The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-04-14

/ boaHon copper EA1uE Tells why There
Is ssNever a Scratch Of a Pen" be-
tween Principals In Deals which
Net Mnlions to a Few In Very
short Periods Of Time-cites the
aiorEan-Gates Deal.
Thomas W. Lawson, the Boston cop
per king and fnancier, who recently
said that it was impossible for few
men 10 make S46,0O0,000 in one deal
legally and That it was because Of this
fact that fnanciers undertook these
deals without entering into written
agreements, gave an illustration By
telling the inside history of the IA.
nous Louisville and Nashville case in
which J. Pierpont Morgan and John
W. Gates were involved, says Bos-
ton dispatch to the Philadelphia Press.
Said Mr. Lawson:
"AIr. Perkins, OF ]. r Morgan &
Co, went to the Waldorf hotel and
walked John Gates up at o'clock in
the morning. lie demanded that Gates
should sell to j. Il Morgan s. co.
block or Louisville ana Nashville stock
which he had Just bought This stock,
if he did not sell it, would have
brought about another crisis similar to
the Northern Pacific corner.
Gates agreed to sell it, provided
they would give him S10,000000 more
than it had cost him about one week
before. This they were obliged to do,
and they did.
Now, IL that transaction had been
between the two men alone, Morgan
on the one side simply going to pay
certain sum out OF his pocket to Gates
on the other side, a record could have
been made and given to the public, and
II would not have interfered with the
carrying through of the transaction.
But such was not the case.
Coates was to get more than $4,000.
900 OF profit overnight, and it was only
because Of what ] call 4 trick Of
finance that this was possible. The
S10.00O.000 was not to come from Nor
gans pocket but from the public
4 through Morgan that IS, It was TO
come eventually from the public
| through the Louisville and Nashville
railroad and its allied lines, which
were, Ia one form or another to be
assessed for il.
Therefore II the transaction had
been made public on the day following
| the night trade, those who We're to have
the $i0,000000 taken from them could
have gone to the courts, and the trans
action could have been stopped.
"This brings us to the starting point
Can a man take from others overnight
these enormous sums of money--legal-
"?
Il say. if be can. that tie men who
are involved in the transaction would
no more think Of rIslsing their share Of
the profits By taking the word Of their
associates than the mechanic would
take the sellers word when be buys
his house for 81 600
"But If this profit comes Illegally,
then, of course. those who are to have
lit are compelled to make the transac
ton one such as I have described
without the scratch Of penn
These transactions should not be
COMPOUNDED with such as we have daily
on the Stock Exchange, where one mem
Der enters into a contract with another,
in which large sums are involved,
without writing. The latter are en-
tireIy different There the parties have
the guarantee which their code gives
4 them-the rules, the system Of the
Stock Exchange. IN other words, their
Stock Exchange Is the equivalent Of
the peoples courts OF law, and the word
Of a member party 10 a contract Is the
equivalent of the writing Of the PEG
4 pie in their courts Of law
"But the transactions to which we
are referring are not intended By those
who are parties to them to be subject
! to the laws Of court or Stock Exchange
because-yes, because, aud why not
say it?they are illegal transactions.
That IS, ninety nine cases in a
hundred where the enormous profits
are left to the word of one or more
Of those taking part in them are out
side of the law as 1t is on the statute
books and as a civilized people un.
derstand il and have a right to UNI
derstand 1T"
"Mr Lawson. said the interviewer
then you have been associated In
transactions involving the illegal ac
quirement Of huge sums Of money
Il cannot help your inference" he
resumed "Of course. boiled down. it
means modern finance. It means that
this is the way financial business is
done today, and that any man who Is
doing financial business on a large
scale must ind himself in the position
| am in today, or else in what, to my
mind, seems a much worse one-lying
to the public"
Recurring to the specific instance in
which the famous S46,D00,000 profit
was made, Mr. Lawson said:
ut stands to reason that II Is i'm
possible for 4 set of men who are
entering upon transaction in which
they are going tomakeS 100000 profit
III very short time to put It on paper
| A., sba nfl faah3Anad 4Uav IN mako an