The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-21
Gambling I'm War MunitiOn Stocks.

Gambling In War Munition Stocks.
Sober finance could not fail to re-
gard with unea siness the recurrent
outbreaks Of high speculative fever.
the symptoms of which have been pro-
vided by the booming of the ~so-called
war order stocks. The tradition Of
fortunes made in army contracts acts
powerfully on the gambling instinct
in times like these, and the structure
of the securities market is impaired
when Il fiimsy scaffolding Of prices Is
run up in one department by profess
siolml and public traders who are
simply operating on the meanest in
stincts OF avaricious greed.
That more or less substantial wind
falls Of prosperity will accrue to
many corporations and other forms Of
business enterprise from the produc-
ton and sale of war supplies there Is
no son to doubt. Indeed, the stimu.
lus which the necessities Of the val
abroad have given to American indus
try and trade Is Il very real and tangi-
BILE factor in the promotion Of bust
ness recovery this year. At the same
time the public should take heed lest
1t he led headlOng into a disastrous
pursuit of the phantom gains Of out
side speculation in the rewards OF
war contracts.
Wall Streets gambling fever suf-
fered a little chill the other DAY when
Mr.. HORACE $. WILKINSON, Il member
of the executive committee OF the
Crucible Steel Company of America,
published Il warning as to reckless
purchases Of the common shares Of
his company on alluring rumors about
the huge potentiality Of profitable in.
crement involved in war order busi-
hess. There was Il sudden and extern
sive unsettlement Of speculative pO-
sitions In war munition shar res pre-
cipitated by Il material decline OF
Crucible Steel from the heights Of
advance to which it had been ecstat-
ically raised. The response TO the
Wilkinson statement was suggestive
and significant Of the dangers Of ex-
cessiye surrender TO the gambling at
traction Of conjectural profits in the
war contract field.
Mr.. WILKINSON did not do much more
than TO issue a pointed and timely
reminder of known facts about the
situation OF his " company and to
express his blunt opinion about the
remote probability of Crucible Steel
acquiring a value commensurate with
the price at which 1t had already
been made to sell. Nor was his state
ment without precedent in the recent
meni over the possibilities Of war mn,
milton stocks. Indeed in putting forth
the statement Mr.. WILKINSON fol,
lowed an example which might he
still more widely initiated in the
~circles of corporate finance, for every
statement of the sort would have a
broad and inherently useful applica,
ton. particularly If it were made
measurably complete in respect to the
dimensions and probable outcome OF
contracts for var supplies.
So far as concerns the public /
%sufiices to say that speculation in wal
stocks abOunds more in pitfalls thar
any other aleatory expression of the
get rich quick mania. All the or
binary hazards Of uncertainty ar,
enormously augmented by the uncer
taintics of the vast war on which tn,
present gambling in munitlon stocks
is based. In the last few days tn,
labor troubles at arms and ammuni
tion plants have furnished warning
to Wall Street; but the moral doe
not have to be elaborated.
1t is generally contained in tn,
fact that speculation in war stocks |
most cmphHtically q rich mans gam
tn begin with, and in the second place
II game wherein the normal disadyan
tages of public punters. the so-calle,
outside public, are cOlossally in
+ creased. Only the inslder can knO,
the truth about the scope and term
. Of war contracts and the chance o
profits resulting from them. In tn