The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-12-21

attack, but had so far hedged himself !
That, had his closest lieutenants bee
trapped and frightened into "squealing,
hs would not have been involved; withou
fear of exposure and with a clear con
science he could-and would.-haye joine,
m the denunciation of the man who ha'
been caught, and could-and would,-hav,
helped send him to the penitentiary or Il
the scaffold. With the security of an hon
est man and the serenity of a Christian h,
planned his colossal thcfts and reapet
their benefits; and whenever he was ac
,eused, he could have explained everything
could have got his accuSer's sympathy
and admiration. I say, could have ex
planned: but he would not. Ear.y in his
career. he had learned the first principle
OF successful c~rime-si1ence No matter
what the provocation or the seeming adj
vantage, he uttered only a few generous
phrases, such as CHOSE misguided men"
o. the Master teaches us to bear with
meekness the calumnies of the wicked, -
or "let him that is without sin cast the
nrst stone" AS to the crime itself-si-
aence. and the dividends.
A great man, Roebuck. / dof my hat to
him. OF all the dealers in stolen goods
under police protection, who SO shrewd as
he?
Wilnot was the instrument he employed
% put the coal industry into condition for
reorganization" He. bought control of
one of the coal railroads and made Wilmot
president of 1T. Wilmot, taught by TWEEN
" years OF his service. knew what was ex-
pected of him, and proceeded to do IT, Ee
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
tuptcy. Roebuck bought the comparatively
nj LhInnko- If rCfnn1YL
Aim 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 moth
ing more definite or less innocent than:
"Wilmot, my boy, don't you think YOU and
I and some others Of our friends ought
% buy some of chose mines. If they come
on the market at a fair price? Let me
know when you hear Of any attractive in
vestments of that sort"
That would lave been quite enough to
tip 1t of" to Wilmot that the time had
come Tor reaching out from control of rail-
way to control of mine. He lost no time;
ne easily forced one mining property after
smother into a position where its owners
were glad-were eager-to sell all or part
~ the wreck of It ''at a fair price" to him
INA Roebuck and ''our friends" 1t was
- the result of one Of these
moves that the great Manasquale
mines Were SO hemnled in by ruinous
freight rates, by strike troubles by foods
uom broken machinery and mysteriously
dams, that / was able to buy them
~ O rair price"-that is, at less than one
18th their value. But at the time-and for
z tong time afterward- did not know. on
my honor did not suspect, what was the
1use. the sole cause, Of the change of the
0O0IE region from O p1oon - i.
eslstry. 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
and his friends were ready to buy.
mere control for purposes of speculation.
mere ownership for purpose Of permit
oent investment. This is what ia known
- the recognizing stage. The processes
q nigh finance are very simple-frst. buy
Sne comparatively small holdings neces-
sA1y 20 create confusion and disaster:
second, create confusion and disaster.
'ouytng up more and more %wreckage; third.
Seorganize; fourth, offer the new stocks
tand bonds to the public with a mighty
'0tare OF trumpets which produces a boom
market; fifth. unload on the public. mass
soivtdends, issue unfavorable statements.
.oepress prices, buy back cheap what Won
nave sold dear. Repeat ad infintum. for
mo law is for the laughter of the strong
ana the public is an eager ass. To keen
up the fiction of Responsibility" the in
ring divides into two parties for its
fe~ampaigns-on party to break down. the
otner3to build up. One takes the profits
from destruction and departs, perhaps to
0eseroy elsewhere. As their collision is
mercy uiy lacit, no conscience need witch.
must add that, at the time of which / am
WI1tlne, did not realize the existence of
MS conspiracy. ! knew, of course, that
I3wlpS9 or1 o1xo, .I.-L'
done. that there were rascals among the
0.Sn nnancfers, and that almost all tinan-
Sess now and then did things that were
more or less rascally; but l did not know
ala not suspect, that high finance was
through and through ~brigandage, and that
Sne nigh hnancier, by long and unmolested
practice of brigandage, had come to looL
on It as legitimate, lawful business ana
on laws forbidding or hampering If as
outrageous, socialistic, anarchistic. cat
Jacks upon the social order!!'
4 was sufficiently infected with the shirt
81 ene ~nnancisr, l frankly confess. to look
on the pubic as a sort of COW to milk and
seno out to grass that 1t might get itself
ready to be driven In and MIXED again.
aDoes not me COW produce milk not for her
w use but for the use of him who looks
after her, provides her with pasturage and
and saves her from the amt
N which her lack of foresight and of other
would involve her, were she
not looked after? And is not the fact thai
public-beg pardon, the
ana evenly cheerfully submits to the blk
ing proof that God intended her to be the
servant OF the Roebucks-beg pardon
again, of man?
Plausible, isn't it?
Roebuck had given me the impression
hat 1t would be six months at least he
ore what i was in those fatuous DAYS
of as our plan for putting the
coal industry on a sound business basis"
would be ready for the public. So. when
ne sent for me shortly after L became en-
Eaged to Miss Ellersly, and said: mel
Vile will publish the plan on the first of
month and will open the subscription
books on the third-a Thursday, was
e by surprise and was anything hut
pleased. His words meant that If
to make a great fortune, now was
he time to buy coal stocks. and buy
ieavily-for on the very day of the publ
alton of the plan every coal stock would
turely soar. Buy l must: not to buy was
Q throw away a fortune. Yet how could
buy when I was gambling in Textile up
o my limit of safety, IL not beyond?
q did not dare confess to Roebuck what
was doing in Textile. He was bitterly
posed to stock gambling, d~enouncing it