Viewing the stock market calmly in the perspective, it is not a question whether stocks will rise or fall; of that there is not the slightest doubt. They rise and decline with the same certainty that the sun rises and sets, though of course with less regularity. The only question is, how _far_ they will go in either direction. [Illustration] The action of the stock market much resembles that of a troubled sea, which is always uneasy, rolling and tumbling about as if undermined by some volcanic force. The prices of stocks are periodically rising and falling, and one might as well undertake to fight the ocean tide as to contest the course of the stock market when once in full swing in either direction; for the market, unlike the tide, has no prescribed boundaries. There are times--indeed most of the time--when it is much wiser to sit by in the capacity of an interested observer, than to plunge in and become a struggling participant, with the chance of being carried out beyond one’s depth. Theoretically, there seems to be no reason why the stock market should not move along at a fairly even pace, except in case of some unexpected crisis; but practically, it is either abnormally high or unreasonably low most of the time. Stocks, like food, clothing and all human necessities, are more or less subject to the laws of supply and demand; and when the traders and investors throughout the country become convinced that it is time to buy stocks, a bull market is sure to ensue; then when everybody has acquired all they want--and some of them more--and they make up their minds to sell, it is only natural that values should recede; which they do, usually to somewhere near the low point from where they began to rise. This process of sliding up and down the scale is repeated year after year, and age after age. No one has ever been able satisfactorily to explain why the prices of all stocks, both good and poor, and even gilt edge bonds, keep an almost even pace in the backward and forward swings, but they do; and thousands of people who have placed their savings in securities that are as sound and safe as a savings bank have viewed with alarm the crumbling market values of their investments, wondering what has happened to their particular stocks or bonds, and if the slumping prices foreshadow a reduction in dividends, or if interest will be defaulted on coupons. Investors who own bonds or good dividend paying stocks need not be troubled over these capricious changes; but others of a more venturesome or speculative bent are forever wondering when they ought to get in or out. Of this latter class it is the best guessers who win. SOME SIGNS ARE COMPREHENDIBLE; OTHERS ARE HARD TO INTERPRET