The Psychology of Speculation by Henry Howard Harper

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.