come under this condemnation. The 'points,' the 'puffs,' the alarms
and the canards, put out expressly to deceive and mislead, find a
wide circulation through these mediums, with an ease which admits of
no possible justification. How far these lapses are due to the haste
inseparable from the compilation of news of such a character, how
far to a lack of proper sifting and caution, how far to less
culpable reasons I do not pretend to decide; but this will be
admitted by every observer, that the circulation of pseudo news is
the frequent cause of incalculable losses. Nor is it alone in the
matter of circulating false information that these news venders are
at fault. The habit of retailing 'points' in the interest of
cliques, the volunteering of advice as to what people should buy and
what they should sell, the strong speculative bias that runs through
their editorial opinions, these things appear to most people a
revolting abuse of the true functions of journalism."

Of course, every trader gets market letters from one or more brokers.
These are many and varied in character. Some of them are prepared with
great care and give reliable information, but you must remember that a
broker's market letter is published for the purpose of getting business,
and business is created only by the customers' trading. Therefore it is
to the broker's interest to have his customers make many trades instead
of a few trades. In his book "Business Barometers," Roger W. Babson
reproduces a letter written to him by the Manager of the Customers' Room
of a Stock Exchange House. We consider this letter so important to all
traders, we are taking the liberty to reproduce it here:

"Hearing on every hand about the fortunes made in Wall Street, I
decided, upon being graduated from college, to devote myself to
finance. With this end in view, I secured a position with a
first-class New York Stock Exchange House, finally becoming the
'handshaker' for the firm; that is, 'manager' of the customers'
room. So I had an exceptional opportunity to size up the stock
business. The chief duties of the manager are to meet customers when
they visit the office, tell them how the market is acting, the
latest news from the news-tickers and the gossip of the Street. But
the real duties are to get business for the house. Once a most
peculiar man came to the office. He was