The New York herald., 1869-02-17

pictured IT. How were its profits demolisheds who
was the delinluent, victim. or whatever ne y, =
this gain into losst Above all. where IA tne world
did oil the money 60 tor VINO got he 81. 0o0ooo @
tons have been answered already, to others we are
promised reply very shortly aud between one taie
ana another the truth may be expected % come out
| for doubt There was time beyond all question,
when the business represented transactions to the
| profit; that Is one fact. The next Is that there
| never was time when the business was anything
'''S We have it on Independent evidence
that after the difficulties OF the old house had been
| incurred the amount OF money turned over in
| the shop was just as pr0dgious as ever In
the four years, for Instance, ending with
| 1854. the amounts were successfully 95S,-
Tss anses tss business ssa was naSs
as everybody recoects, in July, 1865; and as the
nav company stoppedsn May. lsoo; It. was %A only %A IN
nine months the trade continued without the
least abatement whatever. 1t had averaged
three-quarters Of year ending with April 1866, 1t
am0unted-t Is the Official liqudaCor VINO gives the
figures-to f5ao2s,ooo; in other words, to the old
G7o, ,0o0.O0 per annum. with something to spare
Consequently the business OF the "C0rner House,
never fell or one iota from first to last And yet,
whereas II enriched everybody connected with 1t at
one time, II ruined all concerned in 1t at another
How are we to understand thats
Everything went smoothly and had gone smoothly
for ha century up 20 the end of the year 1850 The
business we haye described was yielding net profit
OF some fls0. COOS year divsibe among the partnec
and In fact 1t Is these pros, In the form OF accumu-
aton, which the private estates" OF the partners
often referred to- NAV be taken to represent The CUR
e. 900 000-that Is say the profits OF ten years
gether. IL was In 1880, thereabouts that the
prncpa y ~ thc oa hns
been Mr.. samuel Gurney and Mr.. David Barclay
Chapman; but Mr.. Samuel Gurney died IN 1855, and
MI David Barclay Chapman retired in 1857. The
mischief began not later than 1855, and must have
been fatally pronounced BY Lhe close ~ 1851. be.
ct the state or nrilr ceased 10 appropriate and as
we have been told indeed 10 ascertain, the profits 0f
The con erii Nor can we up 70 this hour make out
were any divisbls profits as all. A confidential let
Yer from the old irm to IN intended director OF tue
new company dated just before the transfer. tells
us much OF lne story, but not I'LL. During the years
1s6l, 1884, 1885, and ls6sa period, be II remembered,
IN which anars were 1t their worst-tne gross
annum wero computed 20 average e227ool.
But against THIS there were losses" TO De
1900; ditto IN so2. fs,l9s; ditto IN 1S63 e. 6s7;
ditto IN iaoi. EIc2, ,5ssr This wonld give an aver
aye loss OF some f52. 900 q year tv be balanced
against profit OF f22T, ,o0o leaving the pleasant
shape VI actual surplus some figV,00o exactly the
calcuated income OF the house Ia rs best days hut
the letter proceeds To confess that. besides and boz
yond ths account OF the 'eAiiiasae" aud .regularn
business Of the irm, there Was business Of another
sort 70 be taken ints consideration. This, IN the
words OF the partners themselves, Is defined a5
meaning '.various tralsacslons by way OF invest
ment, loan or discount. which were entirely extra.
neous to tina legitimate concern of our business"
We need not be The pains VI directing the readers
attention to this description. ~ contains the story
OF ali those ''nccepted accoants' which figured so
prominently In the late inquiry, and II res eals the
source Of the ruin winch ultimately ensued. Tno
connected With various advances made TO conpa-
mes ant firms engaged IN the Shipping, snipbuding
and timber fraaes,n and comprising also
"ioans made 10 railroad contractors well
as advances 10 late West indian urm.f
These statements, as have observed, tell Us q
good deal. bat not quite enough. Tncy give us an
insight INTO tho nature OF the ''extraneou5" bust
nest but not into Its results. All We Sec IA that
whereas tho legitimate trade of the mouse stlll
yielded Its fl9jv0D year profit. the liiegtiinate
trade showed "a balance OF another kinj-pr0blbly
quite suiilcent 10 destroy the lirsf. We viii now
merely avail ourselves Of the ngures tlus supplied
10 explain some Of Tie more obscure rolnts 0l the
story. The 0lt-siebatei question a. To the pros or
no profits O the Old rm may be easily resolved INTO
a conclusion W.T.. two sides. Setting apart the ex-
GaneOus business, uyer.ni, Gurney A CO. do
Ing as good a trade n ever, With gains as large.
They had not lost their custom the profits
which II gave them: but tLen they haa now p0t
another trade ia hand, anu all the pro.s oi the first
were waited 10 cover the losses Ina the second. As
we infer too, tho prohrs made actually a.
signed 10 this purpose, nj least We shoaid under.
Gls0.C0o when would have been dIssibe ia ordinary
tunes among the partners was, after isJa, not No
divided, but was left To accumulate, ana - formed
the item described IA ssianding 70 th. c,slt vi Sue
partners IN the private ledger