The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-15
A BLESSING IN DIsGUISD.

A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.
Those who are disposed to regard the
recent corner on Northern Pacific stock
and the events traceab'e 10 It and de-
pendent mediately or Immediately upon
It, as an unmitigated evil, have not
taken the trouble to look beyond the in
cidents of the week on Wall street and
note the effect which the bursting of this
bubble has had on the country at Ia GO.
There is no rose without a thorn is a
trite but apt Illustration of the eat
law of compensation. The converse no
doubt, is also true; there is no thorn
without the lingering scent of the rose
That Northern Pacific stock should have
been cornered, forcing the price to such
point as to ruin many small specu-
lators and in the panic which followed
the crash, drag other stocks down. ruin
Ing still more. seems on It's face to be-
resrettable incident. Yet It was the luck
lest thing that has happened this conn
try in many moons
For those who We're so unfortunate as
TO be caught between the two great in
terests striving for the cont oil of the
Northern Pacific, we all have the regula-
ton amount of pity To those who IN
their haste to become rich invested in
various stocks on a small margin and
We're stranded by the receding tie Of
last Thursday the same sympathy ia
due that we extend to the gambler who
stakes his all on four kings when his
neighbor holds four aces.
eliminating those who lost, by reason
OF the action Of their brokers the North.
ern Pacific corner was productive of the
greatest possible good.
Since the recovery from the hard
times following the panic Of 1892 the
energies of the country have been ~.
rected to reviving the industries which
were closed during the years of famine
10 eVade the mistakes of the rast in the
line Of overproduction. as well as 10
reduce the dead weight of widely scat
tered interests, the policy of industrial
combinations was invented.
The rapidity with which these trusts
We're organized and the magnitude of the
organizations absolutely paralyzed tnd,-
Vldual efforts. No man with an ordinary
amount Of money dared to risk it in an
undertaking which at any time might
be called upon to compete with a rival
backed by millions. The result was that
the ranIdIv accuy,,rIo +i,,r , >,
OF the country was seeking the trust
for Investment Promoters found il easv
TO PLACE stock and proceeded to profit
by the conditions. A trust representing
million dollars investment was stocked
for three million. a large part Of the
surplus being velvet to line the pockets
Of the promoters.
The public is an unreasoning animal
at its best, and when the leaders are al
seen going in certain direction. il is
next to impossible to stop stampede
Of the great herd toward that point
The great combinations dazzled the i'm
aginations of the people Those who
were not invited to come in on the
ground floor were willing to buv stock
that they might, in the future, feel a
connection with these great Industrial
autocrats For the last four months this
craze to secure stocks was seen to he
increasing in geometrical ratio. Stocks
were advancing and tales were told Of
fabulous fortunes made upon the legtt
innate purchases as well as upon mar
gins. The surplus capital of the country
was rapidly moving toward the trusts
1t mattered not what the ratio of the
capitalization to the value of the prop
erties-it was sufficient to know that
there were millions in it.
This condition would have continual
indefinitely, going higher and higher
drawing into the maestrom of specYla,
ton the uninvested capital of the enti,e
country, until at last TIE avail en- ~
would have been followed by a panic
worse than either '79 or So had not
something occurred. From this catas-
trophe the erratic Northern Pacific saved
the country. The beautiful bubble with
its iridescent CLEANS was D licked and
men saw what? It does not mat er
what They saw and became sober
again Who was responsible for this ia
cipient panic does not matter. Neither
does 1t matter what were their motives
II they had any well defined motives
II may nave come as natural result
from extraordinary ccndi,iors. At all
events the result was goodsend to the
country. The small capitalist is placaa
on his guard. No longer viii a promoter
be able to dazzle him with D .ooos;tion
which shows in its prospectus only the
amount Of capital stock and the bondal
Indebtedness. The bird pup2ys eves
have opened and they now see. The
G b stated on Friday that there was
on cause for apprehensicn-the Wall
street panic would not affect in the least
the legitimate trade of the country We
may now add, with equal logic, that the
incidents of the week leading up to
Thursday came in the nick of time: SIX
months later would have meant disaster
Things are not always what they SEEM
apparent disasters often prove 70 be
blessings.