Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-11
Use
LOADED DICE,'
SAYS FORBES
Directors Called "Highwaynen''
Who Fleece Helpless Stock
holders From "InSide,"
BY 3. c. FORBES.

n the transactions Of America s
milhonaires, showing just how they
made their money. could be publish
ed, what a rush there would be for
sub-cellars and for outgoing steam
eIs
The more / learn about the work.
3nes OF High Finance the more IN
cined ! am to divide our l00O0O,OOO
population into only two classes,
namely the insiders and outsiders.
The former have waXed rich at the
expense Of the latter.
win not confne myself to gener-
alities in revealing how easy II has
been for fnanciers to rob the pub
JIG ! viii cite concrete instances OF
film famminC, Of cases where the IN
siders had information enabling them
10 RON up fortunes without the slight
est risk save the risk OF losing their
eternal souls, and that, Of course, is
not even a secondary nor tertiary
consideration with many Of these
sternly practical gentlemen.
Let me here interpolate, however
that / am convinced beyond shadow
of doubt that financial highWaymen
are to have a rougher and less prof
liable road to travel in future, that
The whole standard Of financial ethics
Is 20 be raised and that the country
Will be lastingly benefited therefrom'
The main source Of easy profits for
insiders has been specializing In Sc
curites on information withheld from
the public and forming "syndicates'
for all sorts of deals.
Your Gateses Reids, Moores and
Yoakums are prominent types Of mill
lionaires who played the stock mar
ket with loaded dice. Certain pow
erful bankers have also made mil
lions by using information which
was kept back from the real owners
of properties-the stockholders d.
rectors have lamentably failed TO
realize that the ordinary stockhold-
ers are their co-partners and there
fore entitled to the fullest possible in
formation II has been the fashion TO
give out information only after the
insiders have had ample time to act
upon II stockmarketwise and to ex-
tract from it the last dollar.
Take the most recent fragrant in
cident, VIII arg grown-up person
DENY for an instant that the Chesa
peake and Ohio insiders did not know
that the extraordinary terms eNscted
by bankers for issuing the S35,O0o,Oeo
new notes would send the price Of
the stock tumbnnge Yet the cutsid
ers, the stockholders, had no warn
ing that breakers lay ahead
Speaking of this railroad, let me
relate another incident The direc-
tors had declared the regular I per
cent dividend and had dropped NOT
one whisper or hint that an increase
in the rate was in sight. Yet within a
week the definite statement was made
10 favored individuals that a much
higher disbursement was coming
forthwith And it came, sending the
shares booming up more than twenty
points WHY was not the informa
ton given to outsiders at the time
it was passed around for the benefit
Of friends of the management?
The nickel Plate" railroad, after
paying per cent per annum. raised
the rate to 4 per cent in 1918. And
then It suddenly and wholly unex
pectedly announced that NOTHING
would be paid this year! To IN
CREASE a dividend one year and not
merely reduce it, but STOP it, the
next is a species OF financiering calcu-
lated to enrich insiders-and disgust
outsiders
Standard OH insiders have had
golden opportunities to pocket mill
lions upon millions Of dollars through
keeping stockholders and the public
in the dark ever since the farcical
dissolution" and the formation Of
thirty so-called separate CON