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4
VOYAGE TO A
FORBIDDEN ISLE
GREENLAND AND ITS PEOPLE.
EXCEPT ,\RCTIC EXPLORERS, NO
VISITORS FOR TWO CEN'TFRIES.
Foil, Ice Pact, BerK, Tren<'hfron
Current*. Death Trap Reef* ana
International Treaty Rar Oat
Cannal Shipping—Denmark Alone
Control* the Country—An Ameri
can Steamer Attempted a Cruise
of the hiaiui in ISIi-l, Rut Wns
Wrecked—The Most Xortherly
Mouse on Enrth and It* Occupant.
London, Dec. 17. —Being resolved
upon visiting Greenland, I found that
some difficulties had first to be over
come, says a writer in Black and
.White. No private vessel plies there
either with passengers or cargo from
any port of the world. Of the Dun
dee whalers few remain, and if they
happen to take fresh water on the
Greenland coast their stay is limited
to hours.
Some fishing schooners of Gloucester,
United States, frequented the Green
land banks ten years ago, but after a
couple of seasons found the halibut
catch was not to be relied on. The
'Miranda, an American steamer, at
tempted a cruise with tourists in 1894,
hut was wrecked at the gate of the
first harbor she tried to leave. One
of the fishing schooners brought her
people home.
Apart from Arctic expeditions, no
other foreign visitors have risked a
voyage for about two centuries. The
whaling ships are handled by experi
enced men, yet the Vega was nipped
last year, her people barely escaping.
For Arctic expeditions, one ship lost
AN IWI'I.T BELLE.
In each twenty measures the scale of
risk. Fog, Ice pack, bergs, currents
and death trap reefs bar out casual
shipping.
Oreeland a Forbidden Country.
There also exists an international
treaty, whereby most Europeans and
Americans are forbidden to enter
Greenland. This treaty is enforced by
Denmark on behalf of her royal trade,
a government department, which is
frying to civilize the native tribes of
the country. By this means alone can
the Eskimo people be shielded from
disease, alcohol and interference with
the hunting on which they depend for
existence.
I was fortunate in getting permis
sion—the second granted to an English
speaking man since 1735 —to visit
Greenland in one of the royal ships. At
Copenhagen I was examined by a doc
tor to make sure that I carried no con
tagious disease to the Greenlanders. So
we sailed from Elsinore on May 17 in
the little bark Thorvaldsen, and Just
a month later sighted the Greenland
coast.
The coast of Norway, best seen in
mid-winter, and certainly the grand
est in the Old World, Is tame compared
with the seaboard of British Columbia
and Southeastern Alaska. I would not
disparage that coast, and yet it is not
so beautiful as the west coast of
Greenland.
The Arctic Day.
The sunny Arctic day which lasts for
months, a sky all flaming glory, the
fretted spires of the Alps flanked with
stupendous cliffs, and based on the rest
ful levels of the sea. cities of crowded
bergs, compound of dazzling light and
radiant color—such scenery as lhat
blots out one’s former memories. The
ship went drifting on, and slowly 800
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of heaven unrolled before us its
varied and wondrous loveliness.
Our first port of call was Jakob
shaven, at the head of Disco strait,
largest of the northern villages, a
metropolis of nine white persons and
400 natives. Beside a pocket harbor,
perched on round shoulders of the
naked granite, are the buildings, all
tarred black, of the royal trade. For
a background to the dismal scene rise
higher rocks, littered with garbage,
and turf huts, the homes of the na
tives.
A Greenland Metropolis.
At heart the place is gay, for our
sailors went ashore every night to
dance with the Eskimo girls, while
the officers of ship and colony swapped
dinner parties, breakfasts and lunch
eons, all through a nine days’ festi
val.
The place might have been a Hud
son’s bay port uglified, but the Danish
traders are much more civilized than
the British.
Men and women alike were lln
quists, well read, accomplished, a lit
tle too polite for comfort, living a
metropolitan life on one batch of
letters a year in an Arctic outpost.
Expecting the pathos of banishment,
I found the gayety of perfect content.
