Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-27
The Battles Of Business.

1:-t0IIL OVJlooNSh SSo So VI
w desperately fought battle. There
Fon,o first, the hurried bulletins of tho
re AaUt failure, then short dispatches Civ
as fuller details. and lastly the graphic
1ccount of it with all the particulars
aomplete, the hurrying messenger boys,
~! t"s'' BAGS of securities transported here
I ne cent there, the pleadings for assist
.nce. the desperate clinging to floating
su.v, and then the final crash-per.
k'ans not anticipated in the outside
pnnrr + until the concern careens and
t.Ils. We all know well enough that
,%a ..bulls'' and clears of Wall Street
enn two vast contending armies,
,araely m%arshaled, whether voluntary
nr not, under a few great commanders,
Gghtinc desperately for every vantage
,o;nt. But at times like these we real.
iye Il as we cannot ordinarily. Then it
may seem but q mimic battle; now it is
seen to he a struggle of life and death.
We are told that a trading age is an
;cnoble age, that greed for mere money
and MONEYS power is not to be- com.
n,red as a general motive force with
those which have actuated our ances.
tors. that bloody wars result in good by
bringing home to us the meanness OF
mere wealth. But great battles are
won more often by strategy and skill OF
plan than by brute strength. So with
creed, a love of money in itself, that so
absorbs all passions and makes SO many
men of to-day press forward in the
struggle of accumulation, long after
all things necessary or desirable are
obtained in surfeit. 1t is the excite
mcnt of the battles of business. the
skill and wariness, the cool planning
and swift execution that are necessary
for SUGGESTIVE very same things UNI
der another name and of a higher or
der which led the men of another day
to choose the profession of arms. This
is true, more or less, of all business en-
,erprises, but especially OF any business
that is largely speculation and easily
crosses the line of gambling
But rs in war, so in speculative bust
ness. The Generals may suffer defeat,
but they generally have new chances to
tightnew battles. The common soldiers
fall in the fight, or are carried off to
linger in hospitals and disappear, 40
body q tell where or how. The fates
allotted in business are very similar.
The great. operators often manage to
gather together again the broken rem
nants Of their fortunes, and appear once
more on the scene perhaps to make the
world marvel at their victories. The
losses fall principally on the rank and
file, the people of small means who
cannot be content with slow and sure
gains and the accumulations of safely
invested savings. They furnish, in
driblcts that make a mighty total. the
sums which permit the blowing of inn
mense bubbles, at whose bursting
every n is astonished. 1t is the de-
sire, almost universal, to grow rich fast,
that puts possible riches where sooner
or later they are sure to take to them
selves wings and fly away in avery real
sense. But for stock Investments ON
margins by persons who are gambling
with the profoundest ignorance of the
chances, it is safe to say hat syndicates
could never float such stuff as dreams
are made of. Blind confidence in q
name is not confined to a soldiers idol.
1t is seen as we'll as in the battles of
business. Take the history of little
more than a week for example. A firm
luhuttSCO NY II w dIu, SCdICCLt OfcI
thirty, was able by the talisman OF
Grants name to secure millions to do
just what it pleased with. Weakened
by the steady pressure of stocks falling
20 a more rightful level, its failure was
precipitated by a peculiar crisis bound
to come oon or later. 1t drew down
in its crash a bank, which in one sense
was trying to carry it. The community
was startled. People grew suspicious.
1t was discovered that another bank
had been Quilted of millions by its specu-
lative president, despite directors care.
less probably of the young mans doings
with a paternal financial COLOSSUS be.
hind him. 1t is true that this bank was
saved, but the young mans brokers were
not. Then follows more d:strust. An.
other great syndicate, headed by a man
who has given thousands away, was un
able to carry its load, and two more
banks went under. The distrust be-
came general, the banks would not Ger.
tity brokers' checks when there was &C
deposit to pay them, and firms thai
no doubt will be able to resume again
when the storm is past, have suspended,
while the weaker mes have gone down
to complete wreck. The end is not yet.
Confidence enabled this fabric to be
builded, to a large extent blind conf,
dence. Sudden distrust. which we cal
panic, ruled the hour, and the fabric
fell. That the crash has notscemingly
involved business generally is due te
the fact that our business to-day is no
carried on with similar speculative ten
denotes, involving a blind, rash conf
dence, such as characterized the bust
ness of the imitation period with it's wide
extending panic. But it shows, how
ever you look at it. what a part well
placed confidence between man enc
man plays in the battles of business.
1t also tells us how fallible is human
Judgment in this fight. Who a salts
factorily explain why a panic shoule
have come just at this time, and not 81,
months earlier or later: Who will
venture to account for it except in thu
most general way? Who would have
predicted a fortnight ago with any de
gree Of assurance that so large a panic
was destined to come at all? The card:
are shuffied and the hands are played
with all the skill the most sagaciou'
players can muster, but the combina