The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-04
AUGUST.
A DISGRACEFUL EPISODE.

would have been received without credit
The Journal of Commerce states that the
threatened panic of week before last
when values melted away by millions
was not due to the condition OF the Treas
ury, as many had supposed, nor to the
work of professional bears" but to Il
conspiracy OF few men of the highest
reputation and of unlimited wealth. who
purposely brought about the panic in or
der to buy in stocks. As a matter of his
tory it is we'll to quote the words of that
paper 1t says:
The chief operators were men who. un-
der the late dubious outlook, had sold
freely of their large holdings and wished
TO recover their stock at the lowest pos
sible prices. They were speculative mil
lionaires, their coadjutors and friends,
stockholders of the highest grade of po-
tency, and expert manipulators of the
market. Men controlling large corpora
tions, and with influential bank connec-
tions, We're in the forefront OF the assault
Their united wealth and control of capt.
tai amounted to hundreds of millions
To those conversant with Wall street
affairs it is only needful to note last
Mondays transactions in the leading
speculative stocks in order to ascertain
the personnel of the operators. The at
tack appears to have been a virtual con
spiracy. The plan of operations bore evil
dence of joint understanding and Il
common purpose How far ii was in
tended to carry the mischief may De in
ferred from the fact that the attack was
pushed to the verge of desolating panic
and was prevented from going to further
lengths only 10y the intervention of the
banks with special ARRANGEMENTS to shield
the Treasury.
1t il no secret that among the assail-
ants were citizens accustomed to blend
politics with large speculative operations
Men who stand high in party councils,
who distinguished themselves at the late
national conventions, and who have fig
ured conspicuously before the country as
valiant opponents of the free coinage
heresy, are crediby reputed to have been
i'll the ranks of these millionaire raiders
both political parties having been equally
represented. Herein lies one of the most
interesting phases of this extraordinary
feat OF bunccaneering speculation The
facts reveal depth of financial venality
which we had scarcely been prepared to
expect even i'll the moral Slums of Wall
street. We have heard Of members of
Congress and of high politicians specu-
latlng on the fate of sugar bills and on
the mysteries of tariff legislation and on
the secrets of administrative depart
ments; but it il at least something new
that men who are leaders in protecting
our money system should employ them
selves in creating panics and cndangering
the ability of the Treasury to maintain
gold payments. How near these high
politicians, with their millionaire associ-
ates, came To succeeding in their attempts
to create serious crisis may be Inferred
from the fact that, in order To restore the
confidence they have destroyed, the banks
have deemed it necessary TO contribute
so 900 600 to the Treasury gold reserve
while the foreign bankers have INTERVIEWED
to stop gold exports by issuing if needs
be, so, coo, O0) of bills of exchange. These
grave precautions are due almost cXclu-
siVeiy to the attempt of this millionaire
combination 10 supply themselves with
stocks at panic prices. 1t is sorry dis
couragcment to the true and faithful
men, who are sacrificing much to protect
our financial interests. to find that even
among their ColabOratcurS in the cause
of sound money there are those who are
ready to turn great national danger
INTO an occasion for increasing their pr-
vate wealth
1t is necessary to call public attention
to these scandalous operations in order to
correct the impression that the events of
last Monday were 1uc To real apprchen-
sions and diStrusts among holders of Sc
curities at large. The transactions OF
that day We're a blow to public confidence
as damaging as the conclusions of the
Chicago conventions Fortunately, the
banks and the foreign blnker- have done
all that wa possible to repair the mis-.
chief inflicted. But both here and i'm Eu-
rope there is a large mass of investors
whom no explanations about the conspi-
racy viii reach. and there i, littlc posi-
hllity of restoring the shaken confidence
Of that class.
The journal of Commerce has so de
scribed these men that suspicion will fall
on at least one or two well known
public men, but The journal owes it to
the public that the names Of all who are
known to have been in this conspiracy
should be made public. OF what avail
VIII all efforts for settlement of the un-
certainty as TO our currency be when CON
fronted by such gigantic swindling opera-
tions, bringing misery to thousands. car
ried on by men who pose a. public
spirited, high. minded statesmen and bus
mess men; Nothing ever charged against
Wall street. by the silver people EQUALS
this calm and yet fearful denunciation of
few Of its leaders by the foremost finan-
cial paper of America These wreckers