The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-04-29

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robbery, whether it presents itsslf in
he shape Of stock jobhine,or stin more
swindIIng. This y 10 resnlt |
BIZ ) silent compaet bstwsen The Beur-
reoise end militarism---a compost which
forms the basis Of Csssrism, md thsl
essence Of which is. that the Bourgeoise
abdicates politically in favor Of militar-
ism, acknowledging the sword to be
thu only possible government IN ePrl
civilized age, add That in return the1
Bourgeois il protected by the sword In
Its endeasors to fleece the pepple-psrt
of the spoil Of course falling 10 the lot
of the sword. How UNANIMOUSLY and
enormously France has been pluhdered
10 this manner during the empire of So
ciety-saving Bonapsrte 10 pretty geu-
erslly known, though TO what extent
can merely be guessed Certain It 10:
the Milliardes France win have 10 pay
for the last criminal folly Of Bonaparte
are but trine compared with the co
lossal sums, stolen, down right stolen.
/ do not use milder expression on pur-
pose-by the credit Mo6ieicr. the Perieys,
Nires, Human and other worthless Of
the December gang, their chief in
Guided. -a"
Not 80 generally known Is il that the
same system is spreading fast In mod
ernised Germany, and that-like csuses
producing like effective are in q fair
way Of equalling our model the French
empire,in this as well as other respects.
IL is a public secret that the exchange
Of Berlin is habitually used and manip-
ulated By persons VIGOROUSLY connected
with men in the highest official posi-
tions-but of this delicate theme i
shall refrain from saying more to-day.
What l have 70 speak of is q scan
dal perhaps unparalleled in the chro~iq"s
scandalexss of swindling-both by the
magnitude of the operations and the
quantity and station Of the persons i'm
plicated. / mean the bursting Of the
Strousberg bubble. No doubt, you
have heard OF Mr.. Ssrousberg.a German
Cor Polish) Jew who, in his youth,
went over to London, where he led q
precarious adventurer's life, having his
ups and downs, net always reputable
(beiBg once for instance, implicated IN
o very ugly lawsuit concerning has
wife and his treatment Of her); some
ten years ago he returned to Germany,
not much richer than when he had gone,
but happening to fall in with rich
EnQlishman, whose confidence he sue
ceeded in gaining, and who entrusted
him with means sufficient to undertake
the construction Of q provincial railway.
The rising man managed this affair so
cleyerly, and extracted such large diff
ference between what he paid himself
and what he was paid, that he could
henceiorth work on y larger scale. For
the double purpose Of getting patron
age and sohd supply Of capital. He
entered into secret partnership with
several Of the Prussian noblemen (some
of them high in the peerage, f. j. the
Duke Of UjestHohenlohe) and then
aided by his admiring aristocratic
friends, he began to display his genius
buying and selling landed estates, erect
ing mills and constructing railways, I'm.
til, to crown the edifice, he effected his
master stroke, the Rumanian Railway
scheme, to which all the rest had only
been IS a preparatory introduction. He
was now the great Railway King, and
being pulled up by dozens of hungry
literati he kept for that purpo Sc, snd
by q big newspapers he set m for thai
purpose, his fame increased rapidly and
he soon became a sort Of mythical be.
ing fdF the public, that could not read q
newspaper without finding . paragraph
stating that Mr.. Strousberg had acted
Providence by feeding the poor and
distributing wood, etc, or discovered
fresh gold mine, or speEt untold sums
on land, or a new invention, etc. The
thinking-always tiny minority-shook
their heads and foretold the end usual
for Railway Kings, and such like, and
the 6rst class bankers of Berlin could
never be prevailed upon to discount
Strousberg bills. However that did
not matter. Let those old fashioned
bankers think what they like-thers
,cas money, there gas cash, he did make
immense purchases, and he did pay
with the profuseness and Eberality Of
Alladin, the possessor Of the wonder
full lamp. Millions upon millions were
spent, one sf eculation piled upon the
other like Pelion upon Ossa-cnly DC
real mountains, but PAPER mountains
Mountains of nice printed paper, largt
pieces Of paper, small pieces Of paper
commonly called shares, obligations
The commotion created by the outbreah
of the war, gave the paper mountain
. good shaking already, and opened
many crevices, through which a glimpse
into the interior could be gained By
any one that had eyes TO look with
which You krcy most people have not
But the noble friends, afraid of the ex
posure, rushed TO the rescHe, the crew
ices were patched and painted ove'
and On ingenious plan devised, where
by the paper mountain was to be sllll
slipped from Streusberg's ian inverse
Atlas) shoulders on those of join
stock company, with Strousberg for it
manager. A good manager he wculs
no doubt have been-would have man.
aged well for himself and his high con
federates-unfortunately suspicion hac
been raised and had grown strong-tb'
company proved failure, ugly report
came from Rumania, the debates OF tha
Bucharest Chamber on the Stroasber-
gian Railway scheme disclosed detaili
Of very questicnab or rather very
unquestionable, almost penal character
The catastrophe was not to be avoided
by desperate efforts on the part o
the aristooratic patrons, the fall hal
been deadened but fall IS fall, and tn
paper mountain 10 blown down and mal
soon be used by cheese-mongers e
wrap candles and soap. There hav'
been great swindles in England and the
United States-the Sadlier swindle il
England, and divers huge English and
American bank swindles, but none o