New-York tribune., 1922-10-15

OF John Laws Mississippi Company in 1724; re-
printed in Thomas w. Lawson's High Cost
Living9
TN HE recent announcement that Dream
void, the country home of Thomas w.
4 Lawson, at Egypt, Mass, must be sold
at auction because of financial reverses
suffered by the author of "Frenzied Finance"
has caused about as much reminiscence and
personal comment as any peace-time front
mage Article of similar length.
fey years ago any hint of financial diff
fculties concerning this same Thomas w. Law
son wotd have been greeted with the exclama-
ton: 'Impossible!" Lawson was then en-
gagged in his fight on the Interests" of Wall
Street He was dashing, slashing, romantic
fgure-the Three Musketeers rolled into one
He did not fight the money octopus as Mr..
Bryan fought that hardy monster. He did ask
the people Of Massachusetts, to send him to the
United States Senate, but that was after the
edge was off all the excitement he had created
and the voters of Massachusetts turned no
ear trumpet to his request The weapon that
Lawson cEose for dismembering the Interests"
was prnters' ink-not the newspaper kind, but
the magazine grade.
That was at the dawn Of the undertaking
era. Mr.. Lawson's was one OF the first figures
visible among the toilers in that dawn. He
worked harder than any other muckrakeI
worked before or has worked since. That wa.
Lawson. He had tremendous energy, and he
knew Lcw to call names. "E.verybody's Maga
zine" was struggling publication when the
Lawson articles began. The founder of the
magazine had let go of it, because appar-
entity there was nothing that could be done to
give it circulation.
The Lawson articles were announced in July
1904. The title was "Frenzied Finance: the
Story of Amalgamated," and in his introduc-
ton Lawson said:
"There will be set down in the series of
articles, OF which this is the foreword, in as
simple and direct fashion as can write it,
the story Of Amalgamated Copper and the
system of which it is the most fragrant ex-
ample. This system is a process or device
for the incubation Of wealth from the peoples
savings in the banks, trusts and insurance
companies and the public funds
Thus was started series of articles which
gave the magazine tremendous circulation
and started other maga zines looking for SINH
lar features A year later the public was still
reading the story Of the system as turned
out IN lnstallments by the vigorous Lawson.
ne magazine established department in- it's
advertising section forA the publication of let
9ers crlticising Lawson and his answers to
slcn letters. Occasionally the editor of the
magazine and his star contributor took up
some Of that space-the editor in telling why
ne toned down" some of the Lawson copy and
sae contributor telling why, in his opinion, the
'ohihg down should not have been done.
II is not likely that the average reader had
saore than faint comprehension of the arti-
s'ss as printed, because they were technical
sho dealt with a maze of figures and with
tne details Of business deals which were COM
pacated, to say the least. But the public
anew In general way that "big business"
was being lambasted by man who was on
sae inside and had turned and was turning
many big deals himself Here was man
VINO was telling that Amalgamated was bought
~ tos,o00,o00 and ''unloaded'' at $75,000,-
s0. 0v' and that this was only one of many in
1aslohs-the profits going to few men who
soalro'led the system Here was a man
Wsa was calling leading financiers-most Of
aa nave since died-thieves and robbers,
u eang no polite substitutes for those
.lus- And the man who was doing all this
- q millionaire himself, many times over
49,, VINO sat at the same directors table
'snn ~, tnose whom he was denouncing.
a.. 4" nen Lawson was accused of doing the very
IL Ass winch ne denounced he did not deny
auen Of such accusation, but said his aim
ss ,s.s g reform the system" by which such
we're done That was why he wanted
g.. showed to go to the Senate, he said.
,a,,,. usough Massachusetts, people formed a
bs'usfaoie bass share Of his readers, they paid no
! fsss % ms Senatorial ambitions, and the
ssWson reform, which, in brief. was to 1take
sane to pass Is = ~ ''s'ss
ks,,s ,sa1.ime ls lawson of Boston" for he al
r1as..: auaed the name of his Gown to his
4 su ss-'ae s. $ signature was not content to rest
ssa ~ ssss lame that was brought to him through
i hss,.ll .lenzaed Finance" articles. Being spec
cams easy to him. He secured his