The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1909-06-03
CHAPTER XII.
A Corner in Diamonds.

announcement to come as a surprise
upon his son. If so, he was not disap-
pointed for the young man stared op-
eneyed.
"a corner in diamonds" he re-
peated. How will you do that2"
You know what a corner is" his
father explained.
"If you buy up all the cotton, say,
or sugar in the market, SO as to have
the whole of it in your own hands,
and to be able to put your own price
on it in selring it again-that is called
making a corner in wheat or cot
ton. l intend to make a corner in
diamonds"
"Of course l know what a corner is,'
Ezra sail impatiently. But how on
earth are you going to buy all the dia-
monds in? You would want the cap
ital of a Rothschild?"
Not so much as you think, my
boy, for there are not any great am
cunt of diamonds in the market at
any one time. The yield of the South
African fields regulates the price. 1
have had this idea in my head for
some time, and have studied the de-
tails. OF course, should not attempt
10 buy in all the diamonds that are
in the market. A small portion of
them would yield profit enough to
float the firm off again"
But IL you have only part of the
supply in your hands how are you to
regulate the market value? You must
come down to the prices at which
other holders are selling"
Hal Hal Very good! very good!"
the merchant said, shaking his head
good-humoredly. But you don't quite
see my plan yet. You have not alto
gether grasped it. Allow me to ex-
plain It to you"
His son lay back upon the sofa
with a look of resignation upon his
face. Girdlestone continued to stand
upon the hearthrug and spoke very
slowly and deliberately. as though
giving vent to thoughts which had
been long and carefully considered.
'"You see, Ezra he said, "dia-
monds, being commodity of great
much in the market at one time,
are extremely sensitive to all sorts
of influences. The value of them
varies greatly from time to time. A
very little thing serves to depreciate
their price, and an equally small
thing will send it up again"
Ezra Girdlestone grunted to show
W I1o 70 III po@l
marks.
81 did some business in diamonds
myself when l was a younger man
and so had an opportunity OF on.
serving their fluctuations in the mar.
ket Now, there is one thing whIC1
invariably depreciates the price OF
diamonds. That is the rumor oi
fresh discoveries of mines in othel
parts OF the world. The instant such
a thing gets wind the value of the
stones goes down wonderfully. The
discovery of diamonds in Central In.
dia not long ago had that effect very
markedly, and they have never re
covered their value since. Do yol
follow me?"
An expression of interest had come
over Ezra's face, and he nodded K
show that he was listening.
Now supposing," continued tn,
senior partner, with a smile on hi
thin lips, "that such a report go
about. Suppose, too, that we wer
at this time. when the market was IL
a depressed condition, to invest sew
eral thousand pounds in them.
rumors of an alleged discovery turn
ed out to be entirely unfcunded. o
course the value Of the stones whicl
we held would go up once more, ant
we might very well sell out for doubl
or treble the sum that we invested
Don't you see the sequence of ev
ents."
There seems to me to be rathe
too much of the suppose in It," re
marked Ezra. "How do we knoy
that sucn Tumors will get about; ant
If they do, how do we know tina
they will prove to be unfounded?"
How do we know?" the merchan
cried, wiggling his long lank bod
with amusement. why, my lad,
we spread the rumors ourselves W
shall have pretty good reason to be
lieve that they are unfounded. Ell
Ezra! Ha! ha! You see there ar
some brains in the old man yet
Ezra looked at his father in con
siderable surprise and some admira
lion. "Why damn it" he explained
ats dishonest. I'm not sure that it.
not actionable."
DISHONEST PoohI" The merchar
snapped his fingers. tits finesse, m
boy, commercial Anesse. Who's {
trace 1t, l should like to know.
haven't worked out all the details :
want your cooperation over that
but here's a rough sketch OF my plan
We send a man we can depend upo
10 some distant part of the woriC
Chimborazo. for example, or the Vi
al mountains. 1t doesn't matter wheT
bs long as 1t Is out of the way, o
lrriying at this place our agent start
report that he has discovered
diamond mine. We should even &
10 the length, If he considers 1t ne
5ssary, of hiding a few rough stone
IN the earth. which he can dig up
give color to his story, OF cours
The local press would be full of tht