Some of the stock market philosophies and inventions are quite amusing
to the unsophisticated onlooker. When the Amalgamated Copper Company
and the Anaconda Copper Company were under separate management a clique
of traders became interested in advancing the market price of the
latter stock, and forthwith the tipsters and rumor-mongers circulated
a report that Amalgamated was buying Anaconda for control. This device
proved a profitable asset for the pool members, who were thereby
enabled to sell out their holdings at much higher prices. When this was
accomplished and the story had become threadbare, another ingenious
story was circulated, to the effect that the Anaconda Company was now
seeking control of Amalgamated, whereupon that stock in its turn became
the favorite of traders, who succeeded in lifting the price high enough
to let the pool unload its holdings at a handsome profit. While these
two monster companies were performing the act of trying to swallow
each other the traders greatly enjoyed the comedy, in consideration of
which they contributed generously toward swelling the purses of the
promoters. The final outcome was that the great Anaconda succeeded
in devouring its competitor, which appears still to be in process of
digestion--or rather indigestion,--judging from the internal agonies
expressed in the market action of the stock.
[Illustration]