The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-12-03

There have been in the past tunes is
olated instances Of swIndiiug. such as
the South Sea Bubble aud Laws schemes
in France. aud probAuly many others
Of which history ha. preserved no rec
ord. bue for pure u,s,iulterat-d swind-
ling co,umend US t. the latter half Of
the nineteenth century. S.vings banks
crashing all over the country-rylers.
and Duncan's, aud Parafs, are the out
ward evidences OF very Rotten state Of
things. These men are not singular of
their kind. they represent classes and
are the unfortunate OF their classes
thuse unfortunate enough to DE iound
out or overtaken by the law. Rece"t
Developments III mining COMPANIES
show that they are no more free from
thieves that break. through aud steal
than are savings banks. and Of the two
the mining sw,.:dlcs count the more nu-
msrous victims. 1t ID safe to assume
that one half of the savings Of the M
dastrious for years have been swallowed
up III stock speculatiuns.
In the city Of San francisco there are
to-day $1,000 persons of all ranks and
conditions outside Of the people engng-
ed in business who have by dint of hard
work, saved all the way from $500 to
$1,000. The aggregate savings If these
cannot be less than fifty millions OF dol
lars-one- Of which or twenty live
million dollars. have been swallowed up
by the stock maelstrom. leaving TWEEN
ty-five thousand people. servants, me
chanics, labnrers. small shop keepers to
mourn. Adding 10 this the losses of
those higher in business. if not in the
social scale, 40 much morr. and we shalt
have during the past -ighte-n mo this.
losses aggr-Rating ci"se on to fifty mill
ions of dollars. This dues not m-asure
the total loss by any means. We sh all
come at that in detail aud in other arti-
clrs How have the losss.s been sus-
tainvds BY dishonest billing aud bear
ing Of the markets. tor no one can say
that thu operations by which certain
stocks are advanced aud depressed are
honest. and the Exch-quer and Cromer
frauds are by no means the fir.t Of their
kind. 1t is hard to believe that the
sudden risings and faliings Of the mar
kct for the past 10 years have not been
the consequence Ut manipulation. Ia
the greater part the vast malnr'sy OF
the mines on the stock boa d. there is
no more prop ct of obtaining gold or
silver than th-rs is of picking it up in
the ssrests of San Franci>co. nor halt SD
much for IN cd quar- er or two or a
half dollar g..ld piece will occasionally
be picked mp there. The scrip Of the
vast n,ajority of these mines msy there
fore be iikened To the cards usea fy the
gambler, and OH which his unwsry
dnpcs bet sll their fortune. The pies
ent O,hir excitement. whatever b- the
furur~ of hat mine Is case in point.
In one week the st.ck Jumped mp fr"m
&l2 to $52. and shares of the value Of
over Q million doilsrs were sold ia Que
iay--~vcryo rushed in to buy Pre-
vioasly these shares were worth $4t1.
600. There was thus gain Of $6oO. 400
for the holdera The development that
caused the rx-it-ment culninstImg in
this sale was suddenly ch-cked-a pr
phyry horse was discovered. Down
went the market aud purchasers wsre
sinched tn the tune Of several thousand
dollars. If the horse continues they
will be sinehed considerably sn"re- II
can even bs 50 fixed that If the, e is gold
the horss will keep in sight long
enough TO bring tn. u.as ket down Ia its
preyi0us level, when the ones ~, tue in
side can -t-p in and hny again. hss,"s
,ueanvhile made $6OO. COO mere than
even under favorable circumstances
thew could have HOPED torecrive in div
idcnd. tor mahy . day.