New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-05-08
THE TRIAL OF NJ SECRETAN.
HISTORY OF THE ATTEMPT OF THE scClETE DIS
METAUx TO CONTROL THE COPPER MARKET


Paris. May I'm the Societe des Metaux rial 70.
day the Public Prosecutor sought 70 show thdt VI
Sccrctan had tried 10 ioresta the copper supply ~
order to control prices. and that he had gained con
t,ol of nine tcnths Of the production This, tho
Prosecutor sad, decsively proved that speculation
caused The disaster. He demanded the conviction
Of the man. though, he said they could make
only moral reparation, the harm that had been
wrought was irreparablc.
The harm done 1y the copper ring was irrcparabc,
indeed but fortuna ely American copper mining firms
Ike The Hecs. the Calumet. ETC.. we're only partiT
touched hy that disaster. They suffered because 'hc
,occtc dcs Mctaux could not keep itS contract, and
take all The copper it had -cd purchase from
American firms remuncrafve prices. The story
If the copper crash OF 1850 is familiar Ia mo-, oi
The Trbunc's readers. and il Will remain IN financial
history parallel 10 the failure Of 'ho Union Gen
crale and Of the Panama Canal. which. however.
could not succeed in running French finance ana
especially French crcdi'. Of course II Ia, been said
in regard 10 the copper disaster. well in regard
TO The Catholic banking scheme oi BoutouA's Union
t,encrac. that the ROt~chd, and the Hebrew bank
ing interest had brought on the collapec. II i-
known. however hat 1t came through the natural
effects Of ovcrtradng, and Of pushing 10 an extreme
The monopoly sy,,em. The >ocictc Dc, NctauV.
founded by NJ Laveys,iere. bur which r,,ll, gov
crned aud managed by ". secret,n. aticmp 81 20
control the copper market Throughout
the world. II had contracts VI D
mining companies In spain, Russia Ch and the Ialc
superior regions buy all their oupH, OF course a.
price highly advantageous 10 those companies.
The >ocicte. thinking that 10 competition Wds 70 bo
feared and that the manufacturing and Industrial hrm,
would not diminish their consumption Of copper nearly
doubled the price Of that Int the manufacturing
trade decreased its demands and employed another
article whenever II was possible while a perfectly
credible amount Of old copper ,!lt.Ls, wd- turned
cut by Junk k-dcaers melted again aud thrown the
market Finally the >Ocietc de- MciauX found itself
loaded with 10000 tom Of un-od copper for
which there slight demand. and with contract
for thousands of tons, 10 be pd for Al tie nlncs with
nope Of definitely putting Oh al ulaN Oidablc bar,
rdptcy, NJ eccrcan persuaded h friend OF the famOue
compton d'E,cOmpte OF Pan, 10 loan him many
millions OF francs. giving security the immense
amount OF copper held In Warehouses by The ~o'ctr
dcs MetauN This security proved INADEQUATE because
Of the fall In the price Of copper. VI. ~eCrctan could
not make good III. notes 70 The COmp'oir dE-COmpte
and the consequence that the Latter, founded III
lr47 ana ever 20 prosperous, dragged into bank
Upcy, and one of IT. director. NJ Dcnert Rohcrcau,
the bosom friend Of VI. Scrr.tan committed suicide.
A. for VI. >ccrctan he rclnquishcd all his private
property, causing thcrcb, the sale Of his celebrated
picture gallery, the Jewel Of which was the Angcus'
by nlllc, which was pure ld~cd by the American Art
Association for Sl3J,OOO.