The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-21


OXenbridge the president of those social
ed liberator companies, for the promotion
of which the financier and bogus philan-
thropisL Jabez Balfour nj. p, was con
demned to long term of penal servitude,
These hberator companies caused the
most widespread ruin throughout the Uni
ted Kingdom, The investors having been
mainly people in modest circumstances. In
fact. so great was the misery Which en-
sued that a public subscription was raised
in behalf of the sufferers, to which, how
ever, Lord OXenhridge declined to con-
tribute a single penny. Yet there is no
doubt that many of the unfOriuuate stock
holders of the lberator companies We're
induced to embark their savings in the
concerns by the presence on The board of
directors of Lord OXenbridge, who held at
the time the mastership of the horse to
the Queen, that is 10 say the highest Of
flee in the soVereigns household. or
course, no one dreamed of imputiug actual
dishonesty to Lord OXenbrdge yet il Is
perfectly wen known that he did not lend
Jabez Balfour the use of his name as pres
ident of the liberator companies without
receiving a quid pro quo, and was led by
the size of this remuneration 20 close his
eyes to anything that seemed questionable
in connection with the administration of
the undertaking.
Another Peer, now in this country, who
has achieved a most unenviab'e distinc-
ton in England as a ''guinea-pig' is Lord
Thurlow, brother-in-law of the Niceroy OF
India, formerly Lord-in-Waiting TO the
Queen, and at one time Lord High Com
missioner to the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland, an Office which while
the general assembly is in session at Edin-
burSh, invests its holder with the same
regal attributes and prerogatives as the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Thur
low was, prior to his wind-up in the Court
of Bankruptcy, a "guinea-pig" director in
no fewer than two-score companies in
GLIDING the Chicago and Northwest Gran
aries Company, the North American Salt
Company and the Harvey-Peak Consou-
dated Tin Company. If he really earned
his money conscienuously as director of
all the companies on the boards of man
agement Of which his name figured, he
must indeed be a far more wonderful man
than Is generally believed For the COM
panies with which he was connected as
director controlled enterprises in New
foundland, Canada, Siam. India South
Africa South America, the United States
and even Nicaragua, while to fulfil his du-
ties toward all of them would imply that
he had mastered the details of financing
trust companies. fire and life insurance,
railroads, exploration, colonization. mines.
electrical engineering, granaries salt
steel and iron forging printing and electric
lighting. That he is man without neces-
sary capacities for these very manifold
duties is best shown by the fact that he
failed some years ago for the sum of
600, and that hiss notions of business
matters and business principles are so
hazy that he narrowly escaped more dis
agreeable proceedings than those of bank
ruptcy for purchasing when insolvent
jewelry on credit and pledging it a few
hours later. His action in the matter CALI
ed forth especially caustic mention in the
an &C. h 70
eral of Bankruptcy
Far more fortunate is the Marquis Of
Tweedale, whose name is pronounced as
TWidd,e," and who, since the bankruptcy
of Lord Thurlow, holds the record in a
number of directorships. He is on the
board Of nearly three dozen of them. and
is known as the champion Guinea Pig"
this designation originating with the fact
that directors of companies usually re-
ceive fee of one to ten guineas for each
meeting of the board thar they attend
II may be safely asserted that al least
three-quarters of the members of the
House of Lords either hold director
ships, or else have come TO grief fnan-
cially In connection Herewith. 1t may be
said, to the credit of the latter that their
ruin is frequently brought about by a
somewhat tardy scruple. Too late they
discover that the enterprises to which
they have sold their names are Incapable
of fulfilling the pledges contained in the
prospectuses and are doomed to liquida-
ton. Realizing that the people who have
invested In stock have done so on the
strength of the titled and honored names
on the directorate, they decline 10 follow
the example of the promoters and to
Withdraw from the concern with full pock-
cts, but prefer sticking to the sinking ship
and going down with it in the Quixotic
hope of saving at least their honor There
11ah raa nh. lar~. Hoo,
ed for all their names and titles Were
worth by INSCRIPTIONS promoters, and
among those who have come to financial
grief l may mention, In addition to those
above referred 10, Lord Sudeley the Earl
of tingall, the Earl of Buchan, Lord Hen
ry Lennox, brother Of the Duke OF Rich
mond, and many other members of Eng
lands aristocracy, who fondly imagine
that neither experience nor4uit training
is necessary TO embark in business
pursuits, and that they possessed By vir-
tue of their birth sufficient shrewdness to
hold their own against the INSCRIPTIONS
promoters to whom in return for none
tary consideration they had lent or rather
sold the use of their names.
Although the prospectus of every com
pany insists that the directors of the con-
Germ should be qualified to act as such
by bona fide investment of certain
amount of their own money in the pur-
chase Oh STOCK, the titled director rarely,
If ever, puts any money Of his own INTO
the affair, the promoters invariably pro-
vding him with the necessary quahfica-
ton In the shape of shares, the price Of
which is included in the expenses of pro-
motion. In the case of the Hooey COM
panies the evidence goes to show that in
addition to the qualifying shares the titled
directors were able to command further
sums of money for the use Of their names,
Lord De la War; receiving as much as
$125, coo
Perhaps the present revelations in the
Hooley bankruptcy case, which constitute
nothing more nor less than a positive no
tional disgrace, will result in the enact
ment of a law projected some time ago
and providing for all the disabilities and
penalties of an undscharged bankrupt
that is to say. suspension from legisia-
tive and civic privileges for all those who
have given their names as directors to
companies wound up by the receiver gem
eral Of bankruptcy.
THE CAROLINE ISLANDS.