The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1875-09-09
PRINCE RALsTON" AS he WAS.


lowing account of Ralston, the Califor-
tions, his princely style of living and
the cause of the collapse:
To those at distance who do not nm
derstand the position for the past ten
years occupied by Ralston in the affairs
of the Pacific coast, it will be almost i'm
possible to convey an adequate concep-
tion of the startling effect with which
the news of his suspension, for to all
J intents and purposes he was the bank of
California-and of the tragic denoue-
ment has fallen upon the entire Pacific
coast. There have been croakers for
| years, but that the Bank of California
could fail was not entertained by people
from Washington TER itory to Mexico,
and from Salt Lake to the Pacific, as
among the possibilities.
Everybody has known for years that
the bank, or that Ralston for account of
the bank, was engaged in the most gi-
gantic speculations in mining stocks.
Everybody knew, too, that with the ex-
ception of perhaps half dozen all told,
the mines in stock of which these opera
| tions were conducted were non-paying,
and probably never could be made to
pay. No bona Jfde dividends were ex-
| pected to be realized on nine tenths of
the stock which the bank bulled and
beared. But it was the bank that did
! the bulling and bearing, and that was
enough. Ralston manipulated the stocks,
and to do it, he had at his command the
entire resources of the greatest bank on
the continent, and dep osit greater
than that of any three banks in New
York combined. When q stock was
| put on the market it was enough that
Ralston approved it /; his bids gave it a
| quotation, and the incredulous who
sold short, found when they came to
pay their margins, that it was hopeless
| to buck against the bank. Everything
| that he touched, with the immense re-
/ sources of that institution to back him,
seemed to turn to gold. No matter
what his ventures, the bank regularly
! paid its monthly dividend of one per
cent and instead of seeking to corner
him, the whole street, and the whole
populace following the example of the
street, followed his lead. The man who
knew Ralston's plan considered himself
made, and his sole object was to buy
| IL III
Ralston sold.
The Napoleonic dash with which he
carried his ventures in rapid succession,
the marvellous sums he was credited with
making, operated to iniame almost the
entire populace with the stock gambling
mania. Merchants, lawyers, mechanics,
draymen, newsboys, and servant girls,
all joined in the chase after fortune in
California street. No body inquired
about the condition of the mines, for no.
body put confidence in the reports of
the companies. What people Sought to
know was, whether the bank, or Ralston
and they were convertible terms
would bull or bear the stock, and invest
ments, from the thousands of the broker,
to the $25 of the poorly paid clerk, were
made accordingly. And from the pala-
tial parlors of the bank, Ralston, king
of the street, ruled the market, with the
banks millions at his command to boost
or bear stocks, regardless of their values,
which every cool-headed man knew to
be almost wholly fctieious.
| His tragic end is a confession that,
while playing these enormous stakes,
| he did not always hold the winning hand.
How far back the heavy losses date
cannot be known until the affairs of the
| bank are unraveled-if ever they be un-
rayeled which is matter of doubt. 1t
will be remembered that in 1868 the
bank was reported to have been saved
by the transfer, in the night, of the coin
| from the sub treasury to its vaults. A
/ Congressional committee investigated
the matter, and of course discovered
nothing, though men are now living who
assisted in carting the gold from the sub
treasury vaults in the bank. In 1873
was the tremendous contest between the
! bank and Alvinza Hayward and his
| brother in-law Senator Jones over the
Crown Point NINE Rumor had it then
that the bank had, as usual, come out
the winner, and that Hayward and Jones
barely escaped bankruptcy. Other ru-
mors were thai the bank united with
Hayward and Jones to skin the s'fats.'
How much the bank may have lost can
not yet be told, if it did lose, nor by
what expedients the losses were conceal
ed while the bank maintained its abso-
lnte supremacy of the money market.
The latest and most Gigantic of Ral-
ston's operations was the bananza stocks,
the grandest bubble speculation since
| the days of john Law Despite the
vast capital at his command, Ralston
found himself unable to carry the scheme
through. Other immense fortunes had
been amassed in California street there
were those who hal ce:eital to meet him
at his own tactics Foremost among
these were Flood & O'Brien, the propri-
etors of the bonanza scheme. They or
ganized ring counter TO that of the
bank. Meanwhile the bank itself has
been weakened by the London and San
! Francisco Bank, organized under the
management of Ex-Governor Milton S.
Latham, one of the most daring and sue