The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-25


towns of England were partitioned out to
be furnished with electric light plant. Then
came the deluge and everything went where
the woodbine twineth. The usual amount
of suckers were ruined, and a number of
lawyers and accountants waxed rich and
grew fat on the pickings in the winding up
courts.
Do you think this made the English pub
lie weary? Not a bit of it. The more they
were "had'' the better they seemed to like
it, and Barnum's dictum that the public
liked being humbugged seems true in other
things besides mermaids and circus freaks.
They cried for more, more" and Monsieur
10 Promoter was ready to give them all they
asked for. The bell was soon to go ringing
for Sarah again, and this time the curtain
an act from the legitimate drama than did
gold fields and electric light shares. just
about the time when electric light was
hickering out, SO far as ninety-nine of the
companies formed was concerned, Guinness
and Co., the famous Dublin brewers of
liability concern. The company was
brought out by the Barring Bros, and
the shares were subscribed for three
times over a few hours after the subscrip-
ton books were opened. It was huge
success. and has continued so to be. the
This opened the other brewers eyes, and
shortly afterward the large brewing firm of
Messrs. Bass and Allsopp we're also put on
the market, and their shares, too. went off
like hot cakes. Unlike the Dublin firm,
however, Messrs. Allsopp and Sons added
about ninety per cent of water to their
stock, the consequence being low dividends,
shares at discount and angry shareholders
who do not hesitate to call it fraud. The
success of these breweries, however, told
promoters something, and at once every
brewery that had even the semblance of a
$ro1 fol nj Oh
it's. actual; value, turned into limited
company. and sold to the ever-ready public.
But said the promoter, ''if the public
are willing to buy breweries, of which there
is only limited supply, why should they
not buy other private concerns Of
which there is an unlimited supply?''
why not, indeed?" echoed the public, and
at once the private enterprise" mania was
in full swing, and every man with bank
rupt business fastened to cook his accounts
and sell it to the public. But even the sup
ply of private enterprises ran short be-
fore the demand died out. hence the daily
paragraphs in your local papers to the effect
that 'Mr. John Smith, who represents an
English syndicate with a capital of $15, OOO,-
GOO, was in town Yesterday, and is under
the syndicate for the old established gro
Gerry store of, etcetera." Mr.. John Smith
is our old friend the promoter seeking pas
lures new, and the fifteen millions are out
on mortgage on chateau d'Espagne.
What he wants is an ''option," and he
trusts to the drawing power of the prospec-
tus he will put out on his return to find the
$4,000, 600.
Breweries and "private enterprises"
whether in England, America, or Yimbuc-
too, are still on the market, but before this
mania had thoroughly died out another
craze came on the scene, and that was for
South Africa diamond mines and Trans
vaal gold fields, in fact everything pertain
ing to South Africa. 1t didn't much matter
what it was, a gold mine or an explorat alton
company. it all went. King Solomon's
mines were brought to the fore again and
still being worked, but signs are not wanting
that this mania also is on the burst" And
there is great opening just now for any
one with good scheme for a mania"
There is lots of money knocking about and
tied up looking for investment. Part
of trust and investment companies.
whose mission was to invest in shares of
other concerns. The money for these COM
panies was nearly all subscribed, but the
South African bubble looked rs if it was
going to burst just about the time of their
formation, and a great deal of their money
is lying idle for some one to come along and
lose it for them. But Americans with
schemes in embryo that want money must
not think from this that all they have to do
is to come over here and get 1t. 1t is hard,
very hard, to get money in London for an
mines, almost an impossibility and any
man who has tried it-and how many have
not?-will bear me out in this. The reason
is that there have been so many downright
frauds brought over, and again, as l have
said in the early part of this letter, the
public here think that anything good you
keep, and for wonder the public are right.
The American breweries which we're put on
the market were nearly all subscribed for,
but the impression exists that in a great
many of these concerns and other private
enterprises there is too much capital, and
in that also the public are not far wrong.
The only schemes that would stand a
good chance of going off just now would be
enterprises connected with the south, as the
B. p. appear to be under the impression
that the south is Impoverished and re-
quires capital, and that the people of that
section are unwilling to be indebted to the
yankee speculator," as they dub all north
ern CAPITALISTS,