ALL AMERICA GAMBLING.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1919, Page 10

ALL AMERICA GAMBLING.

WAR WEALTH. New York, May 11'. Nowhere is the contrast between America and the war-stricken countries of Europe so dramatically emphasised in these days of peace djscussiqns as in the thriving street flanked by sky-scrapers 30 and 40 storeys in height of the financial district of New York. There the tragedy of war is completely forgotten in the wild desire to capitalise the hopes for a gigantic revival of trade. To-day I visited a number of leading brokerage houses and wandered foj'hal'f an hour amid frantically yelling mobs of the curb markets, and gathered the impression that everybody in America is gambling in stocks. For some three weeks past the fever of speculation has been spreading throughout the country, and its symptoms are all concentrated in Wall Street. " The day on which a million shares changed hands used to he considered phenomenal, but recently two-mlllion-sharo days have been quite common, and it is predicted that wo shall soon witness three-million-.shnre days. SCRAMBLE FOR FORTUNES. Everyone—men, women, even boya, are sinking their savings in a scramble for fortunes which seem to spring up like mustard seed, but the bulk of the money jb coming from the West and Middle West, where people have grown rich during the war and are now gambling with their superfluous cash. They are sending hundreds of thou» sands of orders to Wall Street daily. The result is that stocks aro soaring in a fabulous fashion. Only to-day one oil stock which had risen in the last few weeks oveF'.'lOO points, gave a tremendous upward spripg of another 30 points. . .. Standard stocks have climbed,, many of them 30 to 40 points, and every hour brings forth some new "tip" of\ another gtock which is about to rise. Brokers are somewhat aghast at the prosperity which is descending upon them like an avalanche. "Our firm," one of them said to me, "executed to-day 10,000 orders for stocks, and it is a phy. sical impossibility to keep pace with the business."