The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-20
THE SHIPYARDS SCANDAL
NEW YORK MUCH STIRRED BY THE
SENSATIONAL REVELATIONS.
"High Finance" Is Getting an Airing
That VIII Have an Educational
Effect on the Public.

voked as they appear in the newspapers
of other cities, even wher the city is no
farther away than Boston. They seem like
the rehearsal of a play, when only the
stage is lighted, and the rest of the house
is dark Doubtless, outside of New York
men have talked much and warmly of the
scandal but in the newspapers that come
thence there is little trace of such a wide
spread impression as ii has made here or
of such sharp comment as it haS excited.
Since the downfall of Grant & Ward in
1884, and the ensuing revelations as to
Wards methods, no event of the kind has
so interested and stirred, not only the
financial district, but the community at
large The latter, of course, has been the
more excited. The financial center knew
in outline some of the facts that Mr.. Dres-
ser and others have clothed with precise
detail 1t vaguely suspected others that
supplement them. To the comparative out
slider, on the other hand, both came as a
keen surprise.
1t is four days now since Mr. Dresser's
testimony was printed and the stream of
statements" and corroborative evidence
began to flow. and still whenever men meet
there is lively talk of little else. Naturally
in tne most conservative of banks, through
the brokers' offices. down to the resorts of
the shabbiest hangers-on about Wall street
would mum with comment on the scandal
and conjecture as to it's outcome. Excite
ment III all these, however, often leaves the
rest or the town unperturbed, but in the
shipyard's disclosures average professional
ana average business men have been
scarcely less keenly interested. Wherever
they have met each other-in their offices,
In clubs. on trains, at home, over luncheon
and over dinner, they have had their ques-
ions to ask. their comment to make. Even
the number folk OF the city, who are far
removed from Wallstreet promoters and
high or low finance generally, have shown
alert IL not very enlightened interest in the
whole affair Although Mr. Dresser and
many another figure In il may be quite un-
known TO them, at least Mr.. Schwab is IA
miliar, while the incidental mention of Mr..
morgan name Las added Zest to ii all.
MINIMIZING THE EVIDENCE.
The New York newspapers, with a single
exception. have hardly revealed this state
or the public mind or done justice to it,
A Few or them, taking their cue from a
part or the financial quarter, have sought
to minimize the evidence in the case and
pass over its significance. Others seemed
at first scarcely to grasp its moment or
the public interest in it, and now are striv-
ing, so TO say, TO catch up with ii. A few
a
sense of responsibility, spread the facts be-
fore their readers from the first The Jour
nails, however, OF a metropolis like New
YORK are presumed not only to print the
news, but TO mirror more or less adequately
the trend of public opinion upon it, Here
again, with an exception or two, they have
tailed even so far as to convey a wrong
impression to readers of them elsewhere
Comment upon the shipyards' scandal and
upon nearly everyone concerned in them
has been abundant and vigorous in the talk
nf re arn1 0.,1 s.1..s TT.
or condemnation has shown that the aver
/ age of the business and professional COM
munity in New York is sound in its com
mercial morality. IL has shown too that
the man in the street, with all his admira-
ton for shrewd money-getting, draws the
line at sucn methods, so far as he under
stands them. as the shipyard promotion re-
vealed If part of what has mas
queraded as haute finance for the last four
years Is rotten, the business morals of the
city at large still sound and true The
very vigor and sincerity of current talk
about the shipyard disclosures offers in
itself sufficient proof Yet, except in Two
three instances, the comment of the news
papers has little reflected this public opin-
ion. Some, indeed. have made no comment
only few have spoken with the frankness
and warmth with which men were speaking
all around them.
VARYING COMMENT.
Another anomaly. curious and inter-
esting. has also been patent to the OBJ
server of current discussion of the scandals
The financial quarter has veritably buzzed
with 1t. Among brokers and brokers. hank
ers and bankers. and clients in close and
| confidential relation with them, there has
been the liveliest discussion OF all the evil
| dence and the documents I'm the case II
in some instances there has been a labo-
| ricus effort TO discover extenuating circum-
stances. in many Others there has been as
sharp condemnation of promoters practices
as any to be heard in the rest of the town
| Eet when the men of the financial quarter
| have come, at clubs and other common
meeting places. face to face with their fel-
lows In business and the professions and
| heard their comment on the scandal these
same men have shown a disposition to
| deprecate the force of the one and to lessen
| the iniquity and folly of the other. No
| doubt some of this comment has been of
| the rough-and-ready sort that genuine
| moral indignation sometimes induces. At
| moments IL has proceeded from small
premises to unduly large conclusions
| Yet OF the underlying soundness and sin
certify of these opinions the mere listener
could not. help conviction. and, with the
| other bystanders. he was disposed to resent
| the view that the ways and the standards
\ of Wall street may not be examined and
| discussed by the comparative outsider with
! the same freedom and vigor with which he
| discusses the ways and the standards. for
| example. of the transportation companies
| of this town. The men of the financial
| quarter, when they would impress their
! fellows with it's representative character
| lean then to the view they deprecate when
| scandals are in issue. Moreover when
! they seek to diminish scandals like those
| of the shipyard company and are a bit
| impatient of vigorous public comment upon
| them they only encourage the notion that
| there have been similar vicious promotions
| On the other hand, IL is only fair to saw
| that behind all this long and costly inves-
| tigation into the floating of the Shipbuild-
! ing Company is man of large wealth, who
| wishes that the inquiry. whatver its diff
moved thereto by motives of genuine public
duty. That end may be effort to secure
restitution from Mr.. Schwab but those that
| are pursuing II have other motives as we'll
! PUBLIC CONDEMNATION
It is not the vigor with which public
opinion is condemning the methods of the
shipyards promoters that is to be depre-
Gated. but its tendency TO generalize too
freely from the evidence that it has had
before it since last Thursday and from its
| hazy recollection Of the causes that con-
! and the Lake Superior companies. AS the
| psalmist said in his haste that all men are
| liars, so there was tendency last week to
| say that this. that the other indus trial
| corporation had been set afoot by methods
| not too far removed from those of the
! shipyards people 1t is the encoura cement
fears as a further obstacle 10 the recovery
| OF public and investing confidence. BY this
time everyone takes Tor granted the over
| Capitalization OF many os the newer indus
trial corporations and the unduly large
profits OF the promoting syndicates and