Charlevoix county herald., 1907-03-23


were mine, some men of my all-or-
none temperament debauch them
selves; others thresh about blindly,
reckless whether they strike innocent
or guilty. | did neither.
Probably many will recall that long
before the securities" OF the reorgan-
lied coal combine were issued, l had
In my daily letter to investors been
preparing the public to give them
fitting reception. A few days after
my whole being burst into flames OF
resentment against Anita, out came
the new array of new stocks and
bonds. Roebuck and Langdon ar
ranged with the underwriters for
fake" four times over-subscription,
Endorsed by the two greatest banking
houses in the Street Despite this
oftentried and always-good trick, the
public refused to buy. | felt had not
been overestimating my power. But
made no move until the securities"
began to go up, and the financial re-
porters-under the influence where
not actually in the pay of the Roe
buck-LangdOn clique-shouted that,
in spite of the malicious attacks
from the gambling element, the new
securities are being absorbed by the
public at prices approximating their
value. Then But | shall quote my
investors letter the following morn
ing:
AT half-past nine yesterday-nine-
twenty-eight, to be exact-President
Melville, of the National Industrial
Bank, loaned six hundred thousand
dollars. He loaned it to Bill Van
Nest, an ex-gambler and proprietor of
pool rooms, now silent partner in Hoe
q Wittekind, brokers, on the New
YORK Stock Exchange, and also in Fill
pert d Jonas, curb brokers. He loaned
1t to Van Nest without security.
van Nest used the money yester-
day 10 push up the price of the new
coal securities by wash sales'-which
means, by making false purchases and
sales OF the stock in order To give the
public the impression of eager buying.
van Nest sold to himself and bought
from himself 347,O6O of the 1852. 6S1
shares traded in.
Melville, in addition to being pres
ident OF one Of the largest banks in
the world. is a director in no less
than seventy-three great industrial en-
terprlses, including railways, telegraph
companies, savings banks and life in
surance companies. Bill Van Nest has
done time in the Nevada State Peni-
Tertiary for DEMONSTRATING"
That was all. And it was enough
quite enough. l was a national figure.
as much so as if had tried to assas-
sinate the president. Indeed, had
exploded a bomb under a greater than
the president-under the chiefs of the
real government of the United States,
the government that levied daily upon
every citizen, and that had state and
national and the principal municipal
%goTeTrments in it, strong box.
| confess l was as much astounded
at the effect Of my bomb as old Mel
vile must have been. l felt that
had been obscure, as | looked at the
newspapers, with Matthew Blackjack
appropriating almost the entire front
page of each | was the isolated. the
conspicuous figure, standing alone
upon the steps of the temple of Mann
mon, where mankind daily and de-
voutly comes to offer worship.
Not that the newspapers praised
me. i recall none that spoke well of
me. The nearest approach to praise
was the Blackjack squeals on the
Wall Street gang in one of the SEN
sational penny sheets that strengthen
the plutocracy by lying about it.
Some of the papers insinuated that
| had gone mad; others that | had
been bought up by a rival gang to the
Roebuck Langdon clique; still others
thought ] was simply hunting noto-
riety. All were inclined to accept as
a sufficient denial of my charges
Melvilles dignified refusal Ito notice
any attack from quarter so dis
credited"
AS my electric whirled into Wall
Street, / saw the crowd in front of
the Textile building, a dozen police.
men keeping it in order. | descended
amid cheers, and entered my offices
through mob struggling to shake
hands with me-and, in my ignorance
of mob mind, / was delighted and
inspired. Just why a man who knows
men, knows how wishy-wishy they are
as individuals, should be influenced
by a demonstration from mass OF
them is hard to understand. But the
fact is indisputable. They fooled me
then; they could fool me again, in
spite of all | have been through.
There probably wasn't one in that
mob for whose opinion | would have
had the slightest respect had he come
to me alone; yet as | listened to those
shallow cheers and those worthless
assurances of the people are behind
you. Blackjack" | felt that | was a