The New York herald., 1873-11-07

me thods OF doing business, except himsen ana DIS
immediate friends knew that failure must come
in the end. Why he failed TO know IL Is one o.
those mysteries which surround all great nnan-
cers who do business on credit and pay twice as
much interest as they can possibly make prohls;;
But even Sprague might have known ~ u . ne hau
not been blind with business vanity and political
fury and egged on against his enemies by the
feeble politicians who surrounded nln hsteau ~
curtalling every source OF outlay and contIaceins
rather than expanding his investments, ne con-
timed his mad career, giving his enemies iresn
cause lor "detraction" almost every day and
added TO their rancor by a rancor as vloent as
theirs. And so IL came that political ieuds ana
erroneous business ideas ruined him in the end
sPRAGUE's MISCELLANEOUS INVESTMENTS
There would be sufficient evidence in the exten-
sion OF sprague's mill property and IN MS I'M
mense political investments TO convince any uIl-
prejudiced mind that the corporation OF a. w.
Sprague could not endure the strain many years
Weread IN the report OF the committee that tbe hr
OF A. W. Sprague both members oil which are
stockholders In the corporation has assets as ioi
lows
2l5 share. Washington and Georgetown Rail- .,.o.o
1856 shares KeRne6ec Land ana Lumber Com -.oo
shares shares Rhode Island Horseshoe Company. 10
700 shares Rhode Island Safe Deposit Company oooo
Kennebec Land and Lumber Company account lsss, 1881
Columbia Water Power Company .....''.' lao'M0 aoS0
coburn Land Company ooooo acres l4szSoo
Interest IN four schooners s,...............,. ZoU
Totsl............... 81 is36, ss7
Besides this extreme extension the firm and the
corporal have bank and other stocks amount
ing to as much more, put which cost as much
more and probably half as much again. out OF a
capital OF about s2o,0oo,00o fully 0ne-haI was
diverted into other and uncertain channels
diverted from the necessities OF cotton spinning
and printing. Could any man iall to have de
tractors under such circumstances, or coulu any
man, who did business, as l have shown William
Sprague to have done 1t, and VINO abused his busl-
ness and political rivals, without STINT, during ihe
whole time he was on the road 10 rum, e4pec.
them to come forward at TINS time ana NJ
seems n p 50 sna' that e sny soI further
iion OF the reasons why Brown ives
Will not sustain Spragne appears unnecessary. ~
| will require much more than the magnanimity oI
| old William Sprague when he succored slater LOT
Brown Ives TO succor the Spragues OF TINS gen
GRAFTON. And so straightlaced and severe IN tner
business notions the members OF thus, the
great family OF Rhode Island" that do not 0e-
lieve they would the spragues, If lor no other
reason simply because OF the manner In which the
Senator stripped his banks and, in the case Oh the
Cranston savings Bank particularly, imperiiled the
THE END AT LAST.
AT last the end came. The Buchu bankers IN
| Wall street Jailed, and the consequent shrlnkage
in values and stringency III money Immediately
Affected the Spragues. 1t was impossible ior the
much longer, and he said that he must either
arrange with his creditors or 60 into bankruptcy.
ruptcy, in spite Of every effort to the contrary.
| There are too many diverse interests both none
tary ana political sprague mas TOO many S crsao ernn,
bankruptcy, even alter the trustees assume their
functions and are in the iull exercise OF ther al
thorlty. Though the Sprague poets, attunlng their
harps TO the catching air OF "When the Band Be-
| gins to Play" may sing
If all will just keep quiet
Until the 'sQuall' blows o'er,
The Spragues will do the honest thing
And open Treasures door,
They're gentlemen whom all can trust
They mean just what they say,
And when tney give the order
Then the banks will surely pay:
yet doubt II they will ever be able fully TO realize
| the last line or the refrain OF the chorus:-
Oh, wen feel awfully jolly when the banks begin to
Yes we feel delightfully."- happy when the banks begin
For our finances are lowering,
| We're almost "broke' to-day,
We're waiting tor the savings banks to pay-pay-pay
| Politics Is the imp which even now keeps guard
| over ''treasure's door, and which makes the
| Spragues' money drawer only Pandora's box. As
But his partisans want to keep the faction together
| and Ex-Governor Smith desires to lead 1t. TINS Is
in accordance with the desires OF the Senator also,
| lor he has not lost all hope, and Smith, though
stubborn and tenacious Is narrow and feeble, and
could be pushed aside at any moment. This
accounts for the strong desire to make smith one
OF the trustees, and also for the strong opposition
which his nomination inspired from the very mo-
OF the Sprague faction sought his appointment
| because he would be their political as well as
financial trustee, and the creditors OF the other
| faction opposed him Tor the very opposite
reason None OF the trustees originally named
are really able men, but smith being the most
tenacious, the most aggressive, and the most ac-
ceptabe to tne SpragueS, the design evidently has
been all along to concentrate all nearly ali the
trust power in his hands, the Senator hugging the
delusion that his cousin would do well enough Tor
fgurehead till he got on his feet more
| and was able to assume the reins himself Thus
politics was IN the beginning, in the middle and in
the end the bane OF Spragues liie-the wil-o-the-
| wisp which tempted him into the wilderness and
continued to bewilder him even after his strength
! was gone. The sequel to this remarkable story
| Will be told in the account OF the meeting OF the
| Sprague creditors to-day IN Armory Hail.