Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-01-08
lanrastcr fntell:genctr.
A BewiIdered Flock.

A Bewildered Flock.
1t is amusing to observe the open
lnouthed bewilderment of the people who
Lave been fixing things to get possession
OF the Reading corporation, and who
have been SO suddenly dropped in the
mud by the pricking which few words
from Judge McKennan inflicted on their
balloon, handsomely inflated though it
was by the McCalmont support. Mr..
John C. Bullitt often gets heavily into
fancy speculations and has sometimes
been mired, or stuck in Jersey sands,
which is as bad but we are sure he WAS
never 80 suddenly and completely halted
as he has been in this eventiul move
ment. The elegantly appointed train of
which he was the conductor, has been
brought up so sharply by the McKennan
patent brake as to make things rat
tie In the cars and upset all
the occupants. They have not
yet got their wits together sufficiently
to distinctly understand what has struck
them. When they do come to thoroughly
comprehend the logic of tho situation
they will understand that the director of
the Reading railroad trains is Judge Nc
Kennan, and that the engineer at pres
ent put in charge by him and likely to
be kept there is Nj. Gowen. When Mr..
Bullitt and Mr.. Peale and the other ad-
visers of the outs who would like to get
in, become blessed with an ordinary de-
gree of sagacity they will fold their tents
like the Arab and quietly steal away until
such time as they can approach their de-
sired prey without encountering it under
the protection of the law administered
by such all unapprecatiye observer of
their virtues and merits as they find the
present United States circuit judge to be.
We can point them to no speedy hope of
relief unless they have influence enough
with Hayes to get McKennan put on the
United States supreme bench; in which
case they will probably also he able to put
q man in his place whs will reverse Nc
Kennan's estimate OF them and their
wise and disinterested devotion to the
interests of Reading.
The pleasant gentlemen who have so
sadly come to grief have our sympathy,
because it is very disagreeable to lose
your game and have everybody laughing
at you besides. 1t is intensely disgust
ing to he seen making what you evident
0u 0nnci6op. hnro,,1nnr, bat
is going to tear things, and then to have
it cOnspicuously observed that the thing
is not to be given chance to go off. Of
our Philadelphia cotemporaries the
Record is in decidedly the worst plight,
SO elaborate have been it's efforts to
prove to the world what very benefcent
thing the removal of Mr.. Gowen would
he and how worthless he has made the
stock which has been steadily going up
all the time it has been crying it down.
The Record has been caught by the Nc
Kenhan blast publishing whole col
umns of figures and things to affect that
election on Monday that has now disap-
peared but the columns Of figures still
pour out and 60 sadly to waste.
There are very many unhappy people
on that side of the Reading fence, be-
cause there have been so many who ac-
cepted the opinion that the Reading stock
was unduly high-in which they are
no doubt right-and who went further
and acted on their opinion by selling it
at the high prices, when they did not have
it. They have created a demand for the
stock Which keeps the price up; for the
owners, having we'll founded faith in its
future value, are not anxious to sell it.
And now these people who have sold
what they do not have find themselves
compelled to furnish the deferred stock,
which they have declared valueless,
along with the stock they have sold, to
which it is appended as privilege; and
one that has a market value, which is
bound to be increased by the demand for
it that must come from the g shorts. -
These gentlemen think it infamous in Mr.
Gowen to mercilessly catch them in such
o trap as this but they fail to reflect on
the propriety of their own effort to make
money by depressing Reading shares
with short sales. 1t is not surprising
that they should be angry; but they are
in such peculiarly delicate position in
regard to throwing stones, that one
would think that they would refrain
from the amusement.