The Republican journal., 1904-07-28
THOMAS W. LAWSON.

He had made 5000 and lost it be-
fore he was II years old. His first
800, acquired when he was an Office
boy from the Christmas benevOlence of
his employers, he spent at once in buy
ing presents for his sister and two
brothers. Only he bought the sisters
present first, and paid sS7 for it, and
was thrown into a state of despair be-
cause he had but S13 left for the other
two presents.
These incidents hit off Lawson's
character. He makes money furiously
and then tries to spend it before he can
lose it. If he doesn't succeed in getting
it spent he is likely to become inter
ested in clay holes in Siam. Then some
body else spends it for him. But some,
how the money keeps going around
Stagpant money annoys Mr.. Lawson.
The suction pipes through which he
draws stagnant money toward him are
as various as they are numerous. He
invented substitute for playing cards
He wrote and published baseball
booklet called "The Krank; His Ian
guage and What it Means Especially
for this book he invented a peculiar
kind of paper called "blood parch.
ment." During the presidential cam.
paign of 1888 he compiled campaign
history Of political parties. The entire
work was accomplished within thirt-
five days. Four hundred thousand
copies were distributed by national and
State political committees. He devel
oped the Grand River Land company,
and went south to speculate in south
ern real estate. He tried to develop
the iron and coal regions in the State
of Kentucky. He became interested in
SO many different things that he almost
deserved to be regarded as the bagman
of shigh finance. But while he was
! making inventions, writing pamphlets,
and poklng his finger into every mud
pie on the continent, he was still a
Boston broker. finding his main voca,
| ton III the stock market
II Marchs 1899, he made his great
coup in sugar, clearing up about $1,000
600 in four days This was after he
had lost many hundred thousand dol,
/ lars i'll previous sugar Speculations
The money which he had sunk in sugar
he had pumped up mainly from Gen
eral Electric. Then after both sugar
and General Electric came copper and
, the deal by which in alliance with the
Standard Oil interests lie started the
/ ANA gamated. He now proposes tC
tell the world how Amaigamated stock
was juggled to the beWilderment anC
mpoverishment of investors.
But the suction pipes through which
! Mr. Lawson draws money toward hin,
yield in number to the bloWpipes
through which he watts it away from
! him. He is not sport, though q
/ sportsman, and not a swell, though an
epicurean. This means that he cannot
spend his money on dissipation OIL
ostentation. The credit he deserves
for getting it spent is therefore all the
| greater. The devices he employs are
horses, yachts, dogs, flowers, bronzes.
paintings, and books. His office in
Boston is a jungle of telephones, carna,
lions, tickers, pictures, statues, and
ledgers. 1t is probable that he spends
more time gratifying his tastes than
amassing the means by which to graf
fly them. Mr. Lawson lives. If one
can imagine the human soul as an
organism with tentacleS of apprecla-
ton stretching out into the external
universe it may truthfully be said that
Mr.. Lawson seems to have more such
tentacles than any other prominent
financier in America.
This is the man who has sworn to
force a restitution of the money which
was wrenched from Amalgamated in
vestors. 1t will be more interesting
than a combat between medieval
knight and brass Chicago
Tribune,