Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-10-06
It's Causes and Consequences in a
National Point Of View.
Review of the Financial Policy of the
Government by Gen. Pike.
The Part that Gen. Grant Played in
the Disaster. wE s.
The Associated Press Reporter Gets
a Statement from the President.
The Situation in New York Ysster-
day.
By telegraph 10 the Memphis Appeal /


plan fOrthe establishment of clearing gold
: contracts in connection with the Farmers
Loan and Trust Company. The final &C
tion is to be taken Saturday.
At the annual meeting of the Clearing
; House Association to-day a Committee
was selected for the ensuing year.
The total transactions for the year were
S2s5, ,27S, ,472 "a, and all the transactions
since its organization, period of sixteen
years, 81, ,OO5, ,O27, ,55s, ,962 20. The average
transactions per day have been sl25, ,0ss, :
TS9 81, being S27. .9lO, ,927 s. more than any
previous year, and the total exchanges
81, ,6se, ,ss2, ,072 - greater than before.
There have been no official statements
made as yet in regard to facts of Lock-
wood & Co., although many rumors are
ahoat on the street, one of which is that
the house may possibly resume business
without some of the former partners.
Injunctions continue to be served on the
officers of the Gold Room, restraining
them from buying or selling out under
the rule of gold bought or sold on Friday,
the Path ult.
The Lake Shore directors are still In
session discussing the finances of the
Company Nothing has been made pub
lie as yet except the election of Mr.. A.
! Robinson as Director In the place of Mr..
/ Lockwood.
| WASHINGTON, October 2. 1869.
| Editors appeal; The following extracts
| from an article in the New York World
contain the clearest explanation that
have seen, of the recent operations in
gold and securities, the effects of which,
I think, are hardly beginning to be felt.
To outsiders, these transactions are in
manner mysterious, and the language in
which they are recorded Is an unknown
tongue. A clear explanation has been of
value to me, and will be so to many
others:
How the great bull clique, who got pos
session Of from ten to fifteen millions of 1
gold last summer, entangled the great bear /
clique into the enormous "shOrt trans |
actions which eliminated on Friday last
and how the great bear clique, in the
midst of their dilemma, secured the inter-
ference of the Secretary of the United |
States Treasury, so that the inflated price
Of the gold in the bulls possession came
tumbling down about their heads, are
problems, the explanation of which in a
concise and homely way will clear the
minds of men all over the country.
The names of the men in the bull clique /
are already pretty well known. The I
names Of the men in the bear clique
without the existence of which clique
the band of bulls could not have carried
on their scheme) are ventilated on Wall
street, but have not got into the Radical
newspapers. IL is sufficient for the pur-
81. 4
that both cliques consisted of some of the
richest bankers, brokers, and Spectators
in the metropolis.
The bears having entered the market
frst the object Of the bulls was to cor
ner " them, aud all other dealers in gold.
The first sep Of the bulls was, there
fore, TO get possession and control OF the
major quantities OF gold in the market.
As the average total quantities OF gold in
New Hork-in the Sub-Treasury, in the
banks, and subject 10 the drafts of indi-
yiduals-rarely exceeds twenty millions
Of dollars, and as a good deaf Of that
amount belongs to the Government, or is
held by parties outside of the field of
speculation, any ring which can obtain
the control Of say from ten 10 thirteen ,
millions, Is of course enabled to dictate
tlrs price Of gold At the Gold Room and on
the street
It required enormous capital to pur- !
ousAse ILLS SUM u Bplus anu u low prevail
ing price to make the purchase worth
while. Both these conditions existed |
The bull clique had an enormous capital | |
to operate with, and the bear clique had |
40 broken down the gold market that the
bull ring, watching their chances, sue
ceeded IN buying ten or twelve millions
at l35 and Under.
Another condition, precedent TO the
success Of the bull purchase, and sbsO- I
lutely essential to the success of the bull | :
scheme after hepurch8se. was the secrecy
It the purchase, and the - nding of every
body 70 the fact that this twelve millions I
of gold was being bought into the possess {
sion Of this clique of bulls.
If readers will pay attention, they may {
perhaps be made 10 understand how the |
thing was done.
IL must first be remembered that the
bull clique was formed for several firms, |
and members of firms, accustomed, and
known throughout the banking and spec !
ulatlVe community 10 be accustomed, TO |
large transactions in gold and securities. 4
Next, II must be remembered that pur-
chases of gold at the gold board, of gov
ernment securities at the National Stock :
Exchange, and ofrailway and other shares
at the New York Stock Exchange, are I
very rarely, in fact almost never, made bv I
members of the great banking and specu-
lative firms, or by persons who are pul s
licly known to represent them, 1t OfGt n [
happens that single house has need on a
certain day, of a million or two millions !
of gold or securities. lit should send its I
known agent into the market to make {
that purchase, all holders of the gold or {
securities demanded would instantly be- q
come aware of the firms necessity, and {
would inevitably band together to raise 7
the price. So the great firm having the |
million or the two millions to buy adopts f
the customary method Of self-defense. It {
Ia 81 -.
directions TO half dozen, or a dozen, I
different brokers to buy each a hundred s
thousand, or two hundred and fifty thou {
sand, as the case may be. The brokers, 2
with these orders in their pockets, pro- c
csed TO the Gold Room or the Stock EX- /
change, and effect, one by one, the pur- 2
chases. Every broker as in honor bound) I
keeps secret whom he is buying for. No I
one broker knows that another broker, t
" hO may be standing by his side, holds | r
similar 10 his. from the same G
principal for whom he il negotiating. No v
broker present, employed by other priR-
cipsls to sell the gold or securities asked v
for, knows to whom be is selling The
brokers are thus the go-betweens of the =
great speculatoTs on either side; and IT is
only by sharply watching the offers and o
bids that the selling brokers may possibly
ascertain or suspect that an unusual de- h
mand Is being made for the gold or secu-
LANAN' * NAASAA AAu1e--a SUSPICION EldE H.
duces them instantly to raise the price.
As this method of procedure is habltu- f
ally adopted by single firms in the region
Of wall street, 1t was equally practicable
with the band of firms and members of a
firms who had secretly formed themselves a
into the great bull clique. Day after day. =,
and week after week, this rich coalition of :,
bull operators proceeded-by changing u
their brokers so as TO blind even those {
mOle-eyed beings to the colossal lob that
was being put up" against the bears and I.
the whole specializing and business com >
gather In and lock up the vast a
hoard Of gold which they finally accumu- 4
lated q
This was done so quietly, so dextrous-
", and with 50 little effect upon the gold
market at large, that scarcely a suspicion I
Of the truth was whispered until quite c
except through the columns Of r
he World. And the World. which sent
forth louder end louder notes Of warning
As the plot thickened; and prophesied, be- /
fore last Friday, the crash to come, did c