Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-08-29

~AC 1aONLA H0A1- NNNA lAA8
and grovehng and treachery for plun-
der, the loss OF which would not Inn
pair his fortune-plun6er he had
stolen with many a Jest and giba at
his helpless victims. Like most OF our
debonair dollars chasers, he was a
good sportsman only when the game
was with him.
That afternoon he threw his Coal
holdings on the market in great
blocks. His treachery took Roebuck
completely by surprise-for Roeburk
believed in this fair-weather gentle
man" fouI-weather coward. and neg
lected to allow for that quicksand that
is always under the foundation Of the
man who has inherited, not earned.
his wealth. But for the laundering
credulity of r~ascals, would honest
men yer get their dues. Roebuck's
brokers had bought many thousands
Of L~angdon's shares at the high arti-
fetal price before Roebuck grasped
the situation-that 1t was not my fol-
lowers recklessly gambling to break
the prices, but Langdon unloading on
his pal" AS soon as he saw, he
abruptly withdrew from the market.
When the Stock Exchange closed, Ma
tional Coal securities were offered at
prices ranging from II for the bonds
to two for the common and three for
the preferred-offered, and no takers.
We'll, you've done it," said Joe,
coming with the news that Thornley,,
of the Discount and Deposit bank, had
been appointed receiver,
I've made a beginning" replied |.
| had decided to concentrate upon
Roebuck, because he was the richest
and most powerful of The Seven"
For, in my pictures of the three main
phases of "tinance"-the industrial,
the life insurance and the banking
he, as arch plotter in every kind OF
respectable skulduggery, was neces-
sarily in the foreground. My original
intention was to demolish the Power
Trust or. at least, to compel him to
buy back all Of it's stock which he had
worked off on the public. | had col
lected many interesting facts about it,
facts typical of the conditions that
finance has established in so many
of our industries.
For instance, l was prepared to
show that the actual earnings of the
Power Trust was two and half times
what it's reports to stockholders al
legged; that the concealed profits were
diverted into the pockets of Roebuck,
his sons, IL other relatives and four
of 1.-THE Seven" the lions share go
ing, of course, to the lion. Like al
most all the great industrial enter
prises, too strong for the law and too
remote for the supervision of their
stockholders, it gathered in enormous
revenues to disburse them chiefly in
salaries and commissions and rake
offs on contracts to favorites. | had
proof that in n year it had written
off" IL millions of profit and loss, 10
millions of which had found its way
to Roebuck's pocket.
Roebuck was the keystone OF the
arch that sustained the structure OF
chicane. To dislodge him was the dl-
rect way to collapse it. I was about
to set to work when Langdon, feel
ing that he ought to have a large sup
ply of cash in the troublous times l
was creating, increased the capital
stock of his already enormously over.
capitalized Textile Trust and offered
the new issue to the public. AS the
Textile Trust was even better bull.
warked, politically, than the Power
Trust, it was easily able to declare
tempting dividends out of its lootings.
So the new stock could not be at
tackled in the one way that would
make the public instantly shun It'll
could not. truthfully charge that il
would not pay the promised aivi'
dends. Yet attack | must-for that
issue was, in effect, a bold challenge
of my charges against The Seven
From all parts of the country in.
quiries poured in upon me: "Wha
do you think of the new Textile is
sue? Shall we invest? Is the Textile
company sound?"
| had no choice. must turn aside
from Roebuck; | must first show that
while Textile was, in a sense, sound
just at that time, it had been unsolnd
and would be unsound again as soon
as Langdon had gathered in a sufi
cient number of lambs to make
battue worth the while Of a man deal
ing in nothing less than seven figures
| proceeded to do e..
The market yielded slowly. Under
my first days attack Textile preferred
fell six points, Textile common three
While was in the midst of debating
my letter for the second days attack
| suddenly came to a full stop.
found across my way this thought:
isn't it strange that Langdon, after
humbling himself to you, should make
this bold challenge? It's a trap!"
mo more at present" said l, to my
stenographer. And don't write GU
what I've already dictated"
shut myself in and busted myself
at the telephone. Half an hour after
set my secret machinery in motion
a messenger brought me an envelope
the address typewriter. It con
tanned a sheet of paper on which ap
peared, in t~ype-writing, these words
and nothing more:
He is heavily short Of Textiles"
It was indeed a trap. The new Is
sue was a blind. He had challenged
me to attack his stock, and as 1901 as