Moses Smith

History of Financial Advice Collection. Moses Smith’s volume aims to provide “a revelation and exposure of the trickery and sharp practices which prevail in the marts of speculation,” explaining the “dangers and folly of dealing on margins.” In short, it is “a warning to keep out of Wall Street”. At the same time, however, it claims that “to the investor it is an invaluable guide,” telling “the only true and generally safe way to deal in stocks and make money.”
For the most part, Smith’s volume styles itself as a shocking exposé of the sins of Wall Street. It brims with Biblical imagery of temptation and idolatry, presenting finance as the false worship of Mammon. Like many other writers, Smith compares the stock market to gambling. By the late 1880s, this kind of blanket condemnation of Wall Street was becoming less common, with writers increasingly striving to make a distinction between (legitimate) investment and (dubious) speculation. Smith combines a comparatively neutral introduction for the uninitiated to the terminology, forms of dealing and varieties of exchanges, with a potted history of some of the more notorious episodes of panics and swindles. Although most of the book is concerned with documenting the shady practices of Wall Street, it also includes information that could be construed as practical. In keeping with the subtitle of the book, most of the advice takes the form of negative warnings: never speculate on margins, never hang around brokerages, and never short the market.… (lisätietoja)