The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-11-11
PARIS BOURsE A BATTLEFIELD.
Spectators iu France Carried Away
BY the Mining Craze.

Old Actress of the Francais Ruined-Stor-
les of Tremendous Losses-The Causes
of the Crisis-PoliticaI UpheavaIs.
New York, November 10.-Jacques ST.
Cere cables to the Herald from Paris as
follows:
Political events, though these were of
great Importance were eclipsed today by
financial incidents, which are assuming
the proportions of catastrophe. The
Paris Bourse was today like q battlefield
after the defeat. Up to two O'Clock moth
ing of the customary shouting was to be
heard. All was dull and quiet, the public
standing round the great bankers to
wat .h their faces. The fact is that if the
crisis continues no one can tell what will
happen.
The number of banking houses that
have closed their doors is very great, but
the number of private persons who have
been ruined is still greater. All classes of
society were carried away by the mining
craze The Oldest actress of the Theatre
Francais is ruined. A former king has
UcOA OD1JSOu w Bol H,OOO,oOO AleAAoo3
through Jewish banker, who is a
friend of his. A Smyrna speculator, who
has ruled the Bourse for five years, loses
25, OO0 900 francs The head of an
establishment that is known everywhere,
loses Is, O0O, 600 francs and his eldest
brother is said to be so angry that he re-
fuses to assist him in carrying forward
on the Bourse to the end of the month,
which would entail a still greater
catastrophe.
Meanwhile, this morning the Finance
Minister summoned NJ. Verneuel, the
broker and Baron Alphonse de Rothschild
to ask for their opinions. These gentle
men declared thai the crisis was due to
the fact that people sold Turkish and
French securities to buy mining shares,
and that when they wished to sell their
mining shares they were unable to lind
purchasers, and the crash came.
Politics, however, have also indirectly
influenced the crisis, for the struggle is
not so much one between radicals and
moderates as between the Ministry
actually in power and an occult Ministry
framed by the fnanciers who are fight
ing their battle both in press and IN
Pariament-a circumstance which
renders the situation highly interesting
to those behind the scenes.
NJ Ribot was doomed last spring. He
was saved for time by the Kiel celebra-
tions, but he allowed himself to fall when
he saw that the affairs of the southern
railways were about to occasion fresh
Parliamentary scandals. He had already
been obliged TO make the Panama affair
what, in memory of 1898, is called
sspremiere charrette," and he had no
wish for second.
M. Bourgeois accepted the Office he
had not sought, and at first tried to form
q ministry of less radical tendencies. But
the syndicate l have referred to, prevented
all the moderates from taking Lart in the
combination, and so M. Bourgeois formed
/. radical ministry, with a policy of
honesty and publication. He will have
to contend against all those who are
afIa of such a policy. The truth, how
ever, is that five hundred deputies are
honest. Thirty are great fnanciers,
whose political career has no connection
with finance, but there remain about fifty
who are creatures of the syndicate, with
strong influence in the press, and this is
the element that calls for publication.
The Chamber would be very glad to
see this task performed.
The question. therefore, is whether or
not the Ministry will have time TO effect
the work of publication before the syndi-
cate sets its numerous Influences to Work.
The internal situation is not promising
and neither is the international outlook.
hut the rumors that have been circulated
on the bourses of Europe are false It
was said that tie Austrian army was
marching from Herzegovina. that the
English fleet was steaming toward the
Bosphorus and that the Russian army
was marching upon Armenia. 1t is all
false.
The truth is, that diplomacy is exerting
tremendous pressure at Constantinople to
settle the Turkish question, and that for
the moment diplomacy alone is being re-
sorted to, but no one in Europe can un-
dertake to say that a week later the
situation will be the same.