Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-03

Is to take place. Carly In the year It
was asserted that some failure more
important than that of JAY Cooke in
1871 would occur this year; that IL
would drag down hundreds of traders
and banks, aud start panic the end
of which not even these financial Ven
nurs could foresee. This prediction
was confessedly based upon the the
Dry that the wild speculation which so
disturbed business in lsS2 would come
IT, n head This year, and end in the
crash of some great operator.
The theory was We'll enough. There
was excessive speculation last year,
particularly la wheat, lard, cotton and
oil. That spsculatlun, too, has termi-
mated most dlsastrously tor most of the
mn who tried to control prices. The
wheat ring went down early; some
Western operators lost u few millions,
and others made IA few, but no banks
lr'mb ed and no crash followed. A
P,ttsburl New York combination UNI
dertouk 10 put the price or petroleum
up "Outof sight but they had To liqui-
date last summer with results which
have not since been boaslfully re-
counted for lie edIiicatlou of outsiders.
Then McGeoch, the lord of lard, was
fla ,ciallS drowned in the ocean of
grea-e which his operations had col
l.cted at Chicago Sui no banks of
inportanc3 we've shaken, and nothing
r senibling panic occurred. Morris
Ranger, the C ,tton king, was another
victim, anu his failure did drag down
some other operators in Europe, but
caused 10 disturbance here. shaw "
Brothers made Il decided SEN
-ati,n al Il ,ston and in parts of New
England and Canada by their collapse,
aud there were also cavy losses in
New York. A number of concerns
6 nnecteh with their speculation in
leather went down, but general busi-
ness was not disorderrd, and the com
nIercial fabric again proved too sound
and too strong to be shattered. Nor
lid the failure of j. w. Ballou & Co.
IN stock operations callse any pro-
ionged disturbance even in the stock
exchanges. u which its effects were
almost wholly confined.
The lin meal Neunor started with
the idea hat business was rotten" so
that a y severe shaking would cause
srrious di-ast, +. Theory and fact do
not seem to agree in this case. The
failures which have occurred, though
important enough To affect separate
branches nf business for IA time. proved
Wholly insufficient t. cause gen
eral disturbance, because in reality
the condition of business was on the
whole moi un>ound. The average of
cuumei ciai Indebtedness, though
'arger than it han been in preceding
years, was too low to render any wide
spread panic possible. A great many
firms We're running With scant,
profits, but not many were sinking
money in trade. Where business WAS
depressed or unlavora | the result
proves thar most dealers had prudent
ly shortened sail in season
the financial Neunor really eX-
pected lhal some of the great railway
kings would go down with crash
5 verul al tnem have failed. from time
time-in Wall street rumur-. Since
This week began. rumor has been try
ing H. pull down Mr. Pullman, a. it
tried before Ia overthrow Mr. Gould,
Mr.. Vanderbilt, Mr.. Willard and
Mr. heene. All these men
seem IL be doing business
slill, and no reason is visible for
supp sing that they have been short
OF cash In ct, The poverty of those
who manufactured thu g!oon.y rumors
has often neen the only difficulty re-
ally existing. There are only two bus
mess DAYS OF the old year LETT. ami if
any of these operators are going u fail
~ the delrctation If the, financial Ven
nor, they bad better ne quick about it.