The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1875-10-14

And lie church-bells rang for the worthy
bride.
And bury my broken heart and me.
-. Independent.
SPLURGE.
A. Illustrated by Prince Ralston, Jay
D.F. Allen.
sssassH By ANDREW SHUMAN.
A homely but expressive word is
snlxroe. and peculiar folk are the
splurcy people. We find them in every
mart 81 the world and in every depart
m,ent of the human activities.
The Man of Splurge as writer is a
man who ssspreads himself" over all
creation, without knowing exactly
where he is or what he is about; as an
orator, he scars that he may roar and
roars that he may soar, without having
any definite idea what he is roaring at
or where he is soaring to; as member
Of society, he is dashy, fiashy, and
splashy---any thing to attract attention
to- himself or impress the ''common
herd Of humanity with the idea that
he somebody of consequence-of great
Consequence; and, as a man OF busi-
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 a man of
magnificent ideas and things. There
is nothing small or mean about him:
his conceptions, aims, and enterprises
are all of a stupendous bigness. The
Man Of Splurge in the role of financier
Is the particular one we would speak of
ct this time. We have seen, and heard,
and felt so much of him of late years
that we have come to "know him like
book He fourished and spread
himself in Philadelphia and Washing
ton not long ago, and his name was
JAY COOKE.
He happened to fall into nice, soft
thing by securing the agency OF the
Government some years ago, when it
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
sphrgsd at.once- -splurged tremendous
y; spent hundreds Of thousands in
building princely palace for home,
and thousands more in building and
liking up'' summer residence to
which all the world---especially
the religious world--were invited,
to accept his unbounded hospitali-
t.. And he spread his bank and his
wonderful financial enterprise all over
Philadelphia, Washington, New York
the ssprovinces'' and even London.
Nothing was too great for him to un-
dertake. He could capture Presidents,
Cabinets, Congresses, and all the news
papers he needed at home, and any
number of capitalists abroad, with nc
more effort than that q cat puts forth tc
catch mice that are already Gagged fol
its nav. He was the Great Financiel
of America, and thousands of small-fry
fnAnciers Immediately dreamed they
were in heaven if he would but deigr
70 give them kindly smile or q friend
" nod. He even undertook the small
matter Of constructing railroads across
the Continent to the Pacific-fol him i
vas small undertaking; issue bonds
sell them to honest Christians ant
Christian widows,a and such othel
crednlous Christian people as had q lit
t!e money saved up for rainy day
that is all. Big things can be accom-
Plshed by the financial Man of Splurge
by means Of bonds, certificates, notes
coupons, acceptances, and other printe'
Or written pieces of paper that promis
Or certify value. Paper and ink ar
cheap, and will 60 great way, evel
"the way Of all the earth, sometimes
And that is the way they went, ssup tn
spout" in the case Of jay, Cooke
magnificent" Northern Pacific Raj
road Ibis last great venture, for, findin,
himself suddenly in q close corner on
ny, without money enough to buy hi
way out-without enough of his o,css t
buy loaf Of bread, eVen-the Man o
6plurge threw up. his hands in helpless
4ess. His banks-their deposits O
Millions having been innocentiy an
portively emptied into his princely pri
rate palaces and dead-beat schemes {
luxurious living and balloon speculs
tiens closed their doors, and th
world was informed that the great, bi
wind-bag had burst-that this stupel
deus humbug had hummed itself out
hat Jay Cookies magnificent" finar
ciering had, after all, been nothin
more or less than robbery-the appr