The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-07-08
The Great Schuyler syInt,le.


The Great Schuyler SyvIntiIe.
The moral Of the Schuy Ter swindle s one, we
are afraid, that, like other antecedent occur
rences Of the same sort, will be utterly lost
upon our community. In city ia which three
fourtbs Of the mercantile and trading classes
are living hey ond their means, and indulging
exzavagant tastes at the expense Of others, it
is not TO be expected that commercial ethics
should be over strict, or that offences like that
Of the late President Of the New Haven Rail-
road Company should excite either excessive
establishment or Reproduction. II is only the
contamination, on gigantic scale, Of what
each in his turn expects to accomplish in more
humble way. The feeling created amongst
commercial people by the event, is, therefore,
rather one Of respectful admiration for it,
GOODNESS and audacity than Of pharisaical hor-
ror at it's enormity. 1t Is, in fact, the measure
There is this triAing anomaly, however, in the
class of offences in which the recent railroad
swindle agures--that in an inverse ratio to the
magnitude Of the interests and the moral re-
sponsbilitics involved in them, is the guilt of
the culprit estimated. The defaloatons of a
miserable pettyfogging clerk, who is driven 70
the commission Of some paltry breach Of trust
in order to supply the necessities of family
whose numbers are disproportoned to his
means, form fit subject for the severe jus
tice Of our legislation and the indignant
homiles of the judicial bench, whilst the
an1 frond Nf al Toe,
are removed beyond the pale of statutahle
offences and left to the remote retribution OF
future state. The allegory which represents
the Goddess of Justice as blindfoldei, is, there
fore, correct In more senses than one.
Deplorable as is this event. in The destruction
Of confidence TO which it must lead, both here
AID abroad, and in the vast amount Of indiv-
dual suffering by which it must be attended,
il is to be hoped that it win not be unproduc-
tive of some compensating result We were
proceeding faster in the road of speculation
than our resources actually warranted. The
mania for railroad investments was in fact car
rying US TO extremes that conld not fail to
prove ruinous in the end to all the interests
connected with them. The consequence was
that few, if any, OF these enterprises were reml-
neratve speculations. in most cases they have
been paying dividends out Of their capital, in
order to sustaia their credit; and as they still
continued to borrow, whilst opposition was
constantly springing up from new lines, 1t was
evident that this state Of things must soon end
in bankruptcy. Now the effect of the recent
disclosures viii be for the present to destroy
aliconfdence in these Investments, both here and
abroad. For aperiod Of two years, at least, il
will be impossible TO raise cent in Europe for
railroad purposes and unless some more effectual
guarantees are provided for the money Of
shareholders than have been proved to exist
under the present system Of management, the
same difficulty will be found here. This will
give the old roads time to work up and under
an improved system this description Of invest
est and safest in the market.
1t may perhaps be thought that we are at
taching more Importance to this erposf of the
affairs Of the New Haven line than the circusa-
stances Of the case warrant A moments re-
lection will show to what an incalculablc ey-
tent II is likely to affect not only railroad inte-
rests, but also every other kind of speculation.
Although the amount Of which the shareholders
have been defrauded Is only two millions, we
believe that we are father under than over the
mark in estimating the depreciation in stocks
which ii has already caused In Wall street. at
about fifty millions of dollars. The panic will
be still further increased by the discovery an.
nounced yesterday, that on the Harlem line
with which the Schuy lers were connected, there
has also been spurious issue Of stock 10 the
amount of between four and five thousand
shares. With such loose management as these
facts indicate, II is not to be wondered at that
the confidence men" have not hesitatcd to
avail themselves of the opportunities thrown in
their way. IL remains 10 be seen whether the
public will continue to supply them with will
ling dupes and victims, or will insist upon re-
forms being introduced in the direction Of taose
which viii at least easure th,,r
being honestly administered. If this be III,
only result likely to be brought about by these
painful and humiliating disclosures --slilze d.
sredtable 90 the moral feeling aud strict basi-
ness habits Of commercial community Ike
hs-we shall lock upon il as cheaply purchased
ven 10y the disastrous consequences with which
Is CERTAIN - u 81, ended. 1