Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-12-07

II we can get the guaranty oil an open
door, we can let the European nations
squabble to their hearts content ovel
/, the division of poor old China-it viii
} make no difference to us. Some OF
them are willing to give us this assur-
ance and probably this will incline the
others TO follow SUIT With a fair
chance in China, our Philippine pos
sessions will become much more valu-
able to us from the start, as we can
plan to exploit the rich Chinese mark
cts from our nearby colony. There is
already much commerce between
them, which will grow to vast dimen-
sions when directed by Americans.
For case of pure bluff, the exploit
of Lieut.. Munroe in capturing over
800 Filipinos at Bayombong will stand
as a precedent for a long time. He
tapped a rebel telegraph wire and de-
manded the immediate surrender of
the place. The Filipino commander
replied that he would yield to a supe-
rior force. Munroe answered that he
would enter with a small advance
guard and receive the surrender. This
be did, but his advance guard included
the whole force at his disposal-50
men in all. By the way, the bluff by
which the surrender of Santiago was
secured wasn't a bad one. 1t is clear
now that if the Americans weren't ac-
tually defeated in the bloody battles of
FL Caney and San Juan they were in
no condition to force the early capitu-
lation of the city. In fact, the army
was in bad shape and many OF the
leading officers favored a withdrawal
to the coast. The Spaniards still
seemed capable of putting up a very
hard fight and Ceryera's ships lay
where it was almost impossible to as
sault. A happy thought occurred to
someone that Yankee bluff might win.
and, aided by the opportune destruc-
ton OF the Spanish fleet, which shortly
followed, it did. To it may be attrib-
uted the saving of hundreds of lives
and possibly a great disaster that
would have prolonged the war.
The so-called Franklin syndicate,
which secured the "loan" of many
thousands OF dollars in Brooklyn by
offering an interest rate of ten per cent
a week, went TO smash last week and
OF poor people are losers.
Miller, the promoter, claimed he was
,ble to pay this enormous interest
ate on account Of his tremendous sue
,ess in speculation in Wall street. lie
lid pay the rate for some time, being
lble to do so by the old familiar way of
aking it out of the principal-long
,nough to advertise his concern, when
money began to flow in. Ofcourse he
vas then able to pay the original de-
,ositors even more than their principal
,ut of the increased receipts. This
made the newcomers faster and to-
ward the last there was veritable
to leave money with him.
some of those who are now
Mourning were innocent, but we inn
.gine the greater number saw through
he scheme, but hoped the ball would
continue to roll until they had
,hance to make something, which il
night have done for time had not the
indicted Miller tor fraud
md broke up the syndicate. The
onger it was allowed to run the
greater would have been the iual
crash. It's another application of the
endowment order idea with which
New England had valuable expert
ence few years since. These short
cuts to fortune have their dangers.
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