The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-05
MATCHES AND BISCUITS.

One of the heaviest failures on
change, since Jay Cooke went to the
wall twenty-three years ago, is that Of
the Moores. of Chicago and New
York, whose smash has sent a thrill
of fear through the speculative centers.
We have had big failures IN wheat
deals where men took a short cut to
wealth by trying to take all the wheat
offered and were deluged by it, but
this is a failure resulting from too
much biscuits and matches. 1t invol-
YES not only the principals, but their
brokers, and will strike hard the peck
cts Of many wealthy men who backed
their faith in the stocks with their
money. Meanwhile, change is filled
with men wondering whether the break
will go farther, and, if so, how far, and
who and how many will be involved.
The failure marks the elimination Of
one of the largest speculative ventures,
based on an apparently invulnerable
foundation. What could be safer than
investments in the stock of the Dia-
mond Match trust, holding a monopoly
OF the markets of this country in an
article of indispensable use? Add to
this the ownership Of patents taken
cut abroad also, which, by the su-
periority of their process Of manufac
ture, gave the trust the command of
the foreign markets, enabling them to
obtain from the French government
a contract for the use Of it's devices at
rental of 100000 year. What could
be safer than that No vonder that
the managers thought that their SILL
100000 of capital stock was but a rea-
sonaple valuation of such property.
NO wonder the Moores, who financed
the trust, felt that such a stock. so
buttressed, paying dividends that made
the stock a good investment at 100
to ITO, was worth a good deal more.
and that big fortune awaited the sue
cessful promoting that would make
1t worth more. To this process thew
brought their skill and experience and
exploited shrewdly the advantages in
hand and in prospect until they made
the investing public, eager for quick
and big returns, hungry for shares as
high as 24S.
Then they imagined they had
In the Biscuit trust stocks another
thing out of which big money might
be made in skillful hands That. too
was close monopoly, dividing with
the American Biscuit company the en-
tire country, with an inflated stock,
but one capable Of having value pump
ed into 1t. 1t was engaged in making
staple article with an immense mar
ket and demand limited only by the
dining tables of it's territory. So the
Moores began exploiting Biscuits
along with their Matches, trusting to
the power of the monopoly to COM
pei the consumers to make good the
values they chose to push the shares
to. The rapacity that the trusts were
born of infected the men who dealt in
their stocks. There is no limit to
money making when one has only to
Increase prices; the limit Is reached,
as many an adventurer in speculation
has found to his cost, when more is
offered than can be taken for the COM
pensating disadvantage is that all must
be taken that is offered on the rise.
Unfortunately for the Moores and
their friends, from unexpected quart
ers came stocks held by men who
thought the limit Of the game was
about reached. They could not keep
up their margins and failed Another
name is added to the long list of our
Napoleons Of finance. The case calls
for neither sympathy nor condolence.i
The consumers of biscuits and matches
were being fleeced by the trust A
scheme to stretch the fleece was gone
into. 1t failed and ruined the schem-
ers. The trusts remain and flourish.