OCR Text |
Show FINANCIAL ERAS. The recent startling disclosures concerning the methods of Wall street, made by one of the inside in-side manipulators, have opened the eyes of the investing public as never before. These disclosures were made in a sharp contest between the insiders themselves. Thir own admissions recall the familiar fa-miliar adage, "When rogues fall out, honest men get their, dues." In this case, however, the outsiders out-siders simply got "wise," having previously parted with most of their worldly goods. The supply of 'lambs" becoming scarce, these manipulators turned upon each other. The word "lamb" is the term used by the Wall street manipulators to designate the man who buys the stocks as an investment. To complete the allegory, the term "wolves" is applied to the manipulators, and the history of Wall street, as well as the recent disclosures referred to, certainly cer-tainly justify both appelations. These wolves recently sprel a very neat trap, into which the lambs were walking nicely and unsuspectingly un-suspectingly when one of the wolves, named Law-son, Law-son, sounded the alarm, and frightened the lambs so that they walked into his trap instead. The result re-sult was the same so far as the lambs were concerned con-cerned they lost their money, yuid Lawson made several million dollars which the other wolves had intended for Iherasclves. Since then there has been . much snarling and howling amongst the wolves, and the investing public has become frightened and disgusted, and arc seeking elsewhere else-where for investments. The era' of "frenzied finance" is over. " The question that presents itself is, what to invest in-vest in. Formerly, manufacturing plants, started on a small scale and gradually built up, furnished an inviting field for capital. This field,-however, has been practically shut ,'off by the large combinations combina-tions which control every industry 'of importance. Let a small factory start up today, and immediately the trust which controls that particular industry will lower prices sufficiently to bankrupt the new concern," after which the trust raises the prices sufficiently high to make up for what was lost in stifling 'the competition. The starting of a manufacturing manu-facturing establishment, therefore, is not an attractive attrac-tive investment. Mercantile establishments afford occasional opportunity for profitable investment, but more often than not, such enterprises, if started on a large scale, are losing ventures. Mining, of course, will always attract capital, and large fortunes for-tunes are sometimes made in it; but it is not at-' at-' tractive to people of limited means whose chief desire is to keep their capital safe for the needs of old age or of the loved ones in case of the death of the breadwinner. " j There is one form of investment which has been overlooked during the era of "frenzied finance," which began in 1S90, and that is, real estate. It is the old standby which offers a safe refuge from the storms and vicissitudes of wild speculation. Starting in New York City and spreading westward, there has been, within the past few months an activity ac-tivity in real estate greater than at any time since 1S91. The history of all financial cycles is that after a panic, real estate is the last thing to attract the attention of investors. Some, of course, there arc who never leave the harbor the kind who are known as "solidly rich." But the majority are first attracted by "get-rich-quick" schemes. A man sees his next-door neighbor become wealthy over-night by the sudden and mysterious rise of some stock, and he then rushes blindly into the same class of investment; the stock is manipulated by others, and, after a feverish experience of longer or shorter duration (depending frequently upon how long his money holds out), he finds himself poorer than when he started. Then comes the desire for something which he knows to be safe, aud he naturally turns toward real estate. Thc'eva of real estate is beginning. be-ginning. It is to be hoped, that the movement will not resulet, as did that of 1S90, in a wild boom which will send prices too high. Such a boom is sure to be followed by a reaction, causing stagnation stagna-tion until the growth of the community warrants a still further advance in price. If investors will act prudently, taking1 advice from cool heads who have had experience, such a boom will be avoided. |