The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-26
A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY
The story of "areat" Promo.sr's Ris. and Fall.

the exchanges, and .opened at forty. Twitchell was sometimes in Alleghany in- troducing economies, and more often in New York, introducing securities during the day; parading through the Goldorf corridors in the evening, with his hat tilted over his eyes. and a long, black cigar sticking out aggressively from his mouth like the bowsprit of a rakish sloop. Other embryo financiers were there They were great men. according to Goldorf Standards. for things were looming easy'' In Wall Street, and these were the assem- bled captains of the Boom Era. The stock boomed. But out in Ale gheny some of the old machinery was flying apart. After paying dividends on twenty millions of stock, there was little money left for repiacements and i'm provements. Orders were increasing The. company must have immediate cash capital. Ffere was another problem, easily solved at the moment, for the public was clamoring for the stock at nifty. An issue of ten millions of new stock was determined upon. for purposes Of improvement and extension, the latter principall yextension of public credulity improvements were a pressing necessity, as the screeching of wornout machinery testified. If new-sleuth could have heard that ominous grooming and creak- ing, what straight tip he would have had.
 The new issue of stock caused a great commotion in the market. The price jumped to ffty-1ve, and seventy was freely predicted by Twitchell, the advance being gratuitous. Every one seemed to be buying. No one cared who was sell Ing. The transfer clerks knew, of course. that large blocks of stock standing in the names of James E. Brown and Will E. Smith had been sold, but they never learned that these were the names of Allegheny office-boys Mrs. Twitchell sold two thousand shares, probably for reasons of her own
 The selling of office-boy stock was per- sistent.i Under its pressure the price fell to forty. Twitchell did not appear dissatisfied with this sudden turn of af- fairs The consciousness of substantial private gains more than compensated for his wounded official pride. He had be- come master of the science of easy finance. which embraces all the advanced methods of taking money from people without the danger of losing ones per- sonal liberty if detected.
 In 1901, the name of Twitchell was call ed out frequently by Goldorf pages. Everybody had business with him. His opinions were eagerly sought. even by conservative men, who had tardily caught the speculative fever, and were losing their heads in the rush for quick results Twitchell had blossomed forth as a mar ket leader in many securities.
 Mrs. Twitchell was also at the Goidorf. She was developing a splendid taste for smooth clothes and startling jewelry. Twitchell and wife were to be seen din- ing in the Palm room almost any even tneY trann i,al~ HNxr conversation, for Mrs. Twitchell knew little of finance. and James did not waste precious monosyllables on her. Yet she was supremely happy. She noted with satisfaction that among the society ladies there none wore a gown that fitted more | closely than her own, or was more lavish ly decorated with lace and embroidery. That they were society ladies one could hardly doubt. A New Yorker might possibly have imagined, from the tight ness of their clothes and the looseness of their manners. that their society ex- perience in the ball room scene of some Broadway play Twitchell didn't profess to know about such things. Being fe- males they surely were not brokers or newspaper men, and that was the extent of his interest in society. Yet he was pleased that none of them outshone his splendid wife. He, the great Twitchell, the talk of the countp; his wife, gor- geous lady, as great a success in her little way. Could anything be moro fit- ting-her eel-skin gown excepted?
 Everything went well with Twitchell up to 1903 He made several spectacular deals and created a light-headed follow ing whose cumulative force was irresist- ible. Consolidated Steel had held around forty for two years. Investors far and wide bought the stock because 1t would net 10 per cent. They did not realize that they were merely buying paper represent ing Twitchell's private profits.
 So much money was seeking invest ment that it was difficult for the mas ters of easy finance to issue new secu- rites rapidly enough to meet the abnor- maj demand. Announcements of new is- sues for all sorts of purposes were made. There was piling up of credits such as no country ever witnessed. Half.crazed captains of the boom were becoming wholly insane in their efforts to get the money people had earned. Twitchell went into everything wildly, borrowing millions of collateral which he knew was nearly worthless, for he had created some | of 1t himself. He was recklessly gamb- ling on the continued credulity of the multitude.
 In the spring of 1903, the supply of se- curities and of everything else had over- run the demand. There was congestion In every quarter. One humorist described the unwholesome mass of new green and red paper as "undlgested securities. ' Any goat would have recoiled from such unhealthy diet.
 The market began to go down. Con- solidated wasted away to thirty. James l J. bought steadily down to that figure. chuckling when he thought of the news paper lies he would feed to the public when he was ready for another advance. But the poor public was selling and not buying. Little people were obliged to sell. Big people were notified by bank officials that their loans must be reduced within specified perSsds. Poor, dishonor- able Twitchell was compelled to liquidate every day for weeks. and was badly hurt
 At about this time a dark little man known as bear plunger, was consratu- lating himself and eyeing Twitchell as the latter paced through the Goldorf cor ridor. Twitchell did not parade these days. He had become introspective. Mir Isaac Greenburg was not overburdened with knowledge of the anatomy of annual statements. but had q theory that stocks were made to sell. He also had a habit of selling short. and then selling more and more. This is a pernicious habit, when honest men like J. J. Twitchell are en- gagged in raising capital to develop the vast industries of a country. But Isaac also needed money.
 When 1t became known that "Ike'' Greenburg had consolidated stock all his own way. owing to the crippling of its sponsor, there was a panic. Rumors of falling off in business circulated. Twitchell had seen indications a year be- fore this time that would have warned hNVNn bod h.. -ANn