Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-08

By
j.
WAsHlNGTON's WISE AND OTHERWISE

advantage of this information bought
cotton last year. They now have made
substantial profits.
The same is true of the stock mar
ket. The first group, governed by
the tipsters, buy on margin because of
some stray fragment of information
passed along. A small fluctuation in
prices, such as no man can foresee,
but such as q small group in Wall
street can manipulate, wipes out such
SPECTATORS. The studious Washing
%toninan buys stocks, not on margin,
but outright. The momentary fluctua-
ton cannot disturb him. His pur-
chases are based on a knowledge of
the supply and demand of various
commodities in the country and what
they are likely to be for a long time in
advance. He cannot be fooled. He
merely hangs on until the price Of his
| stock rises to a point where be be-
lieves the inevitable reaction will set
in: then he sells and takes his profit.
What a Big Market May Mean
Recently there was a million-shar
day on the New York Stock Exchange
This generally was heralded BY brokers
as an indication of growing prosperity
and they encouraged the public to buy
the stocks which were being offered
Immediately afterward a close stu
dent of national and international af-
fairs made the following analysis:
eff a million shares were traded in
they had to come from somewhere
They were stocks and bonds which are
held by the big investors, the men who
make a close study Of fundamental
economic conditions. When big mer
dump their stocks on the market, they
surely cannot be expecting permanent
increases in prices. They must be ex.
p~ecting lower prices or they woulc
| hold on. With the country facing
winter of curtailed industrial output
due to the strikes, the big men appear
to think that these particular stock:
are not going any higher; therefore
they are unloading before the reaction
sets in. The little trader sees a bis
day on the exchange, assumes tina
stocks are active because the list ii
due for q rise, and buys on margin
Small, snap-judgment men are buylnI
what big, investigating men are sell
ing. Somebody is going to lose"
The general feeling is that the fun
damental conditions in the Cnitet
States are getting better slowly bu
steadily and the above analysis doe
not apply to everything. A certain
type Of stocks was under discussion
and what was said reveals the name
in which the stock market Is playe'
from the two opposing angles.
1t is agreed by those who know mos
about the subject that there is n
royal road to knowledge of the bust
ness situation and to the gateway 0
opportunity in the teeming world Q
American trade. 1t is agreed, how
ever, that care and study devoted t
the signs of the times as revealed b
the reports which the governmen
/: complies and makes available to every
one will be repaid with an understand
!, ing of conditions ~procurable IN n
, other way.
Last June an executive of a big in
dustrial concern who had been study
, ing Washington reports consistent
reached the conclusion that it would 3
! wise for his company to order coal. ii
: laid in e large supply at $3.50 a tol
Later, when other companies wer
shutting down or struggling with pr
: critics and paying up TO S12 for wlle
o cat coal, he sat tight and kept Q
: studying Washington reports.