The Danes of all the settlements were
alike in social charm, gentle and polish
ed. arrant gossips, too; and the indoor
life had iittle to remind one of the out
door wilderness.
The Innuit servant maids wore the
furry breeches, boots to the hip, and
curious topknot of their national
dress—one had to fall promiscuously
in love with all of them. The Dan
ish men also wore native dress,
with only one distinction —that they
washed.
Food of llie Greenlnnlers.
The food, apart from Danish gro
ceries, was seal meat, fish, reindeer,
venison, shellfish, ptarmigan, sea
birds and their eggs, which as serv
ed in Greenland are always pronounc
ed in flavor, like the political egg
used at elections. There was only at
one port a dish called mattak (the skin
of the white whale), a hard fat with
a delicious nutty flavor, which would
be esteemed by epicures in Europe.
Tasteless radishes and other small
vegetables are grown under glass, and
;here are plenty of blueberries on the
hills.
■ : :.V J'm
I ', FJ . I
MOST NORTHERLY H OISE O.Y EARTH.
Nearly the whole of Greenland is
covered with a continental Ice cap
like that of the Antarctic continent.
Nansen and Peary have crossed the
inland ice, but even to reach the edge
is a difficult journey. At Jakobshavn
I persuaded a sailor to come with me,
chartered a skin boat with a native
crew, and set off at 3 o'clock one
sunny morning. Our way led south
ward. past the mouth of Jakobshavn
Fjord, where a shoal about the size
of London is covered with jammed and
stranded bergs. Some of the spires
are said to be six hundred feet high;
the overhanging coast of ice was cer
tainly more than two hundred.
The Interior of the Couutry.
Beyond it we had to carry the boat
over two ranges of hills, then traveled
one day’s march along a fjord, and
finally the sailor and I, with a guide,
set off affoot upon a four mile walk.
The land was hilly, of broken rock
with a layer of moss on top. so ar
ranged that one sinks through the
moss into unseen holes full of pain.
The land is not good for cripples,
and yet there were compensations, for
I found native silver and a precious
stone called olivine, besides many love
ly flowers, including the bluebells of
Scotland. There were also mosquitoes
in great plenty.
Five hours of climbing brought us
to the top of Damned Mountain
(Krakraptak), and after X had photo
graphed my companions, we sat down
to fight the mosquitoes and try to
enjoy the view.
After leaving Jakobshavn the Thor
valdsen called at an outpost north
ward of Disco Island, where we pick
ed up the Governor of North Green
land and officers of the staff, taking
them on to Upernavik, the most north-
SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY. DECEMBER IS. 1904.
erly settlement. Thence the Governor
went by boat on a cruise of hundreds
of miles through the Archipelago, in
specting outposts, and he was kind
enough to take me as his guest. Even
in skin clothes and heavy winter furs
we suffered discomfort from the cold,
as. traveling night and day and
spreading our sleeping bags in the
boat for rest, we threaded amazing
channels choked with bergs.
So we came at last to Tassiusak,
the most northerly house on earth. Its
tenant is Neilson, a Dane, under whose
guidance we ventured another sixteen
miles into the wilderness.
TO GETMEN TOWORK
WITHOUT SUPERVISION.
One of tlie Big Business Problems of
the Day.
New York, Dec. 17. —The biggest
business problem we have,” said the
treasurer and largest owner of one of
our great trusts to me yesterday, “is
the problem of getting men to whom
we can entrust a duty and dismiss the
matter, knowing that it will be at
tended to. Look here,” said he, point
ing at his big library table and his
equally big roll-top desk, "do you
know what nine-tenths of those pa
pers, memorandums, letters, telegrams
and so forth represent? They repre
sent matters which I have turned over
to the different departments and em
ployes in our various concerns for at
tention. By rights, I should be able
to sweep all thia stuff off my desk into
a basket and give it to a clerk to file,
for as far as my end is concerned, I
should be through with it after I have
given elaborate and full instructions
regarding each case. But, as a mat
ter of fact, I do not dare to dismiss
a single item of this big business that
way. I have learned by bitter experi
ence that out of a hundred men, not
more than ten can be trusted implic
itly to carry anything through. It isn’t
because they are overworked. We have
stenographers for every employe who
h,as any letters to write; we give our
men a staff of boys to fetch and carry;
our department heads need not lift a
hand or waste a minute in getting any
thing they need. I have even given
orders that they shall use the office
boys for their personal business so
that they shall not be distracted by
little matters. Yet I cannot feel that
anything, big or little, is done until
I get the final report on it, and I
wouldn’t get the final report if they
didn't know that I never forget a thing
or dismiss it from my mind. It is only
by practical terrorism that I can keep
the army of our employes up to the
mark. I know that they look on me
as a hard master, but X can’t get any
thing out of them any other way.”
