The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-03-15
The Financial Troubles in Lyons.

; The greatest craze and the worst suf-
fering have been in Lyons. A great
many reople are hard hit in Paris, but
Lyons Is in veritable distress. It is
scarcely twelve months since M. Bon
loux went to the excitable provincial
capital, and installed his Union Generate
in magnificent establishment, rather
against the traditions of sober and con-
servntive Frenchmen. The stock of this
Institution went up in an extraordinary
manner, which can only be accounted
for by the theory that every man and
every woman in the town was crazy to
getrich, and willing to take all risks.
The small clerks and middle-class en-
ployees were the first to catch the fever;
and next in order came the workmen,
who all read the penny papers-the or
gans invariably adopted by the projec-
tors of great financial enterprises for
making public their schemes. Artisans
who had q little money put by were
anxious to invest it in . scheme in which
large sums were perpetually made and
nothing was ever lost. 1t Is alleged that
HUNDREDS of weavers sold their looms to
invest the proceeds in stocks. The
Figaro says that of the 200 young bank
clerks in Lyons the majority had made
on the rise; and that the suburbs were
filed with. young fellows, newly en-
riched, driving fast horses and dining at
garden-restaurants, spending more In .
day than they formerly earned in g year.
A gentleman said to me last evening /:
| ssYou remember NJ. X, the artillery
officer from LyonsP Well, he writes me
| that last year he used to 90 every day
| from his barracks into town on the
horse-car, and that for several months
he had twenty or thirty companions,
young men of small incomes, who rode
in on the same car, going to the club or
theater. About last October all these
companions ceased to take the car, and
he discovered that they had been specu-
lating on the rise in Union-Generale,
and had invested in dog-carts, Victorias,
etc. But now my friend, the officer,
thinks they will have to come back to
| the horse-cari"
One journal tells good story Of q
woman of the working class who, when
the rage was st its height, came into q
suburban Office of the bank with an
apron full of five-franc pieces. "Do
you sell stocks hereP" she said. Yes,
what can we offer you?" "Oh, give
me something that is on the rise!'
Streetsweepers who had been receiving
six hundred francs yearly all at once
blossomed out with fortunes of twenty
five and thirty thousand francs. Gro
GERS, bakers, and candlestick-maker;
closed the shops and departed males
tically for their country seats, announc
ing that they had made their fortunes
on Change, and never within the mem
ory of the oldest inhabitant, remarked
a cynical observer, had Lyons drank sc
much champagne.
At present this seems to be changed
A great number were crushed, not hav
ing been wary enough to stow theil
gains safely away. Some blew theil
brains out because they could not kee{
their engagements others are in morta
suspense. Everything runs to ex
tremes in Lyons" said q sensible man
when the panic was reported to him
"If we look carefully at the Lyones'
character, we shall be astonished TO Sc,
how little of balance, of moderation
there is in it. Every doctrine is exag
gerated. On one hand you have abso
lutte fortitude; on the other merciles
protection; on one side shameless IRE
iigion, upon the other the most urgen
clericalism. There are in Lyons oddl,
opposed to each other, and continual,
trying to outdo each other, two yer.
curions societies"
The crisis is nearly over. It does no
appear that the country at large ha
been very much affected by the craze
The people of Lyons and Paris hav
learned q lesson which haskwo conspic
uous sections-frst, tina. you must no
try to out Hebrew the Hebrews, becaus
it can't be done; second, that it may b
allowable to play baccarat all night at
club, but that it is extremely dangerou
to keep up the game on the same princi
pies next day on the Stock Exchange
Paris (Franoe) Cor. ". Y. Eueni,sg Post