Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-12-21

no had not for nine years been open 70
attack, but had so far hedged himself IN
that. had his closest lieutenants been
trapped and frightened into "squeallng,
ne would not have been involved: without
fear OF exposure and with a clear con-
science he could-and would,-have Joined
In the denunciation of the man who had
been caught, and could-and would!-have
helped send him to the penitentiary or TO
the scaftold. With the security of an hon
est man and the serenity Of a Christian he
planned his colossal rhcfts and reaped
their benefits. and whenever he was ac-
cused, he could hay explained everything,
could have got his accuser's sympathy
! and admiration. | say, could have eX-
planned; but ne would not. Early in his
career, he had learned the first principle
OF successful ~crime-silence No matter
what the p~rovocation or the seeming adj
vantage, ne uttered only q few generous
phrases, such as those misguided men.
or 1.-The Master teaches us to bear with
meekness the calumnies of the wicked
or .'let him that is without sin cast the
first stone AS to the crime itself-si-
lence, and the dividends.
A great man, Roebuck, ! doff my hat 10
him. OF all the dealers in stolen goods
under police protection, who so shrewd as
ne?
Wilmot was the instrument he employed
TO put the coal industry into condition for
reorganization" He bought control OF
one Of the coal railroads and made Wilmot
president of II, Wilmot, taught by TWEEN
ty years Of his service, knew what was eX-
pected of him, and proceeded TO do il. Ho
put in a loyal general freight agent who
also needed no instructions, but busted
himself at destroying his own and all the
other coal roads by a system of secret re-
bates and rate cuttings. AS the other
roads, one by one. descended toward bank
ruptcy, Roebuck bought the comparatively
small blocks of stock necessary to give
him control Of them. When he had power
over enough of them to establish a partial
monopoly OF transportation in and out of
The coal districts, he was ready for his
lieutenant to attack the mining properties.
Probably his orders TO Wilmot were noth-
ing more definite or less innocent than:
'Wilmot, my boy, don't you think you and
[ and some others of our friends ought
10 buy some Of hose mines, If they come
on the market at q far price? Let me
know when you hear Of any attractive in
vestments of that sort"
That would have been quite enough to
Tip it off, to Wilmot that the time had
ONE for reaching out from control OF rail-
way TO control Of mine. He lost no time:
he easily forced one mining property after
another into a position where its owners
were glad-were eager-to sell all or part
Of the wreck OF 4 lat a fair price" to him
and Roebuck and "our friends 1t was
as the result of one of these
moves that the great Manasquale
mines were so hemmed in by ruinous
freight rates, by strike troubles, by floods
from broken machinery and mysteriously
leaky DAMS, that / was able to buy them
at a fair price"-that is, at less than one
fifth their value. But at the time-and for
a long time afterward-I did not know, on
my honor did not suspect, what was the
cause, the sole cause, of the change of the
coal region from n place of peaceful in
dustry, content with fair profits, to an
industrial chaos with ruin impending.
Once the railways and mining companies
were all on the verge of bankruptcy, Roe
buck and his friends" were ready to buy,
here control for purposes of speculation,
there ownership for purposes of permit
nent investment. This is what is known
as the reorganizing stage. The processes
Of high finance are very s~imple-tirst. buy
the comparatively small holdings neces-
sary to create confusion and disaster:
second, create confusion and disaster,
buying up more and more wreckagc: third,
r~eorganiZe; fourth, offer the new stocks
and bonds to the public with a mighty
blare of trumpets which produces a boom
market: fifth, unload on the public, pass
dividends, issue unfavorable statements,
depress prices, buy back cheap what you
have sold dear. Repeat ad infntum, for
the law is for the laughter of the strong,
and the public is an eager ass. To keep
up the fiction of responsibility" the in
side ring divides into two parties for its
c~ampaigns-one party to break down, the
other to build up. One takes the profits
from destruction and departs, perhaps to
destroy elsewhere. AS their collision is
merely tacit, no conscience need witch. l
must add that, at the time OF which ! am
writing. | did not realize the existence of
this conspiracy. i knew, of course, that
many lawless and savage things were
done, that there were rascals among the
nigh financiers, and that almost all inan-
ciers now and then did things that were
more or less rascally; but / did not know,
did not suspect, hat high finance was
through and through brigandage, and that
the high hnancier, by long and unmolested
practice Of brigandage, had come to look
on II as legitimate, lawful business, and
on laws ~forbiddlng or hampering II as
outrageous. socialistic, anarchistic, ''at-
tacks upon the social order,'
l was sufficiently infected with the spirit
Of the financier, | frankly confess, to look
on the public as a sort of cow to milk and
send out to grass that Ii might get itself
ready to be driven in and MIXED again.
Does not the cow produce milk not for her
use but for the use of him who looks
after her. provides her with pasturage and
shelter and saves her from the calamities
in which her lack of foresight and of other
Intelligence would involve her, were she
not looked after? And is not the fact that
the public-beg pardon. the cow-meekly
and evenly cheerfully submits to the blk
ing proof that God intended her 10 be the
servant of the Roebucks-beg pardon
again, of man.?
Plausible, isn't 1T?
Roebuck had given me the impression
: that II would be six months at least. be-
fore what / was In those fatuous DAYS
thinking OF as our plan for putting the
coal industry on a sound business basis''
would be ready for the public, So. when
he sent for me shortly after / became en-
gagged to Miss EllersIy. and said: Mel
vile will publish the plan on the first OF
next month and Will open the subscription
books on the third-a Thursday | was
taken by surprise and was anything but
pleased. His words meant tina II ]
wished 10 make a great fortune. now was
the time to buy coal stocks. and buy
heavily-for on the very day of the publ
cation OF the plan every coal stock would
surely soar. Buy j must; not to buy was
10 throw way a fortune. Yet how could
l buy when / was gambling in Textile III
10 my limit OF safety, IL not beyond?
! did not dare confess TO Roebuck whai
WAS doing in Tayile He was hifferix