"He’s right,” said the manager of a
much smaller concern 'to whom I men
tioned this. ‘‘That nVan over there,"
pointing to a rosy-faced man who was
unmistakably English, “is the fore
man or superintendent of our foundry
and machine shops. He is a plain
machinist; doesn’t know anything of
the new technicology of metals and
mechanics, although he is studying it
now and improving fast. He Isn’t a
money-maker for us, either by econo
mizing or by increasing the output.
Yet we ‘are paying that man $75 a
week, and are so glad to pay It that we
have just made anew three years’ con
tract with him. Do you know why?
Simply because he never falls to at
tend to everything that comes along,
when we get an order for a machine
to be shipped at a certain date in a
certain way, we don’t have to think
of it again after we turn the order over
to him. If a man telegraphs to us to
hurry something forward, or to make
an alteration in an order, or to trace
a shipment, we can send this foreman
thu telegram without making a memo
randum of it. He doesn’t produce
new ideas. He has not improved ;he
quality of our ouput. But he can be
trusted down to the ground, and that
is the rarest talent there Is these days.
It makes that plain machinist worth
twice $75 a week to us, -and
there Is another $75 Job wait
ing for another man like him.”
Duane.
MONEY "ORDER CHECK RUF
FLED A FOREIGNER’S DIGNITY.
British Pnxt master General’s Sad
Experience In the N. Y. PoatolHce.
New York, Dec. 17.—The man who is
the biggest toad in his own local pud
dle doesn’t amount to much in New
York. There wus an amusing instance
of this fact at the postofflee the other
day. An Important-looking gentleman
presented a foreign money order and
demanded to be paid. The clerk sug
gested that he had better identify him
self, which he could not do.
"But do you know who I am, sir?"
he thundered. "1 am the ex-Postinas
ter General of the British colony of
Jamaica, sir. 1 held that office for
over twenty yours under Her Gracious
Majesty Queen Victoria, and the pres
ent King, who decorated me with the
companionship of the Imperial Service
Order on my retirement. Do you mean
to say Hint I, a Postmaster General,
uni to be put to all this trouble In your
wretched postofflee?"
"Kure!" said th* Irreverent clerk.
"You may tu the Lord High Panjan
drum with the little knob on top, but
you've got to be identified befors you
get money out of this office. '*
Luckily, at that moment a man
came along who had known the ruffl'd
I’nst niaetiT r le'ieral on his nativa
heath, utid who also ha|i|iened to know
the ofili mu or tin New York pmm ,
I The money wee then forthcoming, but
hi pmiliii, of ill. Imperial fm(i<
• Duane.
Suffering Women Cured
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*2 if J ■ Hejjyt Trouble.
-' ~ _
MRS. A. DAWSON.
310 Pleasant Avenue,
New York City, May 31, 1904.
For over a year I have suffered in
tense agony from nervous debility and
prostration. I could neither eat nor
sleep and was reduced to a mere shad
ow. The doctors recommended various
kinds of treatment, none of which
helped me. They finally put me on
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it has completely restored me to
health. I am able to sleep, my appetite
is good and I have gained rapidly in
ilesn.
I am very thankful to be able to
recommend your medicine to all suf
ferers. Yours truly,
Mrs. A. Dawson.
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and keeps the young strong.
