The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-03
The Union Generate.
Collapse OF a Financial Enterprise that
was Blessed by the Pope.
New York Snn.1

In November last the Sun gave an account
of the origin and methods of the financial con-
Germ whose collapse has brought misery upon
good Catholics il all parts of the Old World.
At that date French financial circles had been
greatly excited by the manipulation of a "cor-
ner" in the shares Of the Union Generate and
the Lander bank. About three years before a
speculator named Dervieux had founded the
Union Generate, and being devout man, con-
ceived the brilliant idea of inducing the Pope
to give the scheme his blessing. How he ac-
complished this is not known, but may be
guessed at some of the holy fathers house.
hold being sufficiently well versed in worldly
matters to know thousand-france note when
they see it. The shares of this blessed comp
any were soon placed ON the market, and the
'sfaithful French bought them as eagerly as if
they were passports to heaven. The capital of
the company was nominally 100000 shares at
500 francs each, 125 francs the share being paid
up. Dervieux, however, in weak moment,
placed the managing dictatorship of the comp
any in the hands of one Eugene Bontoux, who
had had some experience in fnanciering in
Australia. Bontonx quickly managed to de-
pose the confding Dervieux, who was heard of
no more in the operations Having obtained
full control of the capital Of the Union Gener-
ale, Boutoux established in Austria the Lander
bank, the 100000 shares of which were also 500
francs each, one half paid up. With these nice
little sums of money Bontoux went into min
ing speculations, and bought all the Austrian
mines he could at prices the owners jumped
at. For some time Parisiaa fnanciers had
been watching for a chance to euchre NJ. Bon
toux, and, unfortunately for themselves, in
stead of permitting that gentlemans schemes
to fall by their own inherent weakness, deter
mined to ''bear" the shares of the two comp
anies. In this, however, they reckoned with
out their host. The shares of the Lander bank
were all in the hands OF Bontoux, and the
French priests and devout old women would
not part with one of the sanctihed shares Of
the Union Generate. The "bears," therefore,
being distinctly ''cornered," Bontoux pro-
ceeded to make them dance, and camly put
the Union Generate shares up to 1850 francs
and the shares of the Lander bank to 1900
francs One Partisan banker was said to have
paid 100000 francs before Bontoux would
! "let up" on him. Amusing stories were told
about other prominent bears M. Banberger
went down on his knees and begged Bontoux
| to have mercy. Three Hebrew bankers went
| to the archbishop of Paris and offered to bo
publicly baptized as Christians if he would in
duce BOntouX to lend them the shares they had
| contracted to deliver.
The struggle between the Union Generate
| and the brokers of the Paris stock exchange
| assumed then very bitter form. M. Bon
toux had the whole Catholic world at his back
both clerical and aristocratic. The Comte
| de Chambord was the owner OF 3, 900 900 francs
worth OF the companys shares, The De Bro
! giel family, the Comte de Nun, the dHar-
| courts, the De Microbes, the Polish magnates,
and all the Faubourg st. Germain had invest
| ed largely in the concern. The financial war
| became actually war between the Catholics
| and the Jews. Tho Catholics were "long" the
| Jews were short of the stock and the death
| of Mr.. James Rothschild was attributed to the
| loss of some S0,000,000 francs on the short side
| of the market. The Hebrew contingent seemed
| to be badly beaten, but shrewd observers were
| inclined to believe that their defeat was only
temporary. 1t is notable that such schemes as
the Generale-which professed to be guided in
its operations solely by desire to further the
( cause Of charity by enabling its adherents, to
| gain an enormous per centage on their invest
ments-invariably come to grief sooner or lat
| err Goodness and cent per cent seldom row in
| the same boat without upsetting it. The Cath
olics had the Jews by the throat for while,
| but che laughs best who laughs last, and the
| children of Israel have now repeated their ex-
] ploits of the land Of the Pharaohs.
The financial methods of the Union Generate
were by no means the methods adhered to by
business men. A fair sample OF the operations
Of this company, as well as OF the Lander bank