The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1904-01-27

j That, of course, was an eXtravagant
way of putting it, but it exhibits the
general temper Of the downtown dis
trict Why such a mighty revolution
in the public standing of man?
! Sifted down, the naked reason is that
within the past year countless men and
women have lost their fortunes in Nor
gan enterprises. Not only private in
vestors, the outside public, but great
institutions, trust companies, banks,
insurance companies, their presidents,
directors and other officers, have seen
great sums of their money shrink and
fade away into shadows.
/ These losses would doubtless have
been taken with more equanimity but
for the exposures in the investigation
of the United States Shipbuilding COM
pany scandal. which have created some
thing more than q suspicion through
out the financial district that Mr.. Nor
gan's firm may have employed the
same methods in the United States
| Steel corporation and the international
Mercantile Marine (the Atlantic steam
! ship trust that were uncovered by the
shipyards investigation. And in this
connection it should be said that some
| hold the belief that the shipyards in
vestigation is only part Of a huge sub
| terranean engine devised and construct
ed in the inner office of John d. Rookie
| Teller to pull down Mr.. Morgan from
| his dazzling pinnacle and grind his rep
| utation into dust.
| Three great blows We're struck at Mr..
Morgan during the year just closed.
They were telling blows, as they show
"d that his highly eulogized judgment
in launching new enterprises was at
| least as faulty as other mems. Some
people do not content themselves with
mitted errors of judgment in creating
such tOpheavy enterprises as the Steel
corporation and the Mercantile Marine,
asserting that he was actuated solely
by the motive to gather into his own
strong boxes every available dollar
! held by the public.
In any event he had created two vast
ly capitalized corporations, into which
! large investors and the public both
here and in Europe placed their money,
relying chiefly upon his judgment
They bought Steel preferred around 80
and Steel common between 40 and 90
| They saw the former go to 80 and the
latter to 10. They bought Mercantile
! Marine preferred around 60 and the
common around 90 They saw the
! former go to 1015 and the latter to s.
! The Mercantile Marine bonds, $50,000,-
600 of the $75,0OOOO0 issue, were taken
! by Mr. MOrgan's financial friends here
and abroad at 90 These bonds have a
nominal value now of 70. At times,
when efforts have been made to sell
them, the best bid that could be got
was 80.
| A smaller matter, but one that injur-
/ ed Mr.. Morgan in the opinion of many
New York capitalists, was the Sheldon
! syndicate he had organized in the ship
building company fiascO. This syndi
cate put up about $4.00O000 to take
over shipbuilding company bonds at
| 20. These have a nominal value now
Of about II, but no large amount of
| them can be marketed at that price.
There is no market at all for large
quantities. The subscribers to this
syndicate are large banking firms and
individual capitalists. such as E. H.
Hartman, George Gould, Perry Bel
mont, Stuyvesant Fish and others, who
are not in the habit Of losing hundreds
of thousands of their own money. Brit
ish and European investors lost little or
nothing in the shipbuilding company,
but they did lose heavily in the Steel
corporation and the Mercantile Marine
company. These foreign losses account
In a measure for the feeling of hostility
for Mr. Maroon q abroad