Duffy’s Pure Malt Whiskey cures coughs, colds, catarrh, grip, bronchitis
consumption, and all diseases of throat and lungs.
CAUTION. —When you ask your druggist or grocer for Duffy’s Pure
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--is not broken Price SI.OO. Duffy MaltWliiskey Cos., Rochester X Y
THE WORLD’S BEST
GUARDED PRISON
IS BLACKWELL’S ISLAND.
WHIRLPOOL CURRENTS DROWN
PRISONEDS WHO TRY TO ESCAPE.
Surrounded by Hushing Cnrrents ns
Dangerous us the Whirlpool Rap
ids of Niagara—'The Best Swim
mers Cannot Reach the River
Rank, Distant Only a Quarter of a
Mile—Many Have Been Drowned
When Trying to Escape by Swim
ming—Blackwell’s Is a “Hotel"
Visited Periodically by Most of the
Notorious “Panhandlers” nint
“Yegg Men” front All Parts of the
United States.
By Thomas R. Collins.
New York, Dec. 17.—1 t is strange that
New York city should have given up
the most beautiful place within the
boundaries to be the home of the crim
inal, the pauper and the insane; yet it
Is the fact.
Blackwell’s Island, the long narrow
Islet lying in the middle of the East
river off Long Island City, is un
questionably the most picturesque of
all the islands that stud the shores
of Manhattan. Even to-day, when it
Is covered with institutional buildings
of all kinds and descriptions, it is still
a delightful place—beautiful with trees
and shrubs in places, and in summer
the coolest spot around New York,
thanks to the breezes that sweep down
the river.
It would be an ideal spot for a gTeat
park for the crowded districts of the
upper East Side, if it were not given
over to the most criminal, ignorant
and depraved sections of the commu
nity. This seems a shame, considering
how little available open space Man
hattan has.
A Great Park Sometime.
The idea of making the island into
a great public park has been frequent
ly mooted and lately revived. Un
doubtedly it will be carried out in the
end, but not for many years to come.
The prison, almshouse, hospital and
other buildings, on the island repre
sent a large capital. It is true they
cost comparatively little to build, for
they were built by prison labor with
stone dug by the prisoners from a
quarry on the island; but the cost of
erecting similar buildings elsewhere
would run into many millions of dol
lars. Nevertheless, it will be done
some day; for New York city does
not seem to care how much money it
spends for parks and open spaces.
A movement toward the conversion
of the island into a park is already
being made by the construction of a
large bridge connecting the island with
the banks of the East river. Large
appropriations have been made by
New York city for this purpose, and
the huge towers for the bridge, which
is to be on the suspension order,
have already been put in place.
Sulfut Prison in the World.
When Blackwell's Island ceases to
be a prison for the bod characters of
New York city, who have not com
mitted crimes serious enough to jus
tify an sentence of penal servitude,
one of the most remarkable penal es
tablishments in the world will go out
df existence Blackwell’s Island is
probably the safest prison In the
world. It is a Jail from >vh!ch it Is
practically Impossible for a prisoner
to escape, except by the collusion of
one of his jailers.
Yet It la only about a quarter of a
mile from the shore, and the prisoners
are allowed to work about the Island
on various tasks under comparatively
slight supervision and guardianship.
You can see the "trusties" doing all
kinds of Jobs with nobody watching
them.
The wardens know that their task
Is lightened for them by Jailers who
are always on the watch, always re
lentless In keeping the prisoners con
fined to the Island. These are the
ruahing, whirling, bubbling currants
that tear along the shores of the Is
land on all sides, like a veritable mael
strom. tanking it impossible for even
the best of swimmers to cover the
short distance to the Manhattan or
Long Island shores.
Ruse Ever Keeaprd lr swimming.
No msn has ever been known to
swim the short quarter of a mils
which separates the prisoners from
liberty; but many b* tried, and Titl
ed, and been drowned It would li
as easy to swim the Whirlpool Rapids
of Nlag#is
Among the prtsobeis confined on
tin tsisr.d, Orvrs are often some of the
1 "wharf rats" of Mew York boys and
j msi who bavs bs#n In and out of lbs
New Haven, Conn., April 2, 1904.
