Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-08-04
Moralizing Over the Fall Of Lard Kings,

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It is useless to preach to spectators
against speculation. The born gambler
will play out his game to the end
which is generally ruin. But it is per-
Missile and may be profitable for those
who get a living by legitimate business
to note how their judicious theories of
lite are confirmed by the dethronement
Of the Lizard King" who had ruled
the Chicago Board Of Trade with a rod
of iron. The biography of this dis
crowned potentate is given at length in
the Chicago papers, and they all elm
prove the OCCASION to lift their
voices in warning against the s'folly''
or "vice" or .'sin7' Of speculation.
There is no place in the world where
gambling in grain, pork and lard is
conducted on so extensive and reckless
a scale as Chicago. There, if any,
where, it should do good to use the
.'Lard King for pointing morals and
adjoining tales. But we doubt if many
persons with whom speculation is an
instinct in that city will be turned for
more than a few days or weeks from
their dangerous course by the lesson of
the late great failure. It is for people
who do not speculate that the incident
is instructive and encouraging, and
even gratifying. 1t is a good thing
when ''lard kings" break down. They
have no sympathy with their victims,
and the latter in turn a only rejoice
when the whirligig of revenge drives
these kings from power. 1t is for the
mass of mankind a positive pleasure to
read about the thoroughness with which
these ambitious forestallers and corner
ers of the market are ''cleaned out" Of
their ill-gotten gains. "Served him
right" is the popular verdict in ali
such cases.
Looking over the career of the s'Lard
King' as depicted in the Chicago
press, we are struck with the though,
that all that misapplied energy, push
and enterprise which raised him SO
high above his specializing fellows,
only to make his fall the greater, Woult
have surely earned him a handsome
fortune in any legitimate business.
The abilities which were worse than
wasted on a lard corner would have
attained and retained q competence in
any unspeculative pursuit 1t is mel
ancholy to read Of such a foolish expen-
diture Of pluck and persistence. This
same man, it seems, has engineered
other schemes which have been no less
disastrous in former years. Mention is
which twice failed in an attempt to
corner wheat. The second failure was
complete, and left the bold operator
penniless. But his courage and the
faith of his friends soon put him again
on his legs. Then was his time to Gre
form" if ever. But the temptation to
corner wheat once more was too strong.
This time, owing to a failure of the
harvest, he accidentally succeeded, and
made a large sum of money. Fortune
also smiled on him in a pork specula-
ton. But the following year wheat
involved HMM serious loss, from which
he tried to recover by the operation in
lard which has finally loored the man.
Now here are about twenty years Of
toll and worry ending in a miserable
failure. The most brilliant and DASH
ing, Spectator in all Chicago stands
now at the zero point whence he started
twenty years ago, minus all the advan-
tages of youth and energy which have
been consumed in the process of filling
and then depicting himself. In that
same twenty years others who began
their business life with the qualifications
that .'lard kings would despise as
humble, contemplate and wholly be-
meath their royal notice, have made,
and what is more, have kept snug
and comfortable fortunes by stick
ing to legitimate trade. And while
they have been doing this they
have enjoyed the innocent pleas
ures of life with a zest wholly un-
known to those who dwell in the fever
ish atmosphere Of speculation.
The last persons who should be en-
We'd are Kings, whether Of nations OF
Of lard!-N. 7. Journal of Commerce.
"A Roman correspondent writes that,
after. a long experience in Italian cities,
he gives the palm to Rome for a sum.
mer climate, on account of the regu'
1a,;+u IF tho ovonino hroaza and the