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.