I am now 62 years of age and for a
number of years have been troubled
with my heart and the least excite
ment makes me very nervous.
Your Malt Whiskey was recom
mended to me four years ago, and it
has been my only medicine ever since,
doing me more good than all the doc
tors, whom I now have little use for.
I am never without a bottle and can
recommend it to all nervous people or
those afflicted with any heart trouble.
It is truly a wonderful medicine.—
Mrs. Lucretia J. Beans, 133 Bradley
street.
MRS. LUCRETIA J. BEANS.
water, stealing from ships and docks
almost from the time the could walk
Swimming comes to them as naturally
as talking, and there are no better
swimmers in the world. But they can
not swim from Blackwell’s Island,
and nowadays very few of them try
Too many of their ’’pals" have been
drowned that way.
Eleven Drowned In a. Year,
A few years ago there was an epi
demic of attempts to escape from the
island. Within four months five men
were drowned while trying to swim
at night of the Manhattan baYik of the
river; and in the succeeding seven
months six others perished. That was
the most fat'al year in this history of
the island, and attempts at escape have
been less frequent since then. But
a year rarely passed without a death
by drowning being reported.
Hast winter two "yegg men,” who
had the reputation of being daring
and desperate criminals, actually suc
ceeded in making good their escape
from the island.
They did not, swim, however, They
managed somehow to get hold of a
rowboat, possibly with the help of
some official on the island. They
rowed quietly at night down to the
lower end of Manhattan. On the way
they met a police patrol boat, etop
ped to clalrnly exchange greetings and
answer questions, and then went on
their way, leaving the policemen un
suspecting.
Next day there was a hot search
for them. They lay low for a fort
night, and then made the mistake of
returning to their old haunts on the
Bowery. A “stool pigeon” put the
police on their tracks, and they were
captured In a saloon in Chinatown of
ter a desperate fight.
Escapes Through Connivance.
Despite the confining currents, es
capes from the island are more fre
quent that they ought to be, owing
to the fact that some of the minor
prison officials are open to receive
■graft” from “yegg men,” "panhan
dlers" and other crooks.
The Charity Organization Society
of New York has just been calling the
attention of the Department of Cor
rection to these cases. One of the
most flagrant is that of a notorious
"panhandler" named Edward Ash
leigh, who is better known in police
circles as "Pekin Eddie.” This man
once boasted, in the hearing of the
writer, that he has "worked" every
big city in the country clean through
to the Pacific coast.
He was sent for a term on the is
land by a New York magistrate, but
after serving part of his sentence he
managed to get a suit of plain clothe?
in place of his striped convict garb.
Then he calmly walked on board of
one of the department launches which
run between Manhattan and the is
land. He mingled unobserved with the
crowd of visitors and discharged pris
oners aboard, and got safely away.
The Hume of “Yegg Men.”
Blackwell’s Island Is known to the
“ycRR’ men” and other petty crooks
from ope end of the United States to
the other. These professionals “play
New York" as regularly as the bet
ter class out-of-town theatrical com
panies visit Broadway. There is a
saloon on the lower end of the Bow
ery which is recognized as their head
quarters; it is kept by a retired "pan
handler" who made a small fortune
out of the business, incidentally "do
ing time” on Blackwell's Island more
than once. There are always half a
dozen notorious "yegg men" standing
in line at the ibar of this saloon. It Is
the place from which dozens of crooks
graduate to Blackwell’s Island. The
police tolerate it because its existence
renders it easier for them to "keep
tabs" on the under-world of graft and
crime.
A Cinch for Prisoners With Money.
Among this floating criminal popu
lation. Blackwell's Island has the repu
tation of being "a cinch so long hs you
can put up the dough." as one "pan
handler" expressed it. It is said by
those In a position to know, that all
the prisoners have a comparatively
easy lime, while those who have mon
ey ean buy many Immunities and priv
ileges. This has been long suspected
by those familiar with criminal mat
ters in New York, but It has now
broken out into utt open scandal.
