Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-04-24

sone hitch developed, and Il was bis
frepzied efforts 10 get the rest tnat
brought the transaction To tho atter-
ton Of few people, ~ least.
There is IA well remembered case OF
a newspaper nan IN Washington who
abused the confidence and privileges
which all Of them enjoy. Naturally.
great many newspaper men in Wash
ington often are the possessors Of in
formation In confidence which would
be OF great value 20 certain corpora
tions II they could learn IL In advance
OF general publication. A. congress
sional investigation brought out this
mans connections. He was drawing
down, in retaining fees from big cor
porations. a sum in the neighborhood
of $4,000 a year. an excellent income
for any newspaper man.
Publicity Ruined His Job.
Naturally, throwing the light o.
publicity on this mans efforts made
him Of no further use 20 these cor
porations, al least in tho same capac-
| ity, and the newspaper with which he
had been connected soon let him go.
| But in the meantime he had Accumu-
| lated nice little nest egg. enough 70
| permit him TO start perfectly hon
est business in which he - reported
| to be doing nicely.
TO return to Iatin-Anerica, ths
incident related a few paragraphs
above was trining compared n tho
"clean up made By another man in
Washington in much the sarne way.
A certain one Of the American reDub-
lies was anxously awaiting formal
and favorable action by the State Do
partment on an important matter con-
cerning that republic. Quite by
chance, this man learned that the
State Department had fully made up
its mind TO this course, but that ac-
ton wiuld not DO Immediate. Acord-
ingly this man got in touch with the
lpresident OF the Iatin-Arnerican re-
public through the proper channels.
and made a deal with that govern
ment whereby he would get a con-
siderable sum OF money--4t was said
. 70 be 800, ,000---for influencing the
American administration 20 take the
desired action. Then this man sst
tight, sending occasional cablegrans
, to give the impression OF doing some
T thing and waited until this large
l plum dropped into his lap, which i
] did in a few weeks after the arrange
ment was completed.
Another trick which ha sheen turned
from time to time in Washington Is
= done by outsiders. men whose names
] are high in the business and flnancia
n world That is planting false news
= to influence the stock market, ant
G cleaning up on the consequent de-
!. preston or imitation Of particular
= stocks. Once II was done IN this way
n One OF the members Of the stafr o
u the Washington bureau OF one or III,
y press associations was sent for, an.
= the information given him that the al
u wells in a certain rich field would b
y exhausted, and yielding nothing hu
y salt water in a short tirss. This wa
~ the confidential report OF expert
who had examined the field, the re
porter was told. He was also toll
. that under no circumstances was h
TO divulse the source OF his infor
:. nation Tho man who gave out thi
Information is nationally known an
= generally respected.
~ The reporter didn't Ike the sour
a OF the tale. and while 10 was debatin
with himself IN the hotel lobby. +
m saw one OF his conferes from
" metropolitan daily entering the hote
" He found out this man had gon
(" straight TO the man he had just lef
Evidently it was by appointment II
in became more suspicious. An hou
n later another newspaperrnan cam
ne evidently to keep en- appointmer
ed with the same man.
T. The consequence was that the VT:
as young man from the press associt
Id ton refused TO handle the story. How
Of ever. one or both OF the other me
a used It. the stock was depressed COZ
N. siderably by the rumor-Wall Stree
p Is highly susceptible 70 rumors-
N. and presumably the crowd on Il
l. inside" who had gone short Of IN
h stock made a killing.