The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-04

1
have failed The greatest speculation
ever known in Chicago has eliminated
in the failure of the people who are be-
hind the deal.
The Chicago stock exchange will adj
journ at 10 O'Clock tomorrow morning for
an indefinite period
This action was decided upon at a meet
ing held this evening at which were pres
ent the members of the stock exchange,
governing committee and a number of
! prominent capitalists. This meeting was
assembled informally after the announce
ment which was made late in the after
noon by James H. Moore, that margin
calls no longer could be met The an
nouncement was made to a few of the men
most heavily interested. Those who as
Sembled discussed the best means of re-
| storing confidence after the check which
would be given to speculative circles by
the
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FAILURE.
1t was the opinion that it would be the
W1SeSt poSSlUle move 10 close the stock
exchange for period. The points were
made that nearly the entire business at
the stock exchange for a number of weeks
has been in Diamond Match and New
York Biscuit and that the closing of the
exchange would interfere only in a slight
degree with the general financial affairs.
1t is thought the adjournment will last
but a few days and that matters can
within that time be Strengthened out
So far as the banks are concerned
THEY ARE INDIFFERENT
personally as to whether the exchange
should be closed or not. The stocks held
by them are margined to a point which
leaves them secure in any event.
me speculative deal of which the fail
ure is the elimination, is by all odds
the most important in the history of the
chicago stock exchange affairs. 1t began
early in this year. The stock of the Dia-
! n 1a<J liz
along $50 for quite time. Just prior to
the Venezuelan incident the tip had gone
out IN inside circles that there were to
pc some important European developments
IN connection with Diamond Match af-
fairs, and the buving of the stocks COM
menced by strong people. The Venezuelan
p'3r IN 'erfered with the speculation and
the stock dropped during the general de-
CHE at that une, to lis. From these the
| rise started, which is the most remark
able in
THE HISTORY OF THE EXCHANGE.
strong group of SPECTATORS headed
by James H Moore and William H
Moore began buying the stock. 1t moved
up with scarcely halt. The rise went
on for a considerable time before the
general public had any intimation of
what was really behind the advance. In
time came the announcement that the
Diamond Match company had closed a
contract with the French government
under which the patents and the ma
chinery controlled by the match company
were to be sold to the French govern
| ment for a royalty OF Sl00,000 a year.
Following the announcement of the clos
| ing of the French contract the stock adj
vanced with great rapidity. Negotiations
were opened for the formation of a new
company in England, which would unite
with Bryant and 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 the Euro
pean manufacturers.
Negotiations were also opened in Aus
tralia for the formation of a company
which should combine all the nanufac-
turing interests there. Other companies
were to be organized in Belgium and
Italy.
The shrewdest men in Chicago believed
in the property. Some of the richest of
market heavily but the head and front
of the speculative movement was the
Moore brothers. The stock sold up as
high as S2.4S.
When the decline in stock markets
generally came, following the Democratic
convention the stock was selling at about
1924, and was held steadily without so
much as a fractional decline. The Moores
BOUGHT THE STOCK WITH CONFI-
DENCE
that inspired confidence in others. The
people who had been the best informed
about the company's prospects seemed
to feel absolutely certain of the value
of the security and prices were held
through all the sharp fluctuations in other
stocks.
1t was believed that a heavy short in
terest had been created by bears who did
not think quotations could be held in the
face of the decline in the general mar
ket.
Apparently the hopes of the bulls rested
on the size of the short interest. When
the July account came to be closed the
carrying charges for turning stocks into
the August account were very large, SO
rcuch so that faith was shaken in tine ex-
istence Of
AN EXTENSIVE SHORT INTEREST.
The greater part of the capital with
which the deal had been carried on had
been raised in New York and New Eng
land.
Local banking institutions are only mod
erately interested in the affair. Difficulty
ly=a experienced owing 10 the general loss
of confidence in renewing %jme of these
eastern loans Settlement day was sue
cesSfully passed, however, and every one
benevea mat in spite of the heavy car
rying charges, the bulls were still in con-
troll of the situation. The stock came out,
however, in enormous quantities. The
Moores were almost alone in supporting
the market but they stood under it with
remarkable courage.
Today the stock was held with hardly a
waver at 222 but there was
AN OUTPOUIRNG OF LONG STOCK
which led the keen observers of the
market to fear that the load might be
too heavy and the events later in the
AFTERNOON proved that these fears were
correct.
The deal in Diamond Match was only
part of this great speculative operation.
The Moore Bros. had organized the New
York Biscuit company several years ago,
after the first great success of the Dia-
mond Match company. The panic of 1893
had MI The Biscuit company severely, as
it did all the other industries, and the
stock was far below par. The success
which was met within a speculative man
ipulation of Diamond Match, led to a desire
to see what could be done with New York
Biscuit and that stock was taken several
months ago and advanced from 20 to 10S.
From that it dropped back to 81 and for
weeks was held close about that figure.
Enormous quantities of this stock were
also poured upon the market, but they
were taken with the same steadiness
which marked the action of DIAMOND
Match. The Accommodations, however, rep
resented a great sum in time and the
operations in the block will add largely
to the amount involved. 1t Is not at the
present time possible to make any esti-
mate of what the figure is. The Moores
have unquestionabiy purchased an enorm-
GUS line OF New York Biscuit and Diamond
Match. The capital stock of the Diamond
Match company is 81, 600 and of New
York Biscuit SO, 000,0 1t is said that
the Moores have purchased half the CAPT.
tai of the Diamond Match company and
their purchases of New York Biscuit
stock perhaps bears as large a proportion
to the total.
A PLEA FOR THE UMPIRE.