The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-09-16
SPLURGE.
AS illustrated by Prince HaIstOn. DAY
Cooke, Duncan, sherman q Co., and
u. Il. Allen.

Cooke, Duncan, sherman q Co., and
u. l.. Allen.
By ANDREW sHUMAN.
4 homely but expressive word is
splargc, and peculiar folk are the
splurgy people. We find them in every
part Of the world and in every depart
ment of the hunlan activities.
The Man of Splurge as a writer is a
man who ''spreads himself over all
creation, without knowing exactly
where he is or what he is about; rs an
orator, he So8fs that he may roar and
roarS that he may soar, without having
any definite idea what he is roaring ut
or where he is soaring to-; aS member
of society, he is dashy, Aashy, and
splaShy---any thing to attract attention
to himself or impress the "common
herd of humanity with the idea that
he is somebody of consequcnce-of great
consequence and, rs a man of bust
ness, he is bound at all hazards to be
the whale among the fishes in the sea
of commerce or finance. In other
words, the Man of Splurge is man of
magnificent ideas and things. There
is nothing small or mean about him:
his conceptions, aims, and enterprises
are all of a stupcndous bigneSs. The
Man of Splurge in the role of iinancier
is the particular one we would speak of
at this time. We haze seen, and heard,
and felt SO much of him of late years
that we have come to "know him like
Il book" lie louriShcd and spread
himself in Philadelphia and Washing
ton not long ago, and his name was
JAY COOKE.
He happened to fall into n nice, soft
thing by securing the agency of the
Government some years ago, when 1t
needed money, and disposed of millions
of its bonds for handsome commission,
and thus got good start in life. With
the proceeds of his commissions, he
splurged at once---splurged tremendous
~; spent hundreds of thousands i'll
building a prineely palace for a home,
and thousands more in building and
Liking ups a summer residence to
which all the world---eSpecially
the religious world---wcrc invited,
to accept his unbounded hospitali-
ty. And he spread his bank and his
wonderful financial enterprise all over
Philadelphia, Washington, New York,
the EprOvinces" and even London.
Nothing was too great for him to I'M
dcrtake. He could capture Presidents,
Cabinets, Congresses, and llthe news
papers he needed ut home, and any
number of capitalists abroad, with no
more effort than that cat puts forth to
catch mice that are already Gagged for
its NAV. He was the Great Financicr
of America, and thousands of Small-fry
iinanciers Immediately dreamed they
were in heaven if he would but deign
to give them Il kindly smile or a friend
" nod. He even undertook the small
matter of constructing railroads across
the Continent to the Paciiic-fol him it
was 4 small undertaking; issue bonds
sell them to honest Christians and
Christian widows, and such other
credulous Christian people rs had a lit
tie money saved up for a rainy day
that is all BIG things can be accom-
plished by the financial Man of Splurge
by means of bonds, certificates, notes
coupons, acceptanceS, and other printed
or written pieces of paper that promise
or certify value. Paper and ink are
cheap, aud will 20 a great way, even
"'thc way of all the earth, - sometimes
And that Is the way they went, cup the
spout, - in the case of jay Cooke :
magnificent Northern Pacific Rail
road-hiS last great venture, for, finding
himself suddenly in Il close corner one
day, without money enough to buy his
way out-without enough of his O,rR to
buy Il loaf of bread, cven-the Man of
Splurge threw up his hands in helpless
ness. His banks-their deposits of
millions having been innocently and
sportiyely emptied into his princely pri-
waite palaces and dead-bcat schemes OF
luxurious living and balloon specula-
tionS-cluScd their doors, and the
world was informed that the great, bio
wind-bag had burst-that this Stupen-
douS humbug had hummed itself out
that JAY Cookies magnificent iinan-
cicring had, after all, been nothing
more or less than robbery-the appro-
priating to his own personal and stump
tuoUS uses the moneys intruSted 10 his
safe keeping by his banks customers
Those princcly palaces andparadiSeS he
called his homes, and that Sumptuou>
extravaganza he called "'hospitality'
had eaten up not only his own little for
tune, but the fortunes of his confidential
friends and nei%hbors, and indirectly
rs the effect of the widespread panic
that followed his failure, forced thou
sands of people throughout the country
into bankruptcy. The Man of Splurgc
does every thing ON a big scale, and in
this case, his failure was the "biggeSt
thing OUT
Shortly afterwards-the battering-
ram of panic having been brought to
bear against all sorts of walls and shams
many another air-castle of the finan-
cial Splur@es succumbcd and fell. Wall
Street is to this day full Of the debris OF
their ruins. The Men of Substance
withstOOd the shock, as they do all such
emergencies, but the Men of Splur%e
collapsed, some Of them instantly, but
all of them inevitably. Being mere
creatures of chance and hollow seem
inc, who, like the Cannibals, subSiSt
upon their fellow-men-parading osten.
tatiously with borrowed plumes and
! stolen DallleGS-lI neeUS DUI IclpeSl
or two of adversely to shatter them to
pieces and expose their utter hollownes>
and worthleSSneSS. The daShing, reck-
! hess, and brazen
JIM FISK
was a conspicuous example of THEN
tribe, and his ending was 4 fair Speci-
men of how they come out sooner OF
| later.
The great financial firm of
DUNCAN, SHERMAN ~ Co,
the recent failure of which aStoniShed
the world, owes its fate entirely 10
Splurge. The man Duncan expended
more money-hiS customers deposits
of course-in princely houses and lux
urious "stylcn in one year than hi-
bank earned legitimately in five years
He was one of your magnificent" fell
lows, who was never satisfied or happy
so long as other Men of Splurge in on
around the metropolis drove faster
] borsas baI lis-nnY. hnuEps nr. ltrrrsr