River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-08-06
BIG DEAL C0LLAPSES.
Spectators in Diamond Match
Stocks Fail.
Moore BROTHERS, Operators Noted for
Their BoIdness. Forced to the Wall
New York Biscuit Stocks Involved
Story of the Failure.

Story of the Failure.
| Chicago, Aug. 4.-Moore Bros, pro-
4 moters of the Diamond Match company
and the New York Biscuit company,
announced MOnday night that they had
failed. A meeting Of prominent finan-
ciers and CHICAGO bankers was held
about midniCa- "a. the residence of one
of them O. the South ide and it was
agreed By them to close the Chicago
stock exchange Indefinitely.
Means for Restoring Confidence.
There were present at the meeting
| the members of the stock exchange
governing committee and a number of
prominent capitalists. This meeting
was assembled informally after the an
nouncement which was made late in the
I afternoon by James II. Moore that mar
/ gin calls no longer could he met. The
announcement was made to a few OF
the most heavily interested. and il was
/ thought best to call a meeting TO dis
cuss the situation. Those who assem-
bled discussed the best means for
storing confidence after the shock
which would be given TO speculative
circles by the announcement of the
failure. 1t was the general opinion
that it would be the wisest possible
move to close the stock exchange for 4
/ period.
How the Failure Came About.
The deal of which the failure of the
Moore Bros. is the elimination is by
all odds the most important in the his
/ tory of the Chicago stock exchange
1t began early this year. The stock of
the Diamond Match company has been
selling at about 100 for quite a time.
/ There had been no special activity in
the market. just prior TO the Vene-
zueian incident the tip went out i'm
inside circles that there were 10 be some
/ important European Developments In
connection with Diamond Match af-
fairs, and the buying of the stock by
strong people commenced. The Nene-
zuelan panic interfered with the specu-
lation and the stock dropped during
| the general decline at that time to
lis.
| Contract with Foreign Governments.
From then the rise started which is
the most remarkable in the history Ct
the exchange. A strong group of spec
ulators, headed by j. II. Moore aud Viii
| liam ii. Moore, began buying the stock
1t moved up with scarcely a halt. In
time the announcement was made that
the Diamond Match company had closed
IA contract with the French government
under which it's patents and the ma
chimes controlled by the match com
pany were to be sold to the French gov
eminent for royelty of 100000 year.
Following the announcement of the
| closing of the French contract the stock
advanced with great rapidity. In the
| early speculation the bulls had named
/ 200 as an extreme figure, but as the
prospect of further arrangements in
| Europe appeared. much higher prices
were predicted.
Negotiations were opened for the for
nation of new company in England
which would unite with Bryant & May,
the largest match producers in Great
Britain, and would give TO the English
field the advantage of the labor-saving
American machinery. A factory was
| equipped in Liverpool which was owned
by the Diamond Match company and
which served as an object lesson TO
European manufacturers, showing them
the great advantage of the improved ma
| chinery over their methods of manu-
| facture. Negotiations We're opened also
/ in Austria for the formation of com
I pany which should combine all the man
! ufacturing interests there. Other COM
panies were to be organized in Belgium
| and Italy.
Calculation shown enormous profits
| 70 accrue made prices that had at first
| looked extravagant seem cheap. The
shrewdest men in Chicago believed in
/ the property and the stock sold up as
/ high as PAS. From that point there
was a rapid decline, carrying il down to
! 200. The Moores went through the
break without the slightest difficulty,
and it was generally believed that they
/ had been glad TO see the decline that
more stock might be accumulated.
A great part of the capital with which
the deal had been carried on had been
raised in New York and New England.
Local banking institutions are only
moderately interested in the affair.
/ Difficulty was experienced, it is said,
owing to the general loss of confidence,
in renewing some of these eastern loans.
The Crash Comes.
Settlement day was successfully
| passed, and everyone believed that, in
spite of the heavy turning charges, the
bulls were still in control of the situa-
ton. The stock came out, however, in
enormous quantities. The Moores were
almost alone in supporting the market,
/ but they did so with remarkable cour-
age. Monday the stock was held with
] I,.4 a.
cutpouring of long stock which led the
keen observers of the market TO fear
4 that the loads might become too heavy,
and the events later in the afternoon
proved that those fears were correct.
The Deal In New York Biscuit.
The deal in Diamond Match was only
part of this great speculative operation.
/ Moore Bros. had organized the New
! York Biscuit company several years
ago, after the first great success of
the Diamond Match company. The
panic of 1898 had hit the biscuit COM
| pany severely, as il did all other indus
/ tries, and the stock sold far below par.
! The success which was met with in q
| speculative manipulation of Diamond
/ Ma tch led TO desire to see what could
/ Dt GONE WITH new 1OEk DlStull. anu
/ that stock was taken several months
ago and advanced from 20 to los.
From that it dropped back to %, and
| for weeks was held close about that
/ figure in spite of the sharp declines in
other securities. Enormous quantities
1 of this stock were also poured on the
market, but they were taken with the
same steadiness which marked the buy
/ ing of Match. The accommodations. how
ever, represented in time a great sum,
and the operations in that stock will
add largely to the total of the amount
involved.
1t is not at the present time possible
TO make any estimate of how large the
figure is or what its ranificstions NAV
be. The Moores have unquestioIably
purchased an enormous line of both
| New York Biscuit and Diamond Match
stock The high price at which Match
has been selling makes the sum involved
in handling it extremely large. The
capital stock of he Diamond Match
company IS SiI.OOO.O00 and of the New
| York Biscuit s9.OOO.OOO.
/ Paid In silver.
Topeka. Kan, August 1.-The Atchi-