The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-29
A WARNING TO DISHONEST PRO-
MOTERS

MOIEhS.
The post norton examination dis
closed the fact that the notorious Eng
fish promoter, Whitaker Wright, COM
mitted suicide. His tragic death en-
phasized the fraudulent character of
his career in the world of finance.
1t hasn't been so very long since he
was arrested in New York and taken
back to London, the scene of his
fraudulent operations. At the time of
his arrest it was said on the floor of
Parliament by the Attorney General of
England that he was beyond the reach
of the law-that he had managed his
financial operations so skillfully that
he had not broken the law. Even the
Prime Minister of England, who it
seems, had at one time shares in
Wrght's company, entertained the
same opinion. The judge before whom
he was tried entertained a different
opinion, and, as a consequence, the
jury found him guilty of various
crimes and he was given a sentence of
seven years. He preferred death to a
prison
At one time this man was at the
head of forty-one companies of which
he was the promoter. Then he COM
bined the most of them, making one
company, known as the London and
Globe. He secured as directors of this
some of the most honored names in
England. 1t is said that among his
efn L hn1r T,ov. ,f !,
royal family.
OF course the company paid big div
idends. In that way be invited the
confidence of investors and was able
to dispose of shares in the company at
high prices. The dividends, however,
were not earned. They were paid out
of the money collected from share
owners. 1t was therefore only ques-
ton of time when the company would
come to grief. In the meantime, how
ever, Wright lived like a prince. He
owned a place in London and great
mansion in the country, just outside of
that city. At one time he had as
many as 900 men at work identifying
his country place. His yachts and his
horses were the wonder and admira-
ton of the nobility. And, strange as
it may seem, at no time until just be-
fore the crash came was he suspected
of wrong-doing. An investigation dis
closed the fact that $111, O0O, 900 of the
assets were fictitious and that there
had been $25, 100000 paid out in four
years in dividends that had not been
earned.
Are not some of the promoters in
this country who have grown enor-
mously rich within the last few
years just about as deserving
of confinement in the peniten-
tiary as Whitaker Wright was?
There appear to be many vic
Tins of promoters who seem to think
so. They are expressing their views
through the newspapers. If there
were the same impartiality in this
country in enforcing the laws against
men who get other peoples money by
means that are not regarded as strict
ly honest as there is in England it is
probable that the courts would be kept
much busier than they are now. All
over the land there are men and wom-
en- who have been brought close to
want by investing in fraudulent cor
porations-fraudulent to the extent
that their shares, which were literally
watered, had very little intrinsic value
BY shrewd manipulation, however
the market value of them was forced
up until the public was led to believe
they were a good investment. 1t isn't
necessary to name any of these cor
porations. There are hundreds in
every part of the country who have
reason to know the names of them.