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Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Chapter XVIII
History repeats itself all the time in Wall Street. Do you remember a story I told you
about covering my shorts at the time Stratton had corn cornered? Well, another time I
used practically the same tactics in the stock market. The stock was Tropical Trading. I
have made money bulling it and also bearing it. It always was an active stock and a
favourite with adventurous traders. The inside coterie has been accused time and again
by the newspapers of being more concerned over the fluctuations in the stock than with
encouraging permanent investment in it. The other day one of the ablest brokers I know
asserted that not even Daniel Drew in Erie or H. O. Havemeyer in Sugar developed so
perfect a method for milking the market for a stock as President Mulligan and his friends
have done in Tropical Trading. Many times they have encouraged the bears to sell TT
short and then have proceeded to squeeze them with business-like thoroughness. There
was no more vindictiveness about the process than is felt by a hydraulic press or no
more squeamishness, either.
Of course, there have been people who have spoken about certain "unsavory incidents"
in the market career of TT stock. But I dare say these critics were suffering from the
squeezing. Why do the room traders, who have suffered so often from the loaded dice of
the insiders, continue to go up against the game? Well, for one thing they like action and
they certainly get it in Tropical Trading. No prolonged spells of dulness. No reasons
asked or given. No time wasted. No patience strained by waiting for the tipped
movement to begin. Always enough stock to go around except when the short interest is
big enough to make the scarcity worth while. One born every minute!
It so happened some time ago that I was in Florida on my Usual winter vacation. I was
fishing and enjoying myself without any thought of the markets excepting when we
received a batch of newspapers. One morning when the semi-weekly mail came in I
looked at the stock quotations and saw that Tropical Trading was selling at 155. The last
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