The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-01-18
A BREATHING SPELL

alter several years of effort
mad got recognition for Textile in Lon
don, but that was about all. He d
succeeded in unloading any great
amount of it on the English. So it was
Iathef ecaus neglected nothing than
because was hopeful of results that
rau mace a point of telegraphing to
London news of my proposed suit. The
result was a little trading in Textiles
over there n a slight decline in the
price. This fact vas ~telegraphed TO an
the financial centers on this side of the
water, ana reinforced the impression
my lawyers announcement and INV
own bear letter We're making.
S,ll, inns was nothing. or next to 1T.
what could l hope to val against Lam
uoil 5 agents with almost unlimited cap
.lai. putting their whole energy under
me stock to raise it? In the same news
papers mat published my bear
attack, in The same col,n,ns
and under the same headnIinas
were official denials from the TEXTILE
trust ana the figures of enormous in
80 oi business as proof positive
that the denlalS We're honest. If the
public had not been burned so many
,liles by "1ndustrials." if it had NOT
learned by bitter experience that prac-
tlcal!y none of the leaders of finance
ana INDUSTRY We're above lying to make
or save q few dollars. if Textiles had
not been manipulated so often. FIRST nv
Dumont and since his death nv his
brother-in-law and successor. this
suave n cynical Lansdon. my des-
peratc attack would have been with
out effect. AS it was
Four months before, in the same sit
uatlon mad seen Textiles q as
lles staggered In the first hour of busi-
ness on the stock exchange that morn
ing, I'd have sounded the charge
Capped spurs to my charger, and borne
down upon them. But-i had my new
born y~earning for "respectability;" /
had my newborn squeamishness. which
ied me to fear risling Bob Corey and
his bank and the money of my old
friend Healey; finally. there was Anti
the longing for her that made mo
prefer a narrow and uncertain foot
hold to the bold leap that would land
me either in wealth and power or in
the bottomless abyss.
Instead of continuing to sell Textiles
! covered as far as could; and 1
bought so eagerly and so heavily that.
more than Langdon's corps of rocket
ers, L was responsible for the stocks
rally n start upward. When | saw
eagerly" and heavily" 1 Co not mean
thai acted openly or without regard
10 common sense. l NEAR simply that
l made no attempt to back up my fol-
5 S"iiiPIlSll u lldu
urged them into; on the contrary, |
bought as they sold. That does not
sound well, and it is no better than it
sounds. l shall not dispute with any
one who finds this action of mine a be-
trayal Of my clients to save myself. All
| shall say is that it was business. that
In such extreme and dire compulsion as
was mine, it was-and is-right under
the code, the private and real Wall
street code.
You can imagine the confused mass
of transactions in which / was involved
before the stock exchange had been
open long. There was the stock we
a been able to buy or get options on
at various prices, between the closing
of the exchange the previous day and
that mornings opening-stock from all
parts Of his country and in England.
There was the stock 1 a been buying
since the exchange opened-buying at
figures ranging from one-eighth above
last nights closing price to fourteen
points above it. And. on the debit side,
there were the Short" transactions ex-
tending over a period of nearly two
Of blocks large and
small at a hundred different prices.