The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-07-30
rne Last Financial Melodrama.

.H
The failure of DUNCAN, SHERMAN q Co.,
together With the attendant scenes and CIR
cumstances. are quite melodramstic In their
character, aud are as full Of moral sugges'
.ioss as any financial sensation we have had
for long time.
Clearly, the house with big name hao
been guilty Of very imprudcnt and very im'
proner conduct. Widely trusted as Gus
todian of other peoples funds, it INDUCED
madly, and with infidelity to those VINO
trusted, it In speculatious. Tempted oy
large sbaves, skinning usury' II oo'-
stored up insolvent railroad companies
"servins," as the Tribune says, as
&" Ggure-head for the rotten u'aoase-
"ment OF rotten railroads. and accepting
",beir securities as collateral for twice their
"value." 1t fell, and great was the fall Thereon.
We commented yesterday upon the VICIOUS
habit of New York bankers OF Specializing ID
many ways-their using the funds OF their
customers in gambling in stocks and all sorts
of things to the utter disregard Of their most
plain obligations. Impolicy and faithless-
ness such as theirs can never lead to good.
Failures innumerable have thinned out the
class,-the i'll weeds that choked and oo-
structed commerce aud it is conSoiing to
think that the remedies for such practices
are certain and unfa,ling. Their efficacy has
been powerfully displayed, and it would be
hard indeed il we could believe that the
fates OF those men who in their great haste to
be rich have violated both prudence and
honor have been lost upon society and have
failed TO put a check upon the vices and
errors that have met such terrible retribu-
ton.
The vast fortunes of the great metropolis,
acquired through national distress and pn-
scrupulous gambling, have led to world OF
irregularity and wild and dishonest scheming
and gambling. The ambition to be suddenly
rich has maddened the followers OF finance
and tainted all the channels Of money-dea
ing, Hard must be the lessons that are to
correct the vices that are thus engcndered.
But these lessons inevitably attend the ways
of the financial transgressors. 1t is benefl-
cent order Of the providential laws that they
do, else where would the honest people and
the children Of toll find protection from the
financial leeches who arc ever sucking the
blood of the land, depressing the people, and
robbinc them of the just gains Of their in
dustry?
1t is now edifying to read the accounts OF
'bow the news Of DUNCAN, SHERMAN &
Co.'S failure was received" and how the
wise bankers commented upon it. Most Of
them expected il. That old s!rategist in
money and mouopoIies, Commodore VAN
DERBLT. bad predicted the failure, and had
long regarded DUNCAN, SHERMAN d Co. as
"shaky "a word the Commodore knows
the full force of since he is physically getting
a little "sbaky" himself.
The Commodore is at Saratoga. He takes
q game at cards; but he does not go to the
races, as he Is "not so strong'-yes, not so
strong. And by some mysterious timeous.
ness Of the tricks of rumor, coDtempora-
neously with the announcement of the great
failure, it was announced that the Commo-
dore was dead. "What! the Commodore
" dead! said everybody. "Then it seems
q" that fundamentally has indeed come upon
I" the era Of stock. watering, god-gambiDg,
"lnd wild specializing among the worshippers
!. Of Mammon," also said everybody. But
this was premature. The MEruIsToPHILEs
of finance, with derisiyc chuckle, contra
dicted the announcement, and a telegram
from Saratoga dated "July 81, 9:30 p. NJ"
ran thus: Commodore VANDERBILT is play.
% ing point.cuchre, and is holding big hands
for an invalid" Bravo Commodore! Alas!
poor DUNCAN & Co !! The Commodore plays
upon poor DUNcAN's coffin, and holds big
hands, too; and with them taunts the poor
ghost Of him who lost all at that other game
of betting high on cotton. Hold your big
hands, Commodore; beware of "shaki-
ness A." at eghty.two! But he goes on play
ing, nevertheless.
CHApIS, of the Boston and Albany rail-
road, was so delighted at the Commodore's
pluckiness and "big hands" that he gave an
immediate expression Of his entire conf.
dence In the vitality Of the venerable mono
polist and gambler by telegraphing to New
York: "Buy CHAPLIN five hundred shares
Central" Bravely done, CnAPIN!
Even the Saratoga race-course was no
more disturbed than was the Commodore.
1t was far more disturbed by the Commo.
dore's absence, from being "not so strong,'
than it was by the "great failure" The odds
on the faYorites were not affected at sill by 1t,
h and few left the track till the races were over
Thus it is ever. Calamity sweeps out its
vicims, and they excite but passing eN
preston of regret, and are then forgotten. 1t
is said the Saratoga women were more ten
derly affected than the men. The bankers
chat was cold, selfish, and highly peppered
with censures of the house, many claiming
the realization of prophecies long made, and
few had any sympathy to offer to the unfor-
tunate. The ladies of Saratoga were exceed
ipgly interested in relatives and lovers ira.
Yelling abroad with DUNCAN, SHERMAN &
Co.'s letters Of credit, and now and then
thought the house "naughty" TO put such
dear people to trouble, but were relieved by
the news that the travellers had all been pro-
vided for, when there fell from gentle lips
the sweet consolation for the unfortunate
bankers: "What good house it was!"
And thus the dead house was discussed,
and finally left to float down the stream, with
a deficit of $4,000, 900, soon to be forgotten.
New York is city Of unparalleled rapidity
aud intrepidity of growth and commercial
enternrise. She should be a city of great re.