Blackwell's Island, however, is not
merely a prison. It Is the home of
several city Institutions. The alms
houses for the aged poor are equal to
any in American cities, and far above
the common run. The hospitals ©on
neetrd with the health department
have cost many millions, and are equip
ped with the latest Inventions and ap
pliances of medical science.
An interesting experiment Is being
conducted on the island in the treat
merit of tuberculosis by fresh air and
sunlight. During the summer the pa
Heme wers out In the open all ,)u>
long, letappcd In blankets, Now that
the bit uk winter hue arrived, the)
•lend their lime In a long covered g u l
let y with glses sides While the re
suite of the treslmenl Sic not y,-*
conclusive, the majority of the pefient
sre arid to have derived great benefi
from u.
LAWSON AND GREENE KEEPING
WALL STREET IN A TUMULT
The Street Has Finally Come to Believe That Lav.
son Is After More Than Notoriety.
By W. G. NICHOLAS.
New York, Dec. 17.—Its a pity the
police regulations do not cover Law
son. As matters stand he
appears to have the untram
meled liberty of beating the tom toms
and keeping everybody awake nights
with his noise. The vague alarm
which was felt in Wall street when he
leaped screaming into its midst, has
given way to a feeling of anger mixed
with contempt and impatience. The
conclusion has been very generally
reached, that whether sane or insane,
he is dangerous, and that he is really
actuated by a motive deeper and more
sinister than that of merely gratify
ing an insatiate craving for notoriety.
It is a peculiarity about Lawson
that those who know him best mistrust
him most and most seriously question
his intentions. Legal proof appears to
be lacking, but all Boston, or at least
that part of it with which Wall street
has contact, believes him to be finan
cially interested in a group of bucket
shops, centering in the New England
metropolis. On this unproved assump
tion the theory has been built that his
campaign was organized and carried
out to save himself and his bucket
shops from tremendous loss, if not ex
tinguishment.
One Boston story has it that Lawson
was in the hole $4,000,000, by reason of
his bucket shop connections, and that,
as a result of the scare he threw into
Wall street he saved the entire amount
and reaped a huge profit besides on the
initial break and subsequent violent
fluctuations. This same story deals
with the ease of one individual who
had a paper profit of $700,000 In one
of the alleged Lawson bucket shops,
which he was not allowed to take
down, and which he saw vanish into
thin air.
Results of “Frenzied Finance.’
Whether or not there is anything
tangible to the story of the Lawson
backing of New England bucket shops,
it is cold truth that by reason of his
crusade the bucket shops in question
and others all over the country were
saved from ruin, and their colossal
losses turned into profits. It is also
notorious that by reason of this same
fire brand performance his alleged en
emies, H. H. Rogers, William Rocke
feller and others o? the Standard Oil
crowd, were able to wrest from Col.
Greene and his friends, coveted con
trol of the Greene Consolidated Copper
Company, which they had been plan
ning for years to get. So far as can
be learned Rogers and his Standard
Oil associates were in entire sympathy
with the slump in the market, and that
instead of being caught with the goods
as claimed by Lawson, they were fixed
to profit sublimely by the slump. If
Lawson is not working in alliance with
the Standard Oil speculators and the
bucket shops he has certainly been
playing into their hands of late, if
he is entirely honest in his wolf hunt
ing he has badly failed, for he has not
bagged a single wolf, while multi
tudes of helpless lambs that ca -*P e
within range of his guns, litter the
landscape.
Brought l'l Some Queer Flsli.
The Lawson craze has brought to
the surface some very queer fish. A
species of an emotional wave seems
to have swept through the speculative
zone. A somewhat similar phenomena
attends revival meetings and all kinds
of campaigns calculated to work on the
varying phases of unbalanced human
sentiment. Doubtless when the Law
son incident fades into the perspec
tive the ludicrous features of the af
fair will stand out in clearer relief
than they do now. The shriekings and
ravings of the Boston freak have stir
red up the entire menagerie. One
phase of the excitement is observable
in the tendency of many queer people
to slop over into the advertising col
umns of the daily newspapers and
thereby find a vehicle for the expres
sion of views about other people and
the problem of stock speculation.
