The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1919-02-21

aboard market after q panic and
ride in with the tide"
! He went to his safe deposit vault,
took out his bonds. carried them to
the vice president Of his bank, and
borrowed all that he could raise on
the securities. The bonds had fallen
below par on account Of the depres-
sion. but Bayard was granted 80 per
cent of their face value. minus 80
days. discount at 5 per cent.
/ His anemic bank account was sud-
denly swollen by three thousand nine
hundred and seventy-nine dollars and
eighteen cents.
! He sought out a broker. a college
friend whom he could trust, to advise
him honestly. They conferred on the
stocks to buy. The old dilemma
could not be escaped: those that Of
fered the most profit offered the most
risk. To buy on margins was further
danger with promise Of further profit.
Yet, after all, Bayard felt, to buy
outright, however wise, was tame.
Even If he doubled his money he
would have only eight thousand in
place of his four. And eight thou
sand was no fortune.
The question of what stocks to bet
on was u thrilling one. requiring a
long war council, but at slength the
disposition was made and he gave his
broker the command to go forward.
The market crept up and up. Bay
ard turned his profits back into his
speculation. He was growing rich.
MI Of lnr riSh
charity, works Of art, the purchase
of great reserve fund of securities.
Some years before, when President
Taft was inaugurated, every omen
was fine. The weather bureau prom
ised fair weather. There was not
hint of storm anywhere upon the con
tinent. And then a blizzard "backed
In" from the ocean and played havoc
with the thrOngs. So upon the era of
good feeling and democratic equality
and civilized peace the European war
backed in from nowhere.
A young man from Serbia shot
grand duke of Austria, and the world
heard of Sarajevo for the first time,
but not the last. The bullet that slew
the Austrian heir multiplied itself ms
by magic into billions of missiles. a
young shoemaker from Bavaria, to his
great surprise. killed an old Belgian
schoOlteacher he had never heard Of
The Schoolteacher fell into ditch
still clasping his umbrella. The shoe.
maker moved on with a strange ap.
petite for shooting.
Refugees In hOrdes filled the roads
with new Pharaonic exodus. Sc
many children plodded along I'm hun.
CRY flight that Herod might have been
hunting down the innocents again.
With the moral cataclysm went q
financial earthquake. The European
exchanges flung their doors shut. The
American exchanges tried to keeI
their shop windows open, but had tc
close them down.
Bayard Kip was among the first cas-
ualtieS. Before he could put In a stop
order his margins were gone. He had
said that prices, having struck bot
tom, could go no lower. Now the bot
tom itself was knocked out.
Prices stopped falling at last be
cause Gf the closing III the markets
Europe established general morato
rum. America established one OF
sentiment. Everybody owed somebody
else, and everybody gave tolerance be.
cause everybody needed it.
Night fell on the commercial world
night illumined by horrors unknown
before. Bayard's factory could not
meet even its diminished pay roll. The
president of the concern could not
he, 90
he was director. The factory shut
down, sending all It's workmen into
the hordes of the unemployed. The
office forces were reduced to a mini.
mum and the salaries of the minimum
further reduced. Clay was thrown
out OF even his half-job and Bayard
was put on half-pay.
Bayards sober thoughts concerned
themselves with extricating himself
from the wreckage. 1t was not pos
sible to debarrass himself of every.
thing. He could not give up his ex.
pensive apartment. 1t was leased for
a year and half more. He could not
dismiss his expensive wife; she was
leased for ninety-nine years. He
could not give up his character, his
costly tastes, his zeal for front, the
maintenance Of good facade.
The instinct of lovable bluff was
seen In HIS telegram to Leila. He
wanted her at home to comfort him,
now that he had no business for her
to hamper. Besides. he could not af.
ford to keep her at Newport. Out Of
his OminOusly small funds ne tele-
graphed her liberal sum to pay her
hills aph har ronro.J fnxo onl