The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-10
THE PARIS BOURSE.
About 1t PrOw1s an Army of
UnfOrtunates.

e. Friend, in the Forum.
Except, perhaps, around the Casino at
Monte Carlo, there is no army OF monetary
rates as large as that which prowls around
the Paris Bourse. Few spectacles are more
affecting than that of such men - once,
doubtless, prosperous in legitimate pur-
suits, with a healthful view of the world
and possessing in full that inestimable gift
of life. lie bonheur d'etre-so shattered in
character and degraded in morals; always
mental and often physical wrecks; men
with broken %volition. with lost purpose.
with professions they can no longer exer-
else; with s%trenuously acquired commercial
experience which has been hopelessly viii
ated by the terrible dissipation of thwarted
speculation; men whose sole idea and pos
session is a system Of playing the market
which they themselves can never play-like
the VieuX professor at Monaco, who, moy-
ennant une fable retribution, will cast you
a beautiful horoscope with his infallible
diagrams and apparatus. Men-but they
are not men. They are ghosts-pitiable'
miserable apparitiOnS, who haunt the pur-
hous of the relentless, memorable monster
that destroyed them.
These, with a few old women. are the
6regs and the lees Of the Paris Bourse, and
they are known as the pieds humides-wet
feet. The old women carry old handbags,
and i'm the old handbags are securities"
Inc lnSeCuflIleS are as cheap ana as de-
graded as the dealers in them-the engrav-
ings issued by insolvent corporations, by
corrupt companies, by counterfeit concerns
that were never intended to develop be-
yond their charter, and by South American
mining companies that never yielded an
ounce of ore. Yet this worthless mass Of
paper finds a market occasionally. Some
times a bank or cognate financial institu-
ton fails. Among its assets are found the
contents Of the old handbags. Usually
there were bought not long before the fail
ure. The failure is not explained by the
cOntents; the contents are explained by the
failure. Probing deeper, we discover that
the officers have specialized, not in hand
bag rubbish, but ia the officially listed Sc
c~uritieS, and, when bankruptcy was in
evitable, purchased the refuse TO give
themselves a co~Untenance."
Notwithstanding the pieds humides and
despite the assaults Of the RochefOrt-Dru-
mont faction, Frances respect for the
bourse is not less real because il is acknowl-
EDGED. This hidden esteem is quite cOnceiv-
able. Frenchmen have a good memory, and
In their heart of hearts they are not un-
grateful. They remember what the eX-
change did for the country when appear
ances indicated that Germany had crushed
France out of all political significance.
When Paris was still smoking from tire
shells Of the outside and the frebrands Of
the inside enemy the strong members OF
the BOurSe We're busy with a plan Of
financial restitution. When other ma
tions had lost all hope of Frances re-
trievement the exchange demonstrated its
ldllH III the country. On the darkest Gay
of that dark period subscriptions were
opened - in the corridor facing the Rue
Reaumur-for the bonds that covered Ger
many's severe eXactions and for the obliga-
tons that made for a renaissance of the
capital. The first and largest subscribers TO
the five-milliard loan were the agents de
change and the cOulissiers. There is another
thing which the Frenchnan has in nina.
He knows that whatever the government,
whatever the political aspect, the Bourse
never ASSEMBLIES. The market VIII not lie.
The quotation list is incorruptible. The
roster of prices has never been an obse-
quious courtier to this or hat regime. Just
as Rochefort, Drumont, Guerin and Mile
voye hate the BOurse, so have all radical
despots looked askance at that institution.
Force and persuasion have not controlled
the lists, and the influence Of intrigue has
ever been fleeing.
While the Paris Bourse is neither saint
nor hero, it is the only power. aside from
saints and heroes, hat the kings and mobs
OF France could not compel to express a
sentiment contrary TO its conscience of COM
merce. When the exchange expresses an
opinion 1t is in a language understood by
all-that Of francs and centimes. Napoleon
feared 1t. RobespierTe held it in execration,
and Prudhon-the monsieur famed for his
knack of saying infelicitous truths in mo-
ments Of absent-minded candor-said that
the Bourse in critical periods was the final
refuge OF honest views.