Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-15
Sentenced to Six Months Imprison-
ment and Fined Heavily.
NJ. SECRETAN'S CORNER IN COPPER.
The Fallen Millionaire Has the Sympathy
Of the French PRblic.
CROOKED WORK In THE TURF EVENTS.

copper. Wheat, cotton, and numerous
other products had long been favorite
mediums with market cornerers, but copper
was quite a new thing and there was some
thing magnificent in the idea of cornering
one of the precious metals, or what is next
door tn precious" That a vast amount of
capital was required to successfully &C.
complish this was self-evident, but when it
was announced that men like the Rothschilds
and great corporation like the Compton
d'EScompte de Paris was behind the corner
then it was seen that the scheme was possi-
bic, but even with the gigantic capital that
was put into the scheme many thinking men
saw it was doomed to failure and they had
not very long to wait before the crash came.
The head and brains of the corner was M.
Secretan, the former owner of Millet's
"Angelus," and once the proud possessor of
sc, ,OO0, 900. Now there are none so poor as
10 DO him reverence. He has just been
tried by the French Courts and sentenced
to six months i'm prisonment and to pay a
fine of $1,000.
A COMMERCIAL MARTYR.
The important point in the trial is that he
was found guilty on two counts, first, that of
cooking" balance sheets and announcing
profits to the tune of 100000 francs by
Overvaluing stock to that amount; secondly,
that of "forestalling," i. e., creating a
monopoly in a necessary of life and advanc-
ing its price by artihcially limiting the sup
ply. As q matter of TACT Secretan & Co.
nearly doubled the price of copper, and at
one time held 10000 tons OF it. This is
what French law, with its survival from
feudal times of restrictions on the blessed
rule of lalsseZ faire, does not allow, though
our law does.
OF course the prohibition is quite illogical
Why should not NJ. Secretan not enhance
the price of copper? When he began his game
1t was very low, and profits were disappear
ing, only very few companies returning
profit. AT this moment copper is, thanks
TO NJ. Secretan, at a remunerative figure, and
now this MARTYR OF commercial progress is
languishing in Jail. Why? Because he
broke the eleventh commandment Thou
shalt not fail Mr.. Joseph Chamberlain, in
England, succeeding in cornering the market
for screws not very long ago, and now he is
busy regenerating the people.
SAME GAME IN AMERICA.
"How many in America succeeded in do
ing what NJ. Secretan failed in? How
about Standard Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Salt
Union, Anthracite Coal, not to speak OF the
railway companies in nearly every country
where private interests direct them? NJ.
Secretan's sentence will not, of course, be
read as lesson by anyone in America or
England, but it will be long time before
anyone tries the same game on again in
France.
There is good deal of sympathy felt here
for the e1-millionaire, as he was very popu- |
lar, as most men are who make the money
fy when they have it. Not only that, but
there was good deal of the "'eave art a !
brick at i'm ne 'aint got no friends" in the |
prosecution, and all the other men, who |
were really in the business as much as |
Secretan was and would have profted large |
ly If the corner had come of, have escaped. |
n. Secretsn was one of the best dressed men |
in Paris, and when he was in the dock the |
other day his appearance did not belle his |
reputation, as he was iaultlessly dressed.
A matter which is creating as much dis |
cussion as anything in Paris just now is the |
extent to which the Paris Mutuals now
dominate horse racing. A few years ago |
book betting was pronounced illegal In
France, and, although il is tolerated on the |
race-track, it is suppressed entirely in |
town. 1t was supposed when this law was
passed that it would purify the turf, as it |
was notorious that certain bookmskers had |
recourse to crooked work in connection |
with the races.
HORSE RACES AND EMBEzzLEMENr.
Another thing that helped the passage of
the law was that betting had become SO gen.
eral in France as to become a public nui-
sance, and the facilities ior minors, clerks
and people who could not afford it were so
numerous that embezzlement and petty
stealings on the part OF Office boys and clerks,
70 invest on the races was a matter of every
day occurrence. So the law was passed to
suppress the books.
But the solons of Paris recognized the fact
that II was impossible to make people moral
BY act of Parliament, and that as long as
human nature was as it was gambling
would take place on horse racing, so unless
they abolished the sport altogether they
must legalIze some system whereby the pub
lie could lose their moEeY on dead sure
things So the Paris Mutual was pitched
upon as the fairest way of doing it. The
Paris Mutual is our old friend, the mutuals'
30 common, and at one time SO popular, on
American race tracks, but they became un-
popular in America for the same reason that
the present outcry is being raised against
them in France, viz, that in the hands OF
persons the public can be
skinned right and left. In theory there is
no isi-er system of betting imaginable, but,
In practice to be quite the reverse.
wHACK UP FOR THE POOR.
When the Paris Mutuals were established
by law certain restrictions were imposed
On them. One was that there was to be no
betting except upon a recognized track, and
another that 10 per cent of the gross takings
was to go to the Assistance Publique, from
which the poor are supported. That the
revenue derived from this source is consid-
erable may be judged of from the fact that
at Chantllly on Sunday last the amount
taken at the mutuals was over $200, 900.
1t was quickly seen, however, that the
reformers had simply repeated
the old performance of escaping Scylla to
tumble into Charvbdis, and, instead of put
ting down betting and purifying the moral
atmosphere generally, they had made things
Fifty times worse. Men set TO work at once
10 drive train of cars through the act, and
In q very short time every cafe in Paris was
IN agency for the Paris Mutuals. The law
said there was TO be no betting off the track,
but there was nothing said about not taking
IN investors money and sending it to the
rack to be invested, and charging commits
ZION Tor 80 doing. Consequently the bettor
has to pay two commissions il he wins-the
10 per cent to the Assistance Publique and
~ per cent to the Paris Mutual.
THE WOMEN ARE LUCKY.
Paris NAV be said to have gone racing
mad since the Iegallzing Of the mutuals, and
low everybody bets, men, women and chill
Iren. The women bet almost as much as
he men and appear to be far more success
nj in spottlng winners. One old woman l
now of goes every day 10 the races and
q akes 81 900 worth OF tickets in the mutuals