The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-06-14
The Battles of Business.

latest failure, then short dispatches Civ
ing fuller details, and lastly the graphic
account of it with all the particulars
complete, the hurrying messenger boys
| the bags Of securities transported here
or sent there, the pleadings for assist
ance, the desperate clinging to floating
straws, and then the final crash-per
haps not anticipated in the outside
world until the concern careens and
falls. We all know well enough that
the ''bulls'' and clears" of Wall Street
compose two vast contending armies,
largely marshaled, whether voluntary
or not, under few great commanders,
fighting desperately for every vantage
point. But at times like these we real
ize it as we cannot ordinarily. Then it
NAV seem but mimic battle; now it is
seen to be a struggle of life and death
We are told that trading age is an
| ignOble age, that greed for mere money
and moneys power is not to be com
pared as 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
the battles of business. 1t is not "A
| greed, Il 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
ment of the battles of business, the
skill and wariness, the cool planning
and swift execution that are necessary
for success-the very same things un.
der another name and of 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-
terprises, but especially Of any business
that is largely speculation and easily
crosses the line of gambling.
But as in war, so in speculative bust
ness. The Generals may suffer defeat,
but they generally have new chances tc
| iightnew battles. The common soldiers
fall in the fight, or are carried off to
linger in hospitals and disappear, no.
body can tell where or how. The fates
allotted in business are very similar.
The great operators often manage tC
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
dribletS that make mighty total. the
sums which permit the blowing of i'm
mense bubbles, at whose bursting
every one 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 that syndicates
could never float such stuff as dreams
are made of. Blind confidence in a
name is not confined to a soldiers idol.
1t is seen as well as in the battles of
business. Take the history of little
more than week for example. A firm
managed by one Ward, scarcely over
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
to more rightful level, its failure was
precipitated by peculiar crisis bound
to come sooner 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 paternal financial COLOSSUS be-
hind him. 1t is true that this bank was
saved, but the young man s brokers were
not. Then follows more distrust. An
Dther great syndicate, headed by man
who has given thousands away, was I'M
able to carry its load, and two more
banks went under. The distrust be-
game general, the banks would not GER
lify brokers' checks when there was no
deposit to pay them, and firms that
no doubt will be able to resume again
/ when the storm is past, have suspended,
while the weaker ones have gone down
to complete wreck. The end is not vet
Confidence enabled this fabric to be
builded, to large extent blind conf
dence. Sudden distrust. which we call
panic, ruled the hour, and the fabric
| fell. That The crash has not seemingly
involved business generally is due to
the fact that our business to-day is not
carried on with similar speculative ten
denotes, involving blind, rash conf
dence, such as characterized the bust
ness of the initiation period with its wide
extending panic. But it shows, how
ever you look at it. what part we'll
placed confidence between man and
man plays in the battles of business.
1t also tells us how fallible is human
Judgment in this fight. Who can salts
Factorily explain why a panic should
nave come just at this time, and not six
months earlier or later? Who will
venture to account for it except in the
most general way? Who would have
predicted fortnight ago with any de-
gree of assurance that so large a panic
Was destined to come at all? The cards
Ire shulled and the hands are played
with all the skill the most sagacious
players can muster, but the combina-
ions are liable to overthrow the best laid
plans We do know this: That he who
plays the game, or fights the battle of