The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-28

| In a few weeks" wrote the repre-
sentative of the Loan Committee in
Greece, Lord Cochrane will be at
/ Constantinople, setting fire to the !
Turkish vessels He will clear Greece |
of the Turk"
This, and similar dispatches sent
the price of Greek bonds rising on the
Stock Exchange. Everybody wanted
! to possess them. Not only were they
fashionable, and a mark of culture,
but money would be made from deal
ings in them So great was the de-
mand for them that they promised to
| rise 400 per cent. People of moder-
ate means suddenly saw themselves
wealthy-and by. helping a distressed
nation and being in the fashion.
| The Greek ENJOYS thought it a pity
J that such enthusiasm should go to-
waste. and suggested another loan on
the same terms.
Then different tidings came. The
| cavalry-admiral had not his ships yet.
/ The contractors were demanding more
money for them. Hastily it was sent.
No sooner was it gone than the worst
news of all was heard: Grecian cities
had been besieged, fallen and burnt
! to the ground. The Turks were over
running territories that had never
known them before, massacreeing the
Inhabitants. Instead of a liberated
Greece progressing towards another
golden age, was a region of smoking
ruins and deserted pastures.
i The price of Greek bonds came
down with a run. A protest went up
all over England-not against the
Turk so much as at the Greek Loan
Committee. But Messrs Hume and
Bowring had their own troubles. They
had not expected such news so early,
and had not yet sold their bonds. AS
they now stood. one would lose S10,-
900 and the other $4,000
They also protested to the ENJOYS
and the committee. They demanded
their money back in full The sur
prised committee asked would they
not have pocketed the profits had the
bonds risen in price instead of falling?
That had nothing to do with it. the
scholars said:-they were alarmed at
their large losses.
The committee considered, and de-
cided that they could not afford to
lose such powerful. ii wavering,
!, friends. Accordingly they took Mr..
, Hume's bonds off his hands at loss
of $4,000 and DR.. Bowring's so that
lost only $1,000.
The rest of the public were not so
: fortunate. Most of them had bought
their bonds at their highest figure,
; and had to stand their losses. And to
make matters worse, they had sub
scribed to other unremunerative loans.
: Upwards of s125,00O,000 were advanc-
ed in Foreign Loans at this period,
few of which kept up even the show
of paying dividends. More than three
quarters of this capital was lost for
ever
Enquiries into the Greek Loan
showed that all of the money sub
scribed had been wasted, or else gone
in commissions and transactions on
the Stock Exchange. The ENJOYS re-
ceived allowances, and entertained or
a scale that prices of other powers
could not aspire to-.
1t was said also that Mr. Hume and
DR.. Bowring had received huge com
missions for advocating the loan
Moreover, their bonds had not beer
paid for They would have suffered
no loss had the committee not taker
them over as they did and paid fol
them with the subscribers money
They had also earned huge fees TO.
reports which sent the prices of bond:
rising on the Stock Market
The scholars We're heard from again
however Once when the Greek news
frightened and the spectators forced
the value of the bonds up little, pro
tests were again heard from them
They did not understand business
they said, but they wanted the prof
that the committee could make on tn,
bonds at their increased value. AM
they got it too-though not withou
much ridicule and criticism. On,
newspaper accused them both o
fraud and hypocrisy. The scholar
felt panied, but they could afford tt
put up with it all
THE worst that anyone can say Il
me-" declared Mr.. Hume, "is that
may have evinced over anxiety Il
avoid pecuniary loss"
DR.. Bowring's defence was evel
more remarkable: THE money mean
more to me than to the Greek Govern
ment."
Not so much more, however, it turn
ed out, for it was their own people
the British public who paid in tn
end-as in the beginning.
(Capyright, 1920 by The McClur
Newspaper Syndicate.)