The daily gazette., 1876-02-19
Speculation in London.

In London, as in New York, the
stock and bond swindlers are almost
reduced to despair. Not singly rail-
road or mining company advertises its
enticing scheme in the London prints,
and not a single foreign State is asking
a loan through these channels. There
may be railroad and mining enterprises
awaiting development which are well
worthy Of confidence, but their promo
tiers see that this is not the time to
bring them out. AS to foreign loans,
none but the best could by any possi-
bility be tloated on the London mar
ket. A proposition to raise funds from
any one of the Central or South Amer
ican States, for example, would stand
as little chance of success now as
Lunar Balloon Co. (imited). Yet in
former years these States have been
The fav0rite "holes" into which good
British money has been most lavishly
thrown. The shrinkage of foreign &C.
curities in England within the past
four years is estimated at e77, 900, 900,
or about 40 per cent. OF the original
cost price. This includes the late de-
probation of Turkish and Egyptian
bonds. Coupling these great losses
with those resulting from the Emma
and other mines and multitude of
railway frauds, we need not wonder
that the London public are quite as
ready to touch red hot pokers as the
shares of any doubtful projects. For
some time to come-we do not say for
e er-the sharpsrs in stocks and bonds
will find the British capital poor hunt
ing ground. To this better state of
things legislation has not contributed
one iota, and in its neglect Parliament
has been wise. We published some
me ago the substance of the report of
the Committee on Foreign Loans, who
refrained from recommending any pre-.
,c1utions which could be adopted to
guard against repetition of the swim
dies there exposed. Later, several
plans have been submitted to Parlia-
iaent to protect the money of the toe
credulous. One which met the most
favor was the prohibition of all deal.
ings In undllotted stock and shares, and
of all advertisements and statements in
newspapers relating to them. Opera
tions in unallotted shares, as the For.
eign Loans Committee had made clear
were the means by which the Hondu-
ras, Paraguay, San Domingo and Cos.
Ia Rico loans we're palmed off, The
method is this: The contractor, pre-
pious TO the actual allotment of shares,
commences system of washed sales,
the reports of which are publish
ed. These are made by collusion with
such brokers as are willing to lend
themselves to dishonest acts. The Ia
nocent public, seeing the rr.ce of the
! shares advancing rapidly, are tempted
to ego in" for Investment, or, more
likely, for speculation. When the
ring have worked off all their stock, ,oI
as much of it as the outsiders will take
ldown goes the price, to the ruin oil
serious loss of the simpletons. If trans
factions in unallotted shares could in
fact be prevented, the speculating
rings would be cut off from one meth
cd of robbery; but Parliament con-
cluded that the knaves would only be
driven to invent some other system Of
fraud equally operative las they un-
doubtsdly would), and abstained from
adopting that or any other measure to
save people from the consequences of
their own folly.-Journal Of Commerce.