Financial History Issue 114 (Summer 2015) | Page 30

Richard W. Schabacker’s
Gift to Technical Analysis

By George A. Schade, Jr.
By the close of 1928, Richard W. Schabacker had concluded that failure in the
stock market was largely “due to plain
ignorance of market affairs.” An intense
observer of Wall Street, articulate financial writer and astute adviser, Schabacker
devoted his short-lived career to educating investors and professionals on stock
market operations. His knowledge of
Wall Street was encyclopedic, his writing
prolific. Always advocating prudence in
investing, he left an influential legacy in
the field of technical analysis.

28    FINANCIAL HISTORY  |  Summer 2015  | www.MoAF.org

Courtesy of James Martin Schabacker

The Education of a Writer
In his application to Princeton’s graduate
English department in 1923, Schabacker
stated that his intended career was “either
financial or literary writing.” He had had
a “number of financial and literary articles
published” and had done financial writing
for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
in his first job after college, as well as some
“literary writing as a free lance.” In his
hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, he had
been the editor of his high school student
newspaper, an early indicator of his passion
for writing. He was also class president at
Erie High School, a leadership position that
foreshadowed his interest in politics.
In September 1917, 18-year-old Schabacker entered Princeton University. The
following year, after the United States
entered World War I, he enrolled in the
Student Army Training Corps, a program
similar to today’s ROTC. However, he did
not serve in the active military as the war
ended.
Schabacker was a member of Whig
Hall, the nation’s oldest collegiate debating forum devoted to literary and political
issues. He was an editor of Princeton’s
yearbook, Bric-a-Brac, an activity that fulfilled an affinity for humorous writing
that he would later satisfy on the pages of
Pudge and Life magazines under the pen
name Richard S. Wallace.
In June 1921, Schabacker was awarded
an A.B. in Economics. The degree from the
Department of History and Politics was

Portrait of Richard W. Schabacker.