The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-08-27
The Iron Hall Affair.

The breed of slick swindlers did not
all die with John Law, nor did the race
of the gullible and the visionary vanish
with the victims of that worthy. In the
Iron Hall affair both types are repro
duced to the life. The Iron Hall pro
claimed that it would pay its members
at the end of seven years the sum of
81 900 in return for assessments which
in that time, would not aggregate more
than 5000. As the 5000, if put in the
savings bank or invested in real estate
mortgages, or in government or city
bonds, would for the time that these
instruments ofthe 5000 were on interest
produce less than 500, the question
arises. where could the $500 extra
which was to be paid to members at
the end of the seven ears come from
The institution contracted 10 furnish
this amount, however, and apparently
the members did not care to ask any
embarrassing questions ofthe custodians
of their money. The bait was too
tempting to be refused, and it was taken
without any close inquiry into the
source from which it came or the
character and standing of the men who
provided it. 1t was taken, too, by
large numbers of persons and over a
wide area. This is not local institution.
1t is spread all over the country, has
10000 or $4,000 members, > aid
falllieps Of dollars have been paid into
its treasury. Some Of its members
have lobbied in various Legislatures in
a discreditable way in the interest Of
the concern, all of which has recently
come to light but the culpIits them
selves and the officials responsible for
them appear to exhibit no feeling in
the matter except regret that the lobby
ing often failed and that they have now
been found out.
The legal inquiry into the manage
ment of the affairs OF the Iron Hall which
reveals these facts, and which has also
led to the collapse of the bank in which
most of the funds of the concern were
deposited, contains an embarrassing
abundance of ~morals." 1t calls the
public attention anew to the folly OF
expecting something for nothing, or of
looking for profit many times greater
than any legitimate business affords.
There was no possibility that the
officers of the Iron Hall, or any other
men, could work the miracle of con-
tinuing to pay $1,000 in seven years
on three hundred dollar Investment.
In carrying out scheme of this sort
the purse of Fortunatus would soon be
exhausted. An enterprise of this kind
would test even the resources of
Midas or dry up the golden sands of
Pactolus. Business requirements and
and necessities forbid any such profits.
The laws of trade are not to be sus-
pended at the bidding OF the supreme"
worthless of the Iron Hall. 1t is clear
enough that the men at the head OF
this order are either Ignoramuses or
rascals. Certainly their conduct cannot
be explained on the theory that they
are al once honest and intelligent.
The existence of either quality in them
is utterly destructive of the other. If
they are honest, they display profound
and incomprehenslble ignorance of
business laws and conditions, while if
they possess the average intelligence
on this point, they are as acute and
as slippery rascals as any that recent
records tell US about. Their mental
and moral status will soon be revealed
by legal inquiry. But in any case the
poor dupes of the concern haye lost
their money, and another illustration is
afforded of the folly of entrusting money
to individuals VINO promise larger gains
than any legitimate enterprise can COM
Louis Globe Democrat.