daily trading
in Wall Street They are what are call
ed market leaders In normal times. The
way they behave makes the tone OF the
whole market. and the market Is either
strong. weak. dull or stupid, according
as they are strong. weak. dull, or stupid
When a sudden tempest breaks loose
from any quarter. the so-called leaders
find themselves at the head Of badly
disorganized army Of stock. Some stock
that has not been a leader at all sud-
denly jumps into prominence and makes
the tone Of the whole market. IN this
particular case. one might say that 1t
came pretty near being Canadian Paci-
fic, which in normal times is not a
spectacular stock. In this case II stood
as steady as a rock during the first
part Of the disturbance. and all the
wise commentators who write In the
papers commented upon the fact that
Canadian Pacific being a foreign road and
far away from Mexico. did not feel the
effect of the Mexican situation All Of
a sudden. II took a drop Of 10 points.
which Ii q full years dividend on the
stock. Then everybody berated ii. ac-
cused II OF being cratic, and said other
unkind things about its character and
its behavior. OF course. everybody
guessed that il was Berlin's fault; which
Is perhaps. as Intelligent a guess as
any. At first. the general market stood
up wonderfully. Then ii began to have
sinking spells in the forenoon. little
rallies In the early. afternoon and bad
spasms at the close. The doctors dis
agreed as to what was the matter with
IL. except to say that its condition was
perfectly bad.
To the investor out in Ire West. or the
South. or the North. echoes of the dis
turbance hoated. Most investors. even
IL they own stock at very much higher
prices than those quoted during the bad
times. were not much disturbed, and few,
however. were disturbed. They wrote to
their brokers and bankers sometimes
sending certificates along with their let
tiers, and always asking whether it was
not wise to get out of the stock that be-
haved as badly as this. that. or the other
one. Most of the bankers. being expert
enced and honest people. wrote back not
to worry. unless perchance they happened
to own very speculative and treacherous
stocks. The interchange of letters. how
ever. increased the amount of stock. and
by the end OF the first week of activities,
there was plenty of stock TO be sold.
The stockholders. one may observe. not
only suffered much the biggest loss in
the price of the security, but also the
most disturbing experience. Those are
the prices that he pays for being a stock
holder instead of a creditor. He will al
ways pay that price. You cannot tell a
man in times of peace and prosperity
much about what his stocks are going to
do when trouble breaks loose He won't
believe you in most cases. and il he does
he will probably go to some other advisor
who won't be such a pessimist. Anyone
who sees dangers quicker than he sees
prospects for profit is e pessimist and a
sort of common enemy of the stock
holding public.