Col. William G. Greene, lately a bad
man from Arizona and old and New
Mexico, was an illustration this
species of mania. Asa literary pro
duction the effort was a dismal fail
ure, but it added momentarily to the
gayety of Wall street and was of pass
ing interest to the general public
which may always be relied upon to
take notice of the comicalities of such
a situation. Another person with a
mania for notoriety, one William G.
Young of Chicago, took advantage of
the Lawson occasion to secure a place
under the headlines for one day on the
announcement that he had come to
take charge of the anti-Lawson forces
as the representative of the Standard
Oil and other important interests.
Young turns out to be an ally of one
“Sid” McHie, who made his money
in Chicago bucket shops. Following In
the train of Col. Greene and Mr. Young,
a number of misfits jumped into the
advertising pages of newspapers with
communications addressed to H. H.
Rogers and other distinguished finan
ciers, thereby inducing many people to
read down the column to the signa
tures. It is regarded by lightweights
of a certain class as a great feat if
they can in some way link their names
with the great ones of the earth, even
though they figure as having been kick
ed into the gutter by the great man’s
butler.
“Good Old Times” In Wall Street.
There are people who talk to-day in
Wall street about the good old times
when there were giants in the stock
market and they mention in the same
breath Commodore Vanderbilt, Jay
Gould, Werschoffer, Cammack and oth
ers conspicuous in their day as spec
tacular operators. That kind of talk
sounds foolish to those who are in
a position to compare those good old
days with the present time. Never in
the history of Wall street have there
been as many giants of such large
size as now figure actively In the stock
market. In those good old days it was
a rare thing for a trader to swing
as large a line as 100,000 shares. At
THE CABLE COMPANY,
MANUFACTURERS OF
PIANOS AND ORGANS.
Buy your Piano from us and save middle man’s
profit.
The finest line and largest stock of Pianos at closer
prices than ever before.
THE CABLE COMPANY,
SSSOU.EE,
this writing there are fifty men, many
of them entirely unknown to the pub
lic at large, who think nothing 0 f
buying or selling 100,000 shares, and
there are many groups of financiers
whose investment holdings in single
corporations range from 500,000 to l.
500,000 shares. Messrs. E. H. Harri
man, Jacob Schiff and their imme
diate friends hold ownership control
of at least 2,500,000 shares in the se
curities of the Union Pacific combina
tion with its 25,000 miles or more ot
owned, allied and subsidiary lines and
systems. “Jim” Hill and a little co
terie of Canadian, Scotch and Eng.
lish friends hold more than 1,000,040
shares of the stock of properties which
Hill dominates and largely created
Messrs. D. G. Reid, W. B. Leeds
and W. H. and J. H. Moore, com
posing the Rock Island party, have
pooled an individual investment hold
ings of more than 1,000,000 shares of
stock. John D. Rockefeller’s individual
holdings of railroad and industrial
stocks probably exceeds in market val
ue $500,000,000 which reduced to shares
at par would be 5,000,000 shares.
Holders of lOO.IHK) Shares or .More.
Among those whose permanent share
investments are up to or much above
100,000 shares may be named D
O. Mills and James R. Keene, the last
survivors of the California crowd j
Pierpont Morgan, H. H. Rogers’
Thomas J. Ryan, H. O. Havemever
J'ames B. Duke, the tobacco magnate’
Norman B. Ream, William Waldorf A S I
tor, “Jack” Astor, W. K. Vanderbilt
H. H. Porter, William Rockefeller h’
C. * ric k and Russell Sage, all of ,\ ew
lork; Marshall Field, S. W. Allerton
Martin Ryerson, C. K. G. Billings
and J. J. Mitchell, of Chicago;
thaniel Thayer and Benjamin P Che
nty, of Boston. James Stillman, presi
dent of the National City Bank, and
Anthony N. Brady, the gas magnate
should also be included in this list and
doubtless there are many others entUl
of there ’ The enumeration
of market plungers who swing spe, u
v th e Jsi eS 10 °’ OOU shares '• more
tvith ease and grace includes John tv
Gates, James R. Keene, H. H. Rogers'
William Rockefeller, Wash. Connor c
i/eirf Ch r"a h ’ Ha vemeyer, D. g.
