The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-04-06
A SURGICAL OPERATION.

Wall street. When railroad stocks slumpcd
astrously about ten days ago, carrying down vii.
them some other stocks in the list. sweeping ava.
many fortunes the entcrprsiug newspaper writ
RECALLED us with various causes for it, some of tIe
lurid and picturesque. 1t was said that Hill a.
Morgan were trying to break Hartman. that IIa.-
riman was furnishing the public for government
terfcrence that the Standard Oil crowd had throw
Hartman overheard. that Hartman was bearing
the stocks to get more Of them, and SO ON.
Now that the smoke has cleared away. the facts
stand out plainly enough. The panic affected ou..
holders of Wall street railroad stocks The genera
business of the country was not affected in the Least
As one United States senator said. at Is only
game of poker on Wall street" The slump FOLLOWED
the publicity attending IIarriman's examination by
the Interstate Commerce Commission. When Han
riman testified that he bought the Chicago & Alton
for $42 0OOOOO helped himself to $6OO0OOO out o..
the treasury. then watered the stock up 10 Sl22-
100000 of which only 22OOOO0O was spent for bc--
terments. thus leaving himself as profits the de
$64.O0OOOO, is it any wonder that the holders of
that stock began to think that it was not worth the
market price! The money with which Harrimau
negotiated the purchase was borrowed by mortgar
ing other railroads which he had previously pur
chased with borrowed money, and the whole thing
began to look like large bubble. John D. Roc5,-
Teller supposed to be Harriman's hacker. came out
in an interview and stated that the railroad stocks
were watered, that it was dangerous and that the
holders of the stock would experience trouble sooner
or later, Naturally the holders wanted to SELL and
sell quick, and the result was throwing of large
blocks of stock the market and material lower
ing of prices 1t ought not TO require any great
financial intellect TO connect such result with
such causes
The healthy condition of the country's business
is shown in the fact that the panic was confined al
most wholly to railroad stocks. The real business
of the country has gone forward without ia-
The railroads themselves are earning as much mon
ey as ever, more, the merchants and manufac-
turers are as busy as ever and the banks are per
fctly sound. 1t is fortunate that this letting It
water out of the railroad stocks occurred at time
OF general prosperity. Had it come when general
business was unsettled. when money was scarce and
credits strained il might have caused widespread
disaster. Uncle Sam is in a very healthy condition
right now. and this surgical operation has been
performed without affecting his general health By
letting the water out of the railroad stocks now an
element of grave danger has been averted
The people who have had their money invested
in legitimate business enterprises. such as build up
country, have not suffered by the stock panic. Ia
IS only those who, called Lambs are unwilling TO
put their money into legitimate enterprises. rrefer
to speculate in watered stocks knowing nothing of
their basis, and merely transferring it tn the
pockets of the Wall street opponents OF high
finance" The result may be an impetus to Iegiti-
mate business by diverting money from stock gam
bling into those channels
An interesting feature of the situation IS the
complete change of front ON the part of the rail-
road magnates on the question of government con-
troll Heretofore they have opposed in every wav
any interference by the government in the manage
ment of the railroads. blocking by every ingenuity
any Investigation of methods. abusing president
Roosevelt for his alleged anarchstic tendencies in
enforcing the laws and threatened all sorts Of co-
lamlties If they were not let alone. Now. how
ever change has come over the spirit of their
dreams. They are seeking President Roosevelt and
lmploring HIM TO tell them what he wants done.
and to use his influence to have additional egisla
non enacted by congress for the complete regulation
OF the railroads They are willing and even eager,
to conform to all regulations of the interstate cc
nerce commission, and In every way are strong f,r
government regulation This docilitv is NOT the rc
suit OF patriotism change of heart 1t is merely
/" escape the worse evil of state legislation TIN.
different states have latterly been PASSING 1a,ra
nucn more drastic than any congress had passed,
ana IL was the attitude of the railroads which
caused the states TO pass them. The railroads
seemed able to defy the national administration
md prevent the enforcement of the laws. so the
states TOOK the matter into their own hands Now
nat the railroads are confronted with the pros
'ect OF about torty-sS different kinds of safe laws.
many OF them very radical they realize that they
nade mistake in opposing. the national laws. and
low express the utmost eagerness to obey them.
ne way OF the willy magnate is certainly peculiar