The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-03-25
THE LESSON OF THE RISE AND
FALL OF SULLY.

ers to Sully for the great dement, ms OPP.
erations brought to them in the increased
price of cotton? He is in trouble now,
but the South owes him large debt of
obligation"
In truth. if balance sheet could be
struck, is the South much richer BECAUSE
of Sullys operations? Cotton brought
more money because Sully and his asso-
ciates backed their faith in a small crop;
but the success of Sully caused hundreds
of men to go to gambling in cotton who
had hitherto been content to devote their
time to legitimate business. satisfied with
reasonable profits. Those who pinned
their faith to Sully and sold out before
the crash, pocketed big returns from
their venture. Those who thought he was
certain to win and held on. have gone
down in the crash with him. Is it not
probable Southern people as a whole lost
as much as they gained?
But if the South is richer in dollars and
cents because of Sully, is it not poorer in
its moral tone? His spectacular success
full gambling fascinated many men. There
are farmers near Raleigh who became
gamblers because of Suly's big success,
and having once tasted getting something
for nothing, win never again be as well
satisfied with the legitimate profits oil
raising ten or twelve cent cotton. In
certain town in North Carolina. a disci-
pie of Sully plunged deep, sold out before
the February slump, and cleared large
sum of money, something like $4,000. The
wife of neighbor chided her husband be-
cause he had not done likewise. Later
the craze had the successful Spectator
under such control that be re-entered,
Sully, and had to mortgage his house to
meet his losses The wife who chided her
husband for not risking all, is now thank
full that the house over her head has no
mortgage on it. She was dazzled by the
spectacle of neighbor getting some
thing for nothing. She is sobered by the
stick. Not only have men been caught
| in the vortex of gambling-falsely called
bv a nicer sounding name, speculation,
but the story goes that women, right
here in Raleigh and other North Carolina
towns. have caught the fever, and put up
margins and talk of puts and calls
as do male gamblers. Who can estimate
the evil effects of such decentralization upon
this and future generations?
| In thanking Sully for putting up the
price of cotton, shall We not also charge
him with the evils following in the wake
of the speculative mania that it created?
| If he is to be thanked for the resulting
good, can he escape responsibility Tor
the evils? AS matter of fact, Mr.. Sully
was gambling on his judgment. He bellev-
ed he could make money by trying to put
up the price of cotton. He would nave
| gambled on trying to run 1T down II he
had thought he could make more money
that way He hadn't a thought or
care for the cotton grower. The specu-
lator is gambling and has no more
thought of helping others than the man
sitting down to a game of cards. He Is
trying to get rich quick. and therefore
takes great risks. About a month ago,
Mr.. Thomas w. Lawson, OF Boston, ad-
vised sully to close out and salt down his
millions. Sully replied that las soon as
he cleared the other million now in
sight" he would do so. Lawson reminded
the plunger that there were hundreds of
men whose financial success was staked
upon preventing his getting that million
dollars ''in sight" and behind them was
the combined spinning interest of the
world which wanted cheaper cotton. But
Sully had seen his plans go so smoothly
lin face of all the low price cotton folks.
that he thought he could defeat them all
the year--at least until another cotton
crop was made, and the result is history.
Col. Lawson's advice was, to quote Frank
IL. Stanton, something like this:
"You flyin' out err sight
En- dey amt no place ter light,
En- de stars is laffin' at you,
En- dey feel you, lef' en- right
| Mr.. Sully hasn't yet found a place to
light The '.stars" may be ''laffin at
him, but there are plenty of folks who
went broke who will be sympathizing
with the star plunger. And he may be
certain of the sympathy of others who
'flyin out er sight fell to the earth with
the same dull. cold thud. In 1900 Mr..
Theo H. Price tried to corner the cotton
and when he recovered sufficiently to take
notice he was eleven million dollars to the
bad. SuIly's losses now aggregate some
Thing like six million dollars. When Joseph
Letter thought he could corner wheat
he lost six million dollars in the failure
to succeed; it cost John Cudahy eight
million to find out that he couldn't corner
the provision market; S. Y. White four
1 a. Iva