The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04
Where Are the P1,4ngers of Yesterday?

ations. He was generous and took them
in. They were happy. He aimed to put
cotton up to Is cents and maybe high
er. -Four or five years before 1t had
been down To cents Sully had lost
his sense of proportion, He thought he
could do as he pleased. Some of tho
big men who were associated with him
got anxious.
They were accustomed to mix up with
men OF daring. but not with one so rash
as Sully One morning when he was rid
ing down town with one of his million
aire associates. the ihan who was With
him asked him some questions about the
market Sully never was more confident
In his life. The man who was with him,
however. was fearful. The man got out
at the Woldorg-Astoria and telephoned to
brokers to sell as much cotton as he mad
il Sully's pool. Some of the others sot
tinlid about the samo thne They rushed
to get out. sully tried to stem the tide.
but 1t developed TO a torrent. Within
day or two he failed He lost 5000 600 in
a day. He had been in Wall street less
than two years. He went out of 1t with
less than he went in He tried to retrieve
his fortune, but luck had deserted him.
IIe endeavored to establish big ware
housing company for the storage of cot
ton in the southr. 1t didn't do. Then he
got job with a New England concern at
$1,000 year. That didn't last long. He
managed to save out of the wreck home
he had at Watch Hill. Rhode Island. He
Ie 4t,ot anf al
sully did a very good thing. He was
foredoomed to failure because of his tao
tics. He was too set, too obstinate in
his view. The higher he pushed the price
of cotton, the higher he thought he could
push it. While he prospered he did lot
through others to carry on an ,educa-
tional campaign in regard to cotton. and
he did a great deal to spread Its use
throughout the world. In doing that he
hroadened the field of cotton and made
of 1t more value than II had been before.
His educational campaign has had its
effect through the years since he passed
out of Wall street, and il will have its
effect for years TO come
James r.. Keene was plunger. but not
so much on his personal account as in
the interest of others. His biggest cam
paigns were in making markets for big
interests. He was the greatest market
manipulation Wall street ever has known
There Is no one who would give orders
to manipnIator like Keene at the pres
ent time to make a market. Conditions
have changed
James Manning, c. II. Mcdonald, Jacob
Field. the Wassermans. Harry Content,
Bernard Baruch. and a dozen other stock
exchange men who were plungers five or
six or seven years ago. are plungers no
longer. 1t was a common thing for them
TO jump into the market with 10000 share
orders Just to test the market to see If
II was sale or "A purchase. They would
close out at a quarter of a point loss
sometimes The loss or the profit of n
testing operation didn't signify to them
They simply wanted to know If condi-
tions were ripe.
There are now 2o.O0o share men now
testing the market. Some of these
plnngers are still In the game, but they
are mighty wary. Some of them are
broke. 1t is not that they were wrong
in their judgment in their deals but the
kitty has eaten them ur. The Kitty
10 the most rapacious ana Unsuitable thing
ia connection with the stock market and
the cotton exchange It is the percent
age that is always against the better.
There are very few plungcrs whose con-
tribrtions to the kitty, In active times
has not exceeded 100000 year. In other
words, the big players had TO win $780,
uuu from the kitty before they could
have a dollar for themselves In the
long run, the percentage got snost of
them.
When they We're bad at guessing IL got
them earlier than when they had luck
with them. Most of the business of the
stock exchange nov is far different
character from what 1t used to be. A
goodly share of the buying of today is o:
investment character, and the selling is
for tho account of those who are getting
out of their holdings, and not of those
who are selling short. In other words,
betting that the market will go down,
Il is queer, but 1t Is fact, that the
cotton exchange has had greater pungers
thar the stock exchange. The one man