about forty-five years of
age, dressed in a faded cutaway coat, high-water trousers, and an
East Side low-crown derby hat. In a high squeaky voice he said that
he knew our Milwaukee House and would like to open an account. Of
course, we were all smiles, for here was a new 'customer.'

"One day while in Boston he called us up on the long-distance
telephone to make an inquiry about the grain market. One of my
assistants, desiring to get a commission out of him, said 'We hear
that Southern Pacific is going up; you had better get aboard.' He
said 'All right; buy me a hundred at the market.' The stock was
bought, but he never saw daylight on his purchase, for the market
declined steadily afterward and by the time he got back from Boston
it showed a heavy loss. The man who advised its purchase had no
special knowledge about the stock, but simply took a chance, knowing
that the market had only two ways to go, and it might go up, in
which case, besides making twenty-five dollars in commissions for
the house, he would be patted on the back for his good judgment. If
the market went down, as it did, he would still make twenty-five
dollars.

"I venture to say that 99% of the speculations on the New York Stock
Exchange are based on such so-called 'tips'. The manager has got to
get the business to keep his position and salary, and this can only
be done by 'touting' people into the market. So he draws on the
'dope' sheets of the professional tipsters and his own feelings, and
gives positive information to the bleating lamb that the Standard
Oil is putting up St. Paul, or that certain influential bankers are
'bulling' Union Pacific. The lamb buys the stock, the broker gets
the commission, and then the lamb worries his heart out as he sees
his one-thousand-dollar margin jumping around in value. Now it has
increased to eleven hundred dollars, then declined to nine hundred
and fifty dollars, then nine hundred dollars, eight hundred dollars,
then back to eight hundred and fifty dollars and then it takes the
'toboggan' to three hundred dollars upon which the broker calls for
margins, and sells the customer out if they are not forthcoming, the
whole speculation being based on the manager's 'feeling' that stocks
ought to go up.

"Men of affairs who will not play poker at home, and are shocked at