Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1907-11-07

much of ''society's" greatness. drank
her cocktails, slipped her punch and
quaffed the bubbling champagne, un'
I'll her tongue was loosened. and the
harpies feaste dand waxed fat upon
the information she artlessly prattled
to them.
She told of Heinze's intent to force
United Copper up. She told who his
partners were and how much stock
they owned. This information was
placed by these hlgh-toned ladies In
the hands OF HelnEe's enemies. One
OF the syndicate was persuaded" to
betray Heinze and TO unload an Inn
mense block OF United Copper stock
on the market at the right time.
United Copper dropped In spite OF
heroic efforts to stay It's fall, from
SEQ to $40. Heinze In two days
lost s6S,5OO. 900. and hit the bed
rock financially with n resounding
,thwaok.
Had this been the only result II
lwould have been had enough, but
this was only the beginning. This
little conversation mixed with the
flavor of cocktails and salads had
more far-reaching results than that.
United Copper was only a starter.
It's fall was the fall OF the first brick
in the row. IL struck the next one.
the railroad stocks. and they In turn
tumbled up against the banks and u
good many were carried down before
the trouble could be stopped. The
drop In railroad, copper. steel and
other stocks amounted 10 more than
s700, 200, 900 In three days.
This may not sound like largo
lsum. but II means an amount equal
to loss OF SIS by every man. woman
land child In the United States. and
lit means an amount equal TO one
third OF all the money. gold and
paper, In existence In the United
States.
Pretty good price for one small
lot of salad. cocktails aud charm-
pagne for n few women, but that
was only a part OF the cost price.
The wagging OF that bit OF tongue.
frightened the public generally. TO a
greater or lesser degree. Money
available for improvements was sud
denly held up, and factories shut
down. At 6ne place 5000 men were
thrown out OF employment; an
other $500; at still another 10000
and there were countless others OF
cases where men by hundreds lost
their Jobs. Railroad construction
aud other vast improvements stopped
and other thousands were made idle.
In thousands OF these cases suffering
Iwlll undoubtedly follow and hun
dreds had TO go hungry because the
salad was good and the cocktails
land wine "heady." Nor did the la-
dies conversational powers" end
lhere-the business OF the country
was deranged. legal holidays were
declared In many OF the states. and
business generally got a set back
that II will take months 20 recover
entirely from and on top of this
but what's the use of going farther.
the end Is not vet In sight. and the
measure OF damages cannot be
stated. Salome was promised halt
OF Herod's kingdom II she would
dance--but the lady from Butte
caused trouble without stretching a
muscle, other than those OF her easily
Iwagging tongue, that upset and de-
stroyed values greater a dozen times
than all OF Herod's kingdom with &
half dozen neighboring bailiwicks
thrown In. And yet some people
fOolishly assert that talk Is cheap.
Why those cocktails IN the Waldorf
Astoria cost twenty millions OF dol
lars apiece. and every word the lady
from Butte dropped from her mouth
cost not less than millions dollars.
No wonder silence Is called golden"
With shrinkages estimated at one
billion dollars, that little luDeheon
would represent 1860 tons Of gold
coin. Let US all be thankful that II
was only a light luncheon and few
cocktails, and that the lady from
Butte did not take seven course
dinner and accumulate Jag. for as
| It was she gave the whole country
"suoh a headache"