Evening star., 1907-10-20
Decline All Over the World.

The slump is by no means confined to
New York or TO American securities. 1t
.Aas been general all over the world Brit
'ish. French. German, Italian, Indian and
South American shares have suffered a
marked decline, although in no case has
ut neen so sharp as may be seen in the
quotations Of American iudustrials. Lon
-o1n and Northwestern railroad stock has
dropped - points. shares in the Conper
mines Of Spain have fallen - points; those
.Df The Great Eastern railway of England
are 20 points FOWhl than they were at the
beginning of this year; British consols
-have dropped > per cent; japanese Chi
sDese. RUSSIAN. South African. Egyptian
and Indian railway securities and govern
-ment bonds have all fallen of from 3 to
20 per cent, while South African mining
tstOcks are - per cent below the quota
1tOns for January ., 1907 French railway
and bank stocks have sympathized with
the general depression and in Germany
The same conditions prevail. The stocks of
~UlIe Bank of France and the Credit LYON
ntise of Paris, which are among the
strongest institutions in the world sym
.patillze with less valuable securities and
-sh0H' decline of several per cent.
Therefore. American investors should
not feel at all uneasy. but should congrat-
ulata themselves that by this universal
shrlnkage they have escaped the parils of
q local panic.
Spectators the Sufferers
The greatest sufferers are New York
professional Spectators, for whom little
sympathy will be felt throughout the
country. The newspapers report that at
least fifteen seats in the stock exchange
are offered for sale because the owners
have lost heavily, or are tired of going
from month 10 month without business
and nave not made enough to pay their
fixed running expenses. If this condition
could be extended indefinitely it would be
y rtra . ~.
Is becoming more and more apparent to
all who study the question that the wild
and reckless speculation that has prevailed
in New York during the last few years
has done an Infinite amount OF injury TO
innocent people, and the danger will al
ways continue so long as gamblers are al
lowed to buy and sell stocks on margins.
IL d law could be passed prohibiting
trading on margins IL would go yery
far To cure many OF the evils which are
now the subject OF popular discussion
Mr. Hartman would not be able to con-
troll so many railroads if he were COM
PEELED 10 pay the full value for the stock
instead of depositlng a margin OF 10 per
cent 10 hold the trade until after the
election Of a board of directors. II mar
gin trading could be prohibited by law
many suicides. defalcations and en-
bexzlemeDts would be prevented for the
temptation to use other peoples money
would be removed. No one can estimate
the amount OF poverty and distress that
who have yielded To the temptation TO
get rich quick"
Causes of Defalcations.
The various surety companies who give
bonds Tor cashiers. tellers. payrnasters
and other employees who handle the money
OF corporations all agree that margin
speculation Is the cause OF 30 per cent
OF the defalcatlons and embezzlements
The secretary Of the American Security
Company OF New York tells me that "in
almost every case defalcatiOns and en-
beZzleents are due directly to stock and
grain speculations on margins, 10 betting
on horse races and to playing the ponies
in pool rooms. Petty defalcations are
usually due TO the latter reasons. The
large ones and the bank failures TO stock
and grain speculations on margins"
] have talked with half dozen or
more officers Of surety companies and
they all agree. There is no difference of
opinion that the great majority OF cases
OF dishonesty among men trusted with
money can be traced directly to this
cause. The secretary OF one OF the Bal
unore bonding companies tells me:
stock. grain and cotton speculations on
margin undoubtedly cause a very large
proportion OF individual bank embeZzJe-
meuts- See the recent cases OF Chisnolm
IN birmingham. Ala, and Jones of
Charleston. s c., both clearly attributable
10 cotton speculation. See also the case
Of ZouinhOfrer and COrbstt tellcrs of the
Williamson Savings Bank, BROOKLYN.
where very large loss resulted to the
bank through these men speculating in
stocks.
Cases of which the above are tvn,caI
however, seldom result in any serious
damage To the employing institution
Gradually extending systems of checks
closer supervision and the frequent exam
nations called for by the bonding COM
panies are perhaps making it less easy
to steal large amounts. You win ind
that losses when not paid by the sureties
Df HeiInulent fb.
The profit and loss account or made nm
by the magnanimity OF directors. the lat
ter cases being more frequent than the
Columbus you will find more than a
score OF ex-bank employees now suffering
Imprisonment for using the money in
trusted TO them TO speculate on margins
One OF them caused a total loss of SI4O-