Reid, Judge W. H. Moore and his
brother, J. H. Moore, W. B Leeds
Ihomas J Ryan, Norman B. Ream’
J. Pierpont Morgan and E. H. Harrb
Wh' ~S f o me of these names appear in
~sts > a ® they are combination of
intestors and speculators, their opera
tions oftentimes dovetailing This u
crowd "S* With Rea ™’ ‘heßock
island crowd. Rogers and Rockefel'er
J. Pierpont Morgan and E. H H irri’
™ an - “r. Joseph Pulitzer, proprietor
the WO 000 V I? 1 * T° rld ’ is ri * ht op in
and iho httl ' e lot as an investor,
and there are many rich estates
S£ ut the country with immense
Verily, by comparison, the giants of
rink a, yS " tke st ° ck ™ rk *t would
brought ho Pl ifT eS ,f they coul(1 he
brought back to earth and ranged un
alongside the leaders of to-day. Thev
but 6 the ln f their „ (,ay and generation.
imnll Tho dL°l their o P erati °ns was
small. They did business in a one-ring
t ™ ! h'' herea! the stars of the Present
whole h e a a?th. a CanVaS that COVers the
The Steel Trust Manipulation.
The greatest manipulation ever tin
•*** in Wall street was connected
with the flotation of the Steel trust,
and was under the management of Mr.
Jamies R. Keene. He was entrusted
with the job of marketing 1,300,000
shares of common and preferred stock
(face value $130,000,000.) He accom
plished this Herculean task with sig
nal success and to a syndicate profit
of about $60,000,000, and this in the face
of continuous realizing by a great
many of the big insiders, including
the present “Rock Island crowd,”
whose aggregate holding were nearly
as large as the syndicate allotments,
and who “sold theirs first,” thereby
getting best prices,
genet’afld ertugoHr CO. ..a-? pfljsteJF
Ihe Rears and Roosevelt’s Message,
The bear p’arty in Wall street has
made capital out of that part of the
President’s message recommending
•that greater power be conferred tipbn
the Interstate Commerce Commission
for the regulation of railroads. The
falk indulged in on the subject has
undoubtedly produced an effect upon
the heavy interests in control of the
railroads of the country. This feeling
is reflected In interviews with leading
bankers and railroad owners. It has
put a chill on bullish enthusiasm in
that quarter and has induced a gen
eral taking in of sail.
Plans of development and extension
are being held up, or at least checked
for the time being, until more can be
known of the intentions of the Presi
dent and Congress. Responsible inter
ests recall the fact that for six or eight
years after the passage of the Inter
state commerce law, and pending judi
cial construction of the powers of that
body, railroad properties were con
tinually under pressure. They have no
wish to get uhder the harrow again,
as they were during that long and
painful period, and the remembrance
of what they went through is distinct
ly disquieting.
Reassurances come from Washington
th’at it is not the purpose of the politi
cal powers to do anything oppressive,
hut word of that sort is not taken as
conclusive in view of the open White
House encouragement of agitation for
corporation regulation. The President's
attitude in this matter is held by the
more thoughtful element in Wall street
to be the real underlying cause of the
break in prices, the Lawson shrieking
being only incidental, psychologically
incidental, perhaps, but by no means •
cause.
Christmas Rates.
Southern Railway announces Christ*
mas rates of one and a third fares
for the round trip between all point*
east of the Mississippi and south of
the Ohio and Potomac rivers. Tickets
to be sold Dec. 23, 24, 25 and 31 and
Jan. 1, with final limit Jan. 4. To
students and teachers of schools and
colleges, tickets will be sold Dec. IT
and 24, inclusive, with final limit Jan.
8. upon presentation and surrender of
certificates signed by their superintend
ents, principals or presidents.—ad.