Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1873-09-27
THE FAILURE OF JAY COOKE l. co.

4 Co. the New York bankers and fin
ancial agents Of the Northern Pacific
Railroad Co. The cloud that has hung
over the operations of that corporation
has increased in volume until it OBJ
scures the whole horizon, if indeed, as
is reported. it may not have been the
immediate cause of the present disaster.
Their interests have, it seems, been
identical, although nobody appears to
have doubted the ability of Messrs.
Cooke e. Co. to extricate themselves
from the ruin when the crash should
come. The reputation of the firm, and
the confidence of the people in it's
stability, was owing in no small degree
to the brilliant success attending it's
management of the various Government
loans contracted during the war. This
achievement points the moral to be
drawn from the present misfortune
with greater force. 1t indicates that
there is power that even the money
kings cannot afford to ignore, an Under
current they are unable to stem--the
power Of public sentiment. Sustained
Ivy this, this same firm furnished the
money required to meet the enormous
expenses of the nation during its dark
est hours, but without it, they have
been powerless to sustain an enterprise
of little MOTE than ordinary magnitude,
supported by land grant of millions
of acres of the public domain. The
complicated machinery Ivy which the
company was run so as to line the
pockets of a few greedy spectators has
brought a disaster upon the enterprise
from which it will require years to
recover, and then only under wholly
different management.
When we referred to leading Eastern
journals few months ago, to show the
procarious condition of the finances of
the company, it was denounced as an
attempt, from purely interested motives,
to I'M ure the sale OF terminus" prop
erty. Everything that was said to
give the public an insight into the af-
fairs Of the company was stismatizcd as
the prompting of mere local jealousy.
The present disaster indicates the JUS
tice of these warnings, and the truth of
the statements on which they were
founded. Since the report of the COM
mission sent out by the German bank
ers, year or more ago, the bonds of
the company have been drug in the
market, and Jay Cooke & Co., with re-
markable pluck have sustained the i'm
mense superstructure until its fall has
involved them in the common ruin.
The result here is manifested in the
total suspension of work on the rail
road, in the workshops at Kalama, and
on the pet TOWNSHIP Tacoma. The
laborers are all discharged, and are
leaving every day for their homes, an
indication that the suspension is not
merely temporary as it's agents would
have us to believe. The subterfuge Of
the Land Ring, that new plan for the
metropolis had been determined
upon by the directors, is in keeping
with their thimble-rigging proclivities
and deceives no one. 1t is designed to
secure, if possible, suspension of pub
lie opinion, until some plan is devised
to save some portion of the wreck.
If the people of Thurston county
have not a larger share Of Christian
charity than is usually accorded tc
mankind, they cannot repress feeling
of qualification that their enemies, who
short time ago were SO bold and de-
faint, are now lying prostrate in the
dust. The outrage upon this commu
nifty, if committed by "a single individual
would have consigned his name tt
eternal oblivion. It has never ye
found an apologist unless it be among
those who sustain the highwayman''
plea, "might makes right"
While, therefore, we deplore the los
sustained by the commercial world il
this crash, and the delay that will result
in the completion of the great northern
thoroughfare, we are consoled to SOM
extent by the reflection that it was prob
ably only through this ordeal the enter
prise could be Invested of the corrup
J ring that has controlled it's destiny.
BUrToN-HoILNG.- members 0
of the Assembly have had their button
holes worn thread bare already by per