The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-01-03
NEW YoRK, Dec. %. 1877.

bsen standing for years tricked out so gaudily
that the uninitiated were completely deceived
| In respect to Its unsubstantality. I. will
strike mattsr-of-fact people rather oddly that
| firm OF money lenders should fail. 1t Is diff
| cult for anybody unacquaintsd with the ways
| OF stock gsmblsrs to comprehend how such a
thing could be possible. And yet we have the
demonstration that this vsritable event can
occur 10 the case of Meter s. Company, whose
bankruptcy was announced last week This
enterprising firm have had the reputation in
| quarters where they were not known of possess
ing great resources Their lsndings were on
l gigantic scale. They drew checks for millions
| in single day. Abruptly, without note of
warning they stop payment, and it Is discov-
| cred that their pretended wealth was an abso-
Lutte sham and that they had been wretchedly
| insolvent for years.
1t is worth while looking Into the rnodus op-
| erandi Of performance Of this kind. 1t hap-
| pens that there Is an illustration of it in the
| final transaction which pricked the bubble.
| Meter & Co lent broker 100000 receiving
| as collateral security certain stocks and bonds
OF the market value OF, say $3.50, 900. These
they Immediately hypO!hecsted with the bank
that kept their account and borrowed S7800O0
on them. One day the brokers went to pay
| their loan and receive back their securities.
Netter & Co. couldn't ges them released with
out paying $4,000 more, besides the accruing
interest, than the brokers were paying them.
There always comes day and an hour when
your defaulter or your sharper reaches the end
of his tether-when his refugees Of subterfuge
and trckery fail him. This moment came to
IA Nat yuba IloJ
store the property which had been pledged to
them. They threw up the sponge, and the
parties who went there to pay debt found
| themselves in the awkward situation of having
to be creditors Of the concern in spite Of them
selves, and with very little chance of ever OBJ
tanning decent dividend on their heavy loss.
However there was nothing for them to do bat
make the best Of bad condition OF affairs So
they paid the loan to the Bank and were $780,
900 and upwards out of pocket by the operation,
| 1t very soon got noised abroad what had hap.
pened, and other victims appeared upon the
anxious seats The general conclusion is that
the Meters are very appropriately named, for
the net they spread ensnared a great mul
titude OF men before it was exposed. And al
| the while these fellows were living like Syba-
rites, spending money with a lavishnsss and
prodiaality that ought to have excited suspi-
cion, but on the contrary, as often happens,
seemed to have in great measure allayed itg
OF course there are those who say now that
they always dstrusted them-never would have
anything to do with them. Aud very likely
that sentiment did prevail In some quarters
but not SO extensively as to prevent the Meters
from inyeigliug numerous dupes within their
fatal circle and fleeing them mercilessly.
The extrsvagance of these men was enough
to impair their credit. When person who is
an habitual debtor drives a span-in-hand, keeps
yacht, sports furtively as watering places, or
makes the necks and ears Of his wife or daugh-
ters perfect show-window OF costly Jewels, Is
is safe rule not to take his obligation In any
form. The chances are nine to one that he will
go to the wall sooner or later There have
been innumerable instances OF this nature dur
; ing the past four years in New York. To be
wasteful is bad enough under any circumstances,
but to spend borrowed money profusely is lit
tle worse than recklessness; is is violation Of
honor and good faith of which truly upright
man could not be guilty.
1t is because thera have been so many
social imposters and swindlsrs in this city that
we have had such prolific harvest Of CONNER
cial disasters know of men to-day who are
living In elegant ouses-establishments that
rate on the asse ssors' books at S25 900 or more
paying no interest on the mortgage sad no
taxes. The decree of foreclosure will eject
them at last but the processes of law are slow
and may be retarded by great many devices
of legal ingenuity. Meanwhile these Jeremy
Diddlers live rent free and keep up style
which Is in itself an impudent fraud. Ofcourse
none but dishonest individual would do a
thin of this kind. Any one who had spark
of manhood or self-respect would rather live on
the fifth door of an east side tenement house,
than to dwell on premises to the occupancy of
which he has no more moral right than the
burglar who gets possession by the use of q
jimmy Nevertheless we have such people
hereabouts and they hold their heads up as if
they were not conscious Of the depth of knavery
into which they have fallen.
Undoubtedly q large majority of the paiuful-
y numerous business misfortunes that have oc-
Cured in New York since the panic are attrib-
utable to causes that imply no reflection upon
the probity Of the parties involved. But there
have been few cases in which the calamity was
not provoked by excessive temerity and precipi-
tated by undue confidence ia the reality and
permaneney of the paper money illusion which
passed for prosperity as long as it continued,
notwithstanding is was gradually dIaining the
life's blood Of the nation all the while. 1t was
natural the revulsion should strike hardest at
New York, for 1t was here that the initiation
attained its highest point Of altitude The fall
ures Of which it has been the consequence have
been like the fra in the re6uer's crucible con-
suming that which Is was necessary to separate
from the rest of the metal in order 30 leave it
pure There are less shop keepers than there
were, but there aro still more than are needed.
The number is likely to diminish. Thres or
four large dry goods jobbing firms are about
going into voluntary liquidation from the coz
vction that the business is too precarious to
justify the risks to which they subject their cap
ital The middle man Is a factor in trade for
whom there seems to be no longer any legit-
mate place. The importer or manufacturer is
getting one stage nearer the consumer and the
latter thereby saves the contribution that Is
| levied upou him every time a commodity
changes hands. These mutations ars unques-
| tionaoly fraught with advantage to the welfare
of the whole country, and are really propitous
| signs Of returning health and stability to our
| financial system. There is no imaginable rea.
son why anybody should suspend payment now
except from sheer exhaustion, aud in every case
of that kind the end cannot be brought about too
| speedily. The commercial atmosphere must be
| disinfected, aud although the process is har-
| rowing it must be borne for the sake of the re-
suits which lie beyond it. There may be some
| curtailment of population In large cities be-
cause of it, but that is something to which there
can be no reasonable objection. The thing
most needed now is a vigorous recruiting of the
agricultural and industrial forces of the Repub-
lie. There will be traders enough left after the
red flag has waved over the last establishment
that has been called to undergo the penalty of
| vsnturiDg too far upon the sea of debt and
| speculation.
| The Mayor has manifested good sense and
| spirit of fairness in dismissing the charges
/ against the Commissioners of Police. The
testimony did not warrant any other conclu-