The republic., 1851-10-31
new York oorrsspondsnes.
The Failme of Jncob LitlLe.

II one of the brokers, yesterday had stopped on
the steps Of the Merchants Exchange as he left
the "Board," and pulled the whole pile of granite
about his head, after the manner of Samson, the
event would hardly have caused SO much talk and
excitement in ''the street. were occasiohed by
the announcement that Jacob Little had failed to
meet his contracts. Both bulls and bears were put
completely hOrs du combat by the astounding an
nouncement Nobody knew what to make of it;
for, notwithstanding he the great bear of the
stock market, and everybody knew that it was
the unusual prosperity OF stock transactions, and
not any financial calamity, that had caused his
suspension, yet such was the unexpected nature
of the event, that the shrewdest operators could not
tell whether stocks would go up or down in conse-
quence of it. The very natufal result was vacil-
lation in the market. Prices first went down three
per cent, and then went up again; and this state
of feeling continued until after the adjournment
OF the first Board when they began rapidly to fall.
BY tomorrow morning they will probably be up
again. When bear fails it is because money is
plenty, the times are flattering, and prices are
expanding. He fails because he has sold stock at
less prices than he purchase at, and Of course
his suspension, which is a calamity to himself, is
piece of good fortune for all others. But the i'm
mensity Of the engagements of the house of Jacob
Little & Co. made their failure exception TO
the general rule, and hence the doubt uneasiness,
and uncertainty of every class of operators. The
stocks in which the suspended house short
were Erie, Norwich and Worcester, and Read
ing. And it the rise in these stocks,
that had taken place during the last week, that
caused the suspension of three other large opera
tors At the same time that the failure of Mr.
Little was announced, the inability of Messrs.
Groesbeck & Co. TO meet their contracts pro-
EN- the confusion.
Jacob was a kind of hierarch in the stock mar
ket, and, he had lived successfully through all
the revolutions of the financial world during the
last twenty years, and known to have made
nearly half million of dollars within few months
by clearing Erie" he was considered as beyond
the possibility of failure; and if Jacob said TO
be 'short," the chances of his being able to meet
hs engagements were never canvaesed, because
they were never doubted. but he has at last had
to succumb TO the esprit OF the age" which is SO
decidedly "bulish" that whoever attempts TO op-
pose it will surely be gored sooner or later.
Jacob ia proverbial for his probity and fair
dealing, and has the hearty sympathy of all who
know him; he will, of course, at once arrange mat
ters with his creditors and resume his place at the
board of brokers, for they have summary and
most excellent method of settling delinquences in
Wall street without having recourse to law. But
the influence of such man, and of all such men,
is in the highest degree deeterous to the interests
Of the community. / do not speak of his private
character, which is beyond reproach but of the
tendency of his financial operations. The i'm
mense resources of his credit, his business talents,
his personal influence, and his great capital were
increasingly employed to depress prices, to destroy
confidence, TO cripple honest enterprise, and
create panics and all for the most selfish and most
mercenary of motives; to enable him TO realize q
profit Of the distresses he had created The mo-
rality of such operators is about the that o
the gazier, who threw stones into his neighbors 3
windows that he might be employed in mending
the broken panes.
The stock which the great bea and his satellites
have striven most TO depress is that of the Erie
Railroad; that great work, upon the completion oi
which there was so much rejoicing in our commu-
nifty, and which has had SO decided and beneficial
an effect upon the general prosperity of the city
This great work, which should have been the pride
and boast of every citizen of the commercial me-
tropolis has been beset by the Wall street bears Of
which Jacob was the leader and the example, with
inveteratc hostility; the credit of the company has
been assnilcd, the motives and characters of the
public spirited men who striving to have il
completed have been constantly misrepresented
and the holders of the twenty millions OF its stock
and bonds have had their interests put in jeopardy
and their property deprecated, that the bears
might make their per centage by selling short
But in spite of all opposition, and the endeavors Of
stock -jobbers, the great work has been completed
its stock has constantly advanced in value and
price, and its opponents have all been ruined, and
now lie PROSTATE on their backs.
Mr.. Littles losses were not all occasioned by
his bear operations, but in part by the depreciation
in the value of the stock of the Delaware and Hud
son Canal, of which he held some seven thousand
shares. Strangely enough, he endeavored to keep
one stock much above its actual value, as he did
to keep the other below it, But all individual ef-
forts in financial affairs about unavailing af
Mrs. Partington's attempts-that have been i'm
mortalized by Sidney Smith--to keep back the ris
ing tide with her mop. Money has grown more
abundant than il was, confidence has been restored
among lenders, and the borrowers are less numer-
GUS than they were. The natural consequence Of
the lull is imitation Of prices, and good dividend
paying stocks will continue to increase in value
until the next pressure comes, and it will in
evitably while we continue TO increase our in.
debtedness to Europe.
II ia understood that Mr.. Little will, tomorrow
submit proposition TO his stock creditors, to pay
them in full, taking to-morrow's prices basis
of settlement by giving notes, with interest at elk
nine, twelve, eighteen, and twenty four months
Probably the proposition will be accepted, and he
will soon be active bear in the market again
At present he is muzzled.
When Baron Rothschld died few years ago
the stock markets of Paris and London were vio-
lently affected; operators seized with panic
and believed that the removal of great "loan.
monger' would bring in chaos; but in day OF
two things resumed their usual complexion, and in
three months the great Rothschild no more
missed than if he had never existed 1t will be sc
with Jacob S. X. s.
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