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CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART
CONTENTS
‘CORNERS.’
BY MEAD AND STREAM.
SUICIDE.
CHEWTON-ABBOT.
COMMON ERRORS IN DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
OUTWARD AND HOMEWARD BOUND.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
THE SOLITARY SINGER.
No. 19.—Vol. I.
Price 1½d.
SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1884.
‘CORNERS.’
The modern ‘Corner’ is unlike that into whichthe historical John Horner, Esq., retired, in thisrespect, that those who venture into one seldomsucceed in bringing out a plum or anything elsebut discomfiture. They may plunge not onlytheir thumbs but their whole hands and armsinto the ‘pie’ they essay to monopolise; but as arule, with almost no exceptions, they have todraw back empty-handed.
The word ‘Corner’ in its commercial applicationis of American origin, and along with thatother mysterious word ‘Syndicate,’ is doubtlesssufficiently perplexing to non-commercial readers.The prominence and the frequency of the appearanceof both words in the newspapers indicatea strange commercial tendency of the day. Thattendency is to amalgamate the hazardous elementof speculation with the legitimate fabric of steadyindustry. Once upon a time, speculators formeda distinct class, apart from sober merchants andplodding manufacturers. They had their uses;for none but shallow thinkers will dismiss speculationin one general sweep as immoral and evil;but they were a distinctly marked class by themselves;not distinctly marked, perhaps, to theouter world, but clearly enough defined for thoseengaged in commercial pursuits. But now thereexists no such definite line of demarcation. Thespeculative element enters into every branch oftrade industry; and by the speculative elementwe do not mean the perfectly legitimate exerciseof foresight or experience which enables a businessman to anticipate events which raise or depressthe market values of the commodities in whichhe is interested, but the desire and attempt tobe the motor, or one of the motors, in such movements.It is one thing to buy heavily of acommodity because your instinct or your informationor your experience teaches you that acomparative scarcity, and consequent dearness, ofthe commodity will shortly occur. It is quiteanother thing to buy up a commodity for thepurpose of creating a scarcity for your ownbenefit. It is one thing, again, to sell out asquickly as you can such stocks as you hold ofa commodity which you see reason to think willbe dep