New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-06

perturbations which have rendered us ulio
such misnomcr. The cyclone, In whose ten'-
pcstuOus swirl its shares are now iaporlns'
not long since bore them along its polar eudy,
and wrecked the ventures OF the "shor'S
somewhere in tho high ATTITUDES OF the nine
ties. Just now. on the contrary, spectators
for the advance have been laundering in the
thirties. and some of the still more unfortu-
nate Observation-Disclosures are completely over
whelmed by the increasing storm. 'loioht
fluctuations in the price of Pacific Mall
o word Of fear.
Emphasizing TO q mOneyod earl
are not unfamiliar to the public but extremes
so far apart and quickly taken have not been
reached by it for several years. There are
features in the present excitement which have
more than d speculative and dramatic interest,"
Questions of financial honor and morality are
involved, which entitle Pacific Mail and It's
managers to claim, no less than Erie ana tor
collateral reasons, the attention that we accord
to all public topics and to the important pro-
iects of widely-known men.
Not two years have passed, as oar readers
generally are aware, since Mr.. A. b. Stock
well of sewing-machine celebrity, found this
lively stock in condition OF unwonted
lethargy, superinduced, AZ the doctors would
say, by repeated and protracted bleedings at
the hands of distinguished practitioners, after
a stunning blow received in the completion OF
the overland railroad. Getting it under his
control, largely by direct purchase, he threw
such halo of speculative glory about it that
both the shares and their daring manipulation
drew after them, it is to be feared, more than
q third part of the stars of Wall Street. The
market price went up TO 60, to 7O-to
80 when he elected himself President,
long before which date he had shed his ini-
4" tails" had become known as Stockwell, and
was power in the street. The title of Cap
tain soon followed; but when, for the first
time In years, Pacific Mail reached the con-
spicuous altitude of par, he stood forth met
aphorcal Commodore, the highest fisco-naval
rank which the Board has power to confer.
His ascendant grades, in their swift success
sion, have been not inapty compared 10 those
bestowed upon Private Fritz by her liighness
the Grand Duchess of Gerolstein but his dis
establishment was equally swift and bewilder-
ing. As the stock fell, his titles and orders
one by one were stripped from him, and he
eonfesses, not without humor, that now there
are few who do him reverence, that no
has reassumed his initials, and even
has the obscure and Romantic Mis-
ter prefxed TO his rehabilitated name.
We need not dwell upon the causes of this
two-fold decline and fall. Every artificial
initiation is followed by propOrtionate shrink
age. In the present case, moreover, tho fable
of the youth who tried to grasp too many
81 IA ODD he he
ambition of that man who, already holding
Pacific Mail ut par, must needs endeavOr to
lift several equally dangerous fancies" to
that vicinity. Nor must we forget the I'M
series of mi5fOrtunes which
the Company endured, in the loss
Of the America, Sacramento, Guatemala,
and Bienville. Such disasters, unhappily,
were not the only symptoms of a
reckless Management, which expended its
energy upon stock speculation, and neglected
the actual condition of the line. The tradi-
tional maladministration of this Company
has, possibly, been intensified during the last
fiscal year. A decline was inevitable in the
market value of its shares to the point of
actual worth, and, for the time, considerably
lower. A more extreme and prolonged shrink
age appears to be looked for by the new
Directory, and under circumstances which it
will not be amiss TO observe with an iuquiring
eye.
Whoever supposes that the worthy syndi-
cate of gentlemen who have elected them
selves to the new DirectOry-or that have
been elected, rather let us say, by an operator
who, to de him justice, has no vanity, and al
ways prefers to keep mOdestly in the background
whoever supposes that these gentlemen were
belated stockholders in Pacific Mail, driven to
protect their misused interests, is indeed
vastly mistaken. Whoever supposes, even,
that they purchased controlling portion of
the shares, in order to put themselves into
office, is innocent as Daisy Copperfeld, and
more unsophisticated than the Rev. DR.. Prim-
rose. Among the names comprising this
" All Broad-st. Nine" we discover only one
that may not be claimed by professional
stock operator, or by a stakeholder represent
ing professional operators. The exception
is that Of an ancient mariner, who being, we
should say, very good man for the place, and
having at least FIVE shares in his own NAME
has been elected to the Presidency. At the
time of the election the stock was low down
in the fortes, and brokers not wholly un-
friendly to the new management were, and
since have been, strenuously hammering" it,
tin short, using every means
to bring it into discredit and force it down.
Depressed as it already u.s. they freely predict
that in the lowest depth lower depth, even
that of corporate bankruptcy, opens to devour
those who have the temerity to purchase its
shares.
On the 2d inst. card appeared in print
to the new board and bearing the
signatures of Messrs. CLOVIS, Williams, and