New-York tribune., 1903-01-04
NEWS OF TWO CAPITALS.
Practical Tie7c QfLifc for Neyc Year
reform Of COmpaHy FrHGHtF.

livered, serve to remind him that whatever may
be going on in Morocco or the Balkans Venez-
ueia or whatever may be the moral effect os
imperial pageants at Delhi or Mr.. ChamberIain's
alluring oratOry South Africa. it is a pre-
emirentiy prOsaic world of business and taxa
ton Foreign and imperial questions induce
less serious reflection than the report of the
Inspector General in the companies liquidation -
and che evidence that the recent reforms IN
which the late Lord Chief Justice took an active
interest have not remedied existing evils
The Inspector Generals comments ON Whit
aker Wright's methods of finance in the man
agement of the speculative London and Globe
group of companies offer cold comfort for in
vestors. He finds a deficit of about ST. JO0O00
in winding UP the companies. and estimates that
it will be $;7 100000 if the vendors shares are
included He assumes that the shareholders
must have known the nature of Wright's trans
actions. and have only themselves to blame il.
after accepting abnormal profits without asking
questions. they finally have met with heavy
losses. He leaves it open to question whether
hey were not Influenced in making investments
by the use which Wright made Of ornamental
igureheads in possession Of the prestige Of
diplomacy and public life and whether they
were not justified in believing that the specu-
lative enterprises in which they had engaged
legitimate
Investors interested in the reform and purih-
cation of company finance are unable to UNDER
stand why there was not a prin1a facie case for
action by the law officers of the Crown when
there apparent evidence of the issue OF
fraudulent balance sheets and the employment
of reckless methods of stock gambling. The
practical moral drawn by business men is that
company laws need drastic revision and that in
vestors require safeguards against the dexterfty
of INSCRIPTIONS stock promoters and credulous,
irresponsible directors The report of the In
spector General enforces this lesson Indirectly
when il estimates the losses from unsuccessful
companies during the last .en years as exceed
ing $2,690,O00G00 Prolonged wars for the de-
fence of the empire cheap in comparison
with losses of such magnitude from unsound
methods of finance. Wars have, moreover SONS
compensation in the revival of patriotism.
whereas the only effect of reckless stock pro-
notion ending in barren Hquidations without
criminal prosecutions Of gamblers and orna-
mental directors, is a decline of commercial
morality and the lowering of the standards OF
business life.
The most conspicuous sign Of the fnnprov enlent
in Germany which has been suffering for three
years from the 1vercapitalization of industrial
companies and excessive stock promotion is the
combination effected between the largest two
electrical groups. Electrical enterprise has been
| overweighted by the formation of companies on
an extensive scale. and a process of liquidation
by which unsound concerns. without resources
or business. can be forced out is urgently needed
The creation of a powerful group which will
reduce the evils of excessive competition viii
helpful influence i'm fastening the restors-
ton of public confidence in electrical and iron
stocks. Coal shares in Germany rising in
value. and the banking business is conducted
with prudence and caution. These are encour-
aging symptoms after the prolonged paralysis
of business caused by stocS promoting and the
uncertainties of tariff legislation.
There has been little comment in the English
press upon the cooperative scheme Of the United
States Steel Trust for enabling workmen to pur-
chase preferred stock easy terms and thereby
having a financial interest in the prevention Of
labor strikes. The details of the proposals have
been printed in the dispatches from America
but the leader writer's have been staggered by
the tremendous simplicity of the new method Of
recOnciling capital and labor Capitalists in
England have been reassured by the recent de-
cisions of the House of Lords in the Taft Vale
case. affirming the liability cf trade unions for
| damages caused by picketing and other iIIegali-
ties of labor revOlts Employers are now con-
vnced that strikes have been rendered fmpossi-
BILE and that trade unionisn has been dfsa rrned
What makes deeper Impression than the
Morgan scheme IF cooperation is the aggregate
benefactons of American nliIIfonaires during
Z
miration by sarcasTns based upon the trenchant
American book entitled "Our Benevolent FeudaI-
ISM. yet are constrained to admit that many
English institutions are suffering from public
! neglect. The Times" for example, has pub
Hshed urgent appeal from an Oxford resident
for a change in the form Of benefactions for
universities Oxford is declared to be worse of
than it was before Cecil Rhodes left a fortune
for scholarships since the number OF students
vii he i0pr Will
the university exchequer- The Spectator sup
ports a plea that rich men should cease to
multiply scholarships and devote their surplus
wealth TO the Improvement of the university as
a teaching institution by properly endOwing the
Bodleian equipping departments of physical
science and increasing the number OF lecture
ships and courses OF special study.
The victory of c. D. Rose in the Newmarket
election announced this afternoon. Is sufficiently
decisive to justify Liberal jubiIation. While the
district was easily carried by the Liberals be-
fore Mr.. Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule Il
was safe UniOnist borough with Colonel Me-
Calmont as a candidate. mr. Rose has con-
verted a Conservative majority OF over thou
sand into Liberal majority of five hun
dred His majority would probably have been
larger II the Unionist managers had not directed
a frenzied appeal at the last nlOment to the
trainers jockeys and stablenen at Newmarket
TO vote against Nonconformists enemies OF
English sport Henry Norman and other speak
ers made an effort to drag the Venezuela ques-
tion and the German alliance into the canvass
but without much success The Education act
was the chief issue tn the rural constituency.
With the villages and market towns filed with
Nonconformists the Liberals have succeeded in
capturing an important seat by putting Gp an
Ir,neriaIist Of the Rsseberv type and asking for
,,blic Judgment on the Education act