New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-23
THE LESSON or PANICS.

The periodical braylng In the mortar OI OIlaC
class of beings upon whom the operation has
been called Intellectual by high authority, took
| place in Wall-st on Wednesday. knot OF
| cool and determined gamblers conspired to
spoil number of their confreres by buying In
| open market a greater amount OF q certain
stock than existed. The preliminary measures
Of this plot were taken with such skill and
| good fortune that upon the morning of Wednes-
day this combination had bought of the Sc
curities of corporation whose capital stock
amounted to 10000 shares the enor-
nous quantity of 273000. If the conspiracy
had been carried squarely through the day
the sellers would have been at the mercy OF
the buyers, and the latter might have exacted
any price they saw fit for the stocks in their
possession, and those which they had con-
tracted for. But at this very point the organ
ization showed its element of weakness. The
old maxim of "honOr among thieves" is a
very silly one, and is only used by those who
know nothing of rogues or too much OF them.
In transaction which is in its nature dis
honest and illegal, there is no guarantee
against treason among those who are engaged
in it. The maxim of all despotisms, that where
there are three rebels there is one infOrmer,
is truer one 4; and the same tendency
Of human nature provides in Wall-st that
where there is a pool there are double
"bankers" In this case, the one portion
of the combination found to their horror, on
the morning of decision, that their associates
declined to keep their engagements, and it is
currently reported and believed that many of
them were busily engaged on Tuesday in I'M
tIa tiaa he w n
ergetically buying according to agreement
The edifice of plumber reared with such in
finite care and pain was found to be under
mined before it was completed, and it came
down with a crash and fracas that ruined
some of the builders and spread confusion and
dismay among hundreds of disinterested by
ISLANDERS.
Yesterday, the lesson was so fresh and so
impressive that it was needed. Buyers for
investment were timid and sensitive. Amid
the wreck and debris with which the street
was Uttered, it did not seem safe for any one
to engage in the pastime which had been
shown to be so disastrous the day before. In
the abandonment of the hour, the implements
of the gamblers were exposed for the time TO
inspection and the public, after handling the
loaded dice and the marked cards, was
naturally somewhat slow to lay down its
money in game which had betrayed all its
reckless rascality. But this caution will not
last more than day or two. The disorder OF
the excited gamesters will disappear. The
marked cards will be shuffled so deity
the gudgeOns will not see their differential
backs The loaded dice will be shaken 80
gayly that their rattle will seem like the soul
of fo,r nd of
checked for an instant by this quick shower
bath of panic, will go on as before, burning
out the nervous systems and the moral nature
of all engaged in it.
Occurrences like those we have just wit
messed are not in any sense to be deplOred.
1t would be well for the community at large
if they could become so frequent and SO
fragrant as to convince the dullest of the in
herent unwholesome and dishonest character
of the whole scheme of stock gambling, of
which they are the fullest illustration. If the
timid and nervous SPECTATORS who form the
large majority of the material upon which
these predatory operators base their grand
combinations, could be only convinced that
when they enter into a conspiracy to rob
others, their accompices are bent on plumber
ing them also with strict impartiality, it would
cease to be so easy to organize these brigand
gangs. Until the business circles generally are
filled with this conviction there is little hope
for a reform in the street. There, is unfortu-
nately, great deal of human nature left in
the commercial world, and as long as it seems
probable that A. and b. can lie in wait for
C.. and spoil him of his shekels, there will be
made these unholy alliances But from the
hour when it becomes impossible for these
two rogues to trust each other in their rob-
berries, the road will be safer to the innocent
wayfarer. --
The Spanish Minister for the Colonies has
Il -, ,l,..