Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-11


made their money, could be publish
ed, what "A rush there would be for
suh-cellars and for outgoing steam
CTS,
The more I learn about the work
ings of High Finance, the more in
cined ! am TO divide our l0ODOO,OOo
population into only two classes,
namely the insiders and outsiders.
The former have waXed rich at the
expense of the latter
will not confne myself TO gener-
alities in revealing how easy it has
been for financiers to rob the pup
lie win cite concrete instances OF
Him- tanning, of cases where the in
siders had Information enabling them
to roll up fortunes without the slight
est risk-save the risk Of losing their
eternal souls. and that, Of course, Is
not even secondary nor tertiary
consideration with many OF these
sternly "practicHl' gentlemen.
Let me here lnterpolate, 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 to be raised, and that the country
will be lastingly benefited theretrom'
The main source Of easy profits for
insiders has been specializing IN Sc
curities on Information withheld from
the public and forming "syndicates
for all sorts Of deals
Your Gateses. Reds, Moores and
Yoakums are prominent types of mil
llonaires who played the stock mar
ket with loaded dice. Certain pow
erful bankers have also made mil
lions by using information when
was kept back from the real owners
of properties stockholders, Di-
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. 1t has been the fashion to
give out information only after the
insiders have had ample time TO act
upon il stockmarketwise and 10 eX-
tract from it the last dollar.
Take the most recent fragrant in
cident: VIII any grown-up person
deny for an instant that the Chesa-
peake and Ohio insiders did not know
that the extraordinary terms exacted
nv bankers for issuing the $50, 10000
new notes would send the price of
the stock tumhing? Yet the outsid-
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
TO favored individuals that much
higher disbursement was coming
forthwith And il came, sending the
shares booming up more than twenty
points. Why was not the informa-
ton given to outsiders at the time
II was passed around for the beneflt
of friends of the management
The Nickel Plate" railroad, after
paying per cent per anhum, raised
the rate to 4 per cent in 1913. And
then il suddenly and wholly uneX-
Dectedlv 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 financiertng calcu-
lated to enrich insiders-and disgust
outsiders.
Standard OH insiders have had
golden opportunities 10 pocket mil
lions upon millions of dollars through
keeping stockholders and the public
i'm the dark ever since the farciCal
t1f lA IL
thirty-odd so-called separate con-
Germs Indeed never in financial his
tory has there been such gigantic
playing with a "hxed' roulette wheel
The Rockefellers and their numer-
Gus troops OF officials and followers
had all the inside facts and the pub
lie nothing but rumors The way the
STANDARD Oil shares have alternately
scared heavenward and dropped in
the other direction suggests that the
profits of those in the know have
reached staggering totals. And the
poor public have handed over every
dollar Of them!
James j. Hill once astonished The
financial world by distributing a
melon worth $3.50 100000 Vet the
Great Northern's annual reports
Nil4AdlllNI NO AANN W SUI II q I'tootST
sion-l refer OF course to the
100000 Great Northern ore certih-
Gates Here also the insiders had
knowledge withheld from the public.
The surprise of Harrimans life was
the vituperauon that followed his
spectacular Union and southern Pa
cifc dividend announcements He eN-
IeCted To- waken in the morning. like
Byron. to find himself famous, in
stead, he was branded as infamous
for having kept his GO partners. the
stockholders, entirely in the dark His
secrecy left so much room for inside
speculation with marked cards.
Southern Railway directors wher
they resumed dividends on the pre-,
ferred stock announced that they
hoped TO generally increase the dis
bursement, and this let all stockhold.
ors know where they stood Nigh
not other companies follow SINH
lar course
What is Fries dividend policy, fot
example? Arc earnings TO be poure,
back into the property for years I,
come Or are the long suffering
preferred stockholders 10 get a few
crumbs In the near future? The di
recturs must know their own mind
or HE course ID Doe followed But tn
stockholders are left To grupe I'M tn