The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-09
THE FREnBOoTERs or FINANCE.
An English Magazine SHARPLY Reviews Wall
Street Methods.
Rlnckwood for tnIY.

An English Magazine Sharply Reviews Wall
Street Methods.
| Blackwood for july.
Neither Dr. Talmage nor Mr. Henry Ward
Beecher has yet succeeded. believe, in framing
I a new decalogue for America, but that event
cannot be very far distant The Anefi-
cans regard the accidents and misf0ftuaes Of
commercial life from q different standpoint to
ours. In describing matters where cid fashioned
morality still presumes to ihtrude on the liberty
| and license Of financial enterprise they use d
/ terminology which has been modified to
suit their special wants. In Wall
street and at the Produce Exchange
nay, even at Che more primitive centers Of
speculation in oil-peopie are far more polite to
! each other Operators in these refined regions
may come to grief, or they may have to lie down
on their contracts" but they never commit What
In the old country We call acts Of bankruptcy.
| They may .FehypotheeateH securities which they
hold inlp pledge, but they would be shocked at the
suggestion of embezzlefnent DIR. Talnage who
is preemneftiy the high priest Of transatlantic
civilization brought out the distinctive feature
of its morality very lucidiy-in fact. lie made
important contribution to the Wall street deca-
| l0gue of the futnre-wben he observed in his
sermon on the failure Of the Marine National
Bank fOuf sympathies should be given for the
financial sufferers. We have heard only one
side Of the story. The word mistake will often
cover Whit the wofsd calls swihdle IN what
other country need one box for roguery 50 clev
efly disguised as III The following advertisement
+
| Lf0R SALE-DEFAULPED RAILWAY BONDS
Is and Marine Bank stock, suitable for assets cheap.
| Address ---
I The reader may ask; in bewilderInent: what
on earth could any one want TO buy assets for?D
A New York trader who had come to grief after
the panic would 'caJch on" to the idea at once.
| He has got to meet his creditors and possibly
very probably, in facthe is not able to submit
to them statement Of his affairs which is at all
| likely TO satisfy them His trouble is that he
has no assets worth speaking Of, and that his
losses cannot be readily accounted for If he
applies to the above advertiser he may supply
himself, at the cost of few dollars apiece with
shares in some insolvcnt bank or defaulted
I bonds of some wildcat railway. Thus pro-
vided he has only toappeal to the sympathy Of
his creditors as am unfortunate investor who, for
years back. has been putting all his hard earned
savings into these worthless stocks before yen,
gentlemen
To have been Che legal owner Of two millions
sterling, and then TO have to call halt for want
Off few hundred dollars, is an antithetfcal ex-
peFienee to be looked for only in America But
there are financial freebooteFs to whom even two
millions sterling are d fleabite. In one Of the
early scares in Wall Street Mr.. Gould caused
| some fun by the alacfity With which he turned
out the contents of his strong box in order to
disprove the report that be had been pledging
them to raise money. The aggregate value OF
the securities exhibited taken at the current
prices OF the day, was fully 5000, 000 600. If Mr.
Gould had held on tostheff all through the sub
an expressive phrase Of his own, have been
soaked down to thirty, OF at most forty, mill
| ions. But tits not probable that Mr.. Gould did
hold on.
Little wonder that Mr. Gould should find 1t
easier to make millions Of dollars than other
men do to earn bread and cheese. The mystery
is, that he should still find fools to play with
him. Whether gambling be repressible or not
most likely it is not-so long as it continues it
should be made as nearly square as possible
But it can not be square without neutral stake
holder. and that is what gamblers can seldom or
never have whUsrsl their money. i'm Wall street
The financial freebooters whom they play against
control the stakes in having the management of
| the property ga1nbed IN. They can pay unearn-
| ed dividends, and they can plumber or waste in
a hundred different ways dividends which have
been earned. They can publish traffic state
ments when they are good and withhold them
when they are bad They can deliberately XIII
a good property by stranging it with.
uhpfoftable leases or guarantees; they
acan make bad property look good by
| Temporarily turning traffic onto it which they
can turn off again at their own pleasure. It is
not merely the control Of the property that gives
them a fraudulent advantage, but they may alset
command the bulk of the securities dealt in.
Some of the Gould lines, for instance are repre-
sented here by q few million dollars worth of
shares. out Of thirty or forty millions in exist
ence. The other twenty five or thirty-five mill
IONS as the cose may be. is probably pledged.
with some bank in New York: or planted among
confederates, They can. make the, stock scarce
or plentiful. just as they please. If they are eG
cheering fall they spread bad reports, encoule
age selling and lend out hes5ock freely to
hears At q preeoHcefted moment. they DENY the
bad reports and call in the borrowed stock whom
the bears get their necks twisted. If the game
is to force a rise, they spread good reports
lock up the stock. and give an impression Of
scarcity till the favorable moment comes for
letting it loose on the heads of the frightened
bulls.
Another class Of financial freebooter which has
been making things lively in Waliistreet is the
organizer Of sgndicates to. build composing rail
wayss Several OF these have come to- grief Of
late, andsitsis deubtfuIif they do not deserve
less sympathy than Mr. Could himself =
The-evil that ast0ck manipulator does dies with
him, but al competing railway for which therais
no room lives III fashion, forever
The harm it does to itself is a triffea compared
with, the mischief done to- pre-existing lines
whose business il flches froIn them. = =
Net only is this property itself harmed, but all
railway property in America is diseredited
through ii. British investors should have this
peculiar risk of American railways made clear
to them. and as, far as possible they should
know tho men who ara specially responsible for
1T.
What with rate wars misunderstanding IN Wall
street, corrarptiou from tep,tos bottem in their
administration. threatened dictation and inter-
ference by every State legislature, and mania
for tbs baildingof cempeting lines, which are
not needed. and are newer meant tospay. the
futuEB of American ways is far from brill liant
'enticing for quiet. NnaInbi tious investors.
@ssszszSssn.
Letter from John @. Whittier.
I 49, Sy.. 60 f