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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1906)
SEPTEMBER 14, 1901 9 - i f 1iMttmtm)-" M Tl iiiiuijMjp)MM 8NT The Commoner. Pro ipp gW k k v SiMBr f1 fJj9&?fPi2B. A WILD-CAT SPECULATION, followed or preceded oither by defalcation or be trayal of trust, has been responsible for a start ling number of suicides in Philadelphia among men of affairs and prominence in the social world. The Philadelphia correspondent for the Chicago Record-Herald says: "Beginning with the sensational failure of the Keystone National bank in 1901, which ruined men whose reputa tions were as untarnished as that of the president of the Real Estate Trust company, and which resulted in jail for two of them, Philadelphia has had an amazing series of financial scandals and bank wrecks. Bank depositors have lost millions, but the largest inroads of the wild-cat financiers were made in asphalt and in Consoli dated Lake Superior. In these two companies the public, largely in Philadelphia, dropped up ward of $100,000,000. In nearly every suicide caused by wild-cat finance attempts have been made to suppress the facts, as in the case of the president of the Real Estate Trust company, whose suicide was known to the members of his family, the coroner and the coroner's physician for six days, and was even suppressed by Phila delphia papers. Unfortunate speculation with out the defalcation feature brought about the self inflicted death of Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, and one of. the most brilliant and successful lawyers in the Keystone state. He shot himself in Decem ber, 1889. When an appraisal of his estate was made it was found that he had left but $450,000 in personal and real property of an estate that in his lifetime was estimated to be worth between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000. He had been Induced to invest in southern lands, where, it Is believed, x lie suffered great losses. William M. Slngerly, proprietor of the Philadelphia Record, president of the Chestnut Street National bank and the Chestnut Street Trust company, died under cir- cumstances which pointed unmistakably to a death self-inflicte'd. Qyanide of potassium is be lieved to have been the agent, but so far as the records of the coroner's office go that cause is not ascribed. Both banks failed, and Singerly was found to hivve secured $800,000 from one of them on collateral security of only $75,000." THE RECORD-HERALD correspondent further says: "Joseph C, Ditman, president of the Quaker City National bank, disappeared myster iously and for two days it was believed he had been robbed and murdered. After a drive through Fairmount Park, his empty carriage and the horse were found. Forty days after his disap pearance the decomposed body of. the banker was found floating in the Schuylkill river. His for tune had been lost in speculation. Benjamin H. Gaskill, a stock broker, cheated his friends and then killed himself to avoid facing them. He was a thief and a forger, but this discovery was not made until after his death. His forgeries forced the City Trust, Safe Deposit and Surety company into bankruptcy. His methods we.re ingenious and he reaped something like a million dollars on raised stock certificates. Robert Adams, Jr., familiarly known as 'Bertie Adams, former min ister to Brazil, prominent as one of the original explorers of the Yellowstone region and member of congress from Philadelphia, committed suicide by shooting in the Metropolitan club, Washing ton. Wild-cat speculation was directly respon sible. Ho died penniless, having dissipated a fortune of $300,000. Josiah R. -Adams, a promi nent clubman and lawyer, killed himself In a hotel. He was nominated for. judge of the superior court. A bitter attack was made upon him by a local newspaper. He was accused of having conspired -with another man to defraud the public by a get-rich-quick scheme in which it was alleged that hundreds of persons were induced to invest to their sorrow. Adams made a weak denial to the charge and withdrew from the ticket. The matter preyed on his mind and he shot himself. John Field, once postmaster of Philadelphia, a member of the old wholesale dry goods house of Young, Smyth, Field & Co., shot and killed himself in Fairmount Park while insane. He came from Ire land when he was fourteen years old and began as errand boy in the house he subsequently con trolled. The firm did a big business and,rin addi tion to branches in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Indian- apolls and San Francisco, carried on a banking business in Saxony. It never was definitely known how Mr. Field impaired his fortune, but the general belief was that it was duo to specu lation in realty,, which ho know nothing about. This so affected his mind that ho developed a suicidal mania." ACCORDING TO THE same authority: "James V. P. Turner, registrar of vital statistics of Philadelphia and a lawyer of note, shot himself in Fairmount Park in April, 1902. He was a member of the Society of the War of 1812, and of the Sons of the Revolution. He was known throughout the country as a genealogist. Mr. Turner had been induced to invest in lands in the west which ho believed to be mineral bear ing, but which turned out to be worthless. Ho became despondent and chose to kill himself rather than begin life over again at forty-seven. William G. Rothermel, a broker engaged in wild cat financiering in a concern known as tho Popu lar Brokerage company, was found dead in his bed August 1. An autopsy showed an irritant poison. Tho physician called to attend him re fused to give a certificate of death from heart disease, although so requested. Tho mystery of Rothermel'B death has not been fully cleared, and until his estate is settled it will not be known definitely just what class of securities he dealt in or their yalue, but all indications are that ho had been handling collateral on which ho was unable to realize and that the only escape he saw was in the grave. John S. Hopkins, cashier of the People's bank, shot himself. He got away with $700,000, which he lent on worthless col lateral to a concern called the Guarantors' com pany. He foisted the securities off on the direc tors as of value and when exposure threatened he prepared himself for death and eased his con science by writing a voluminous letter of con trite explanation t6 James McMancs, president of the institution. Then he went into the bath room of his house, and put a bullet into his brain." PRESIDENT DABNEY of the University of Cin cinnati does not take kindly to the Roosevelt-Carnegie spelling reform. President Dabney says: "Neither Mr. Carnegie's cash or Mr. Roose velt's command can make English over again. The English language has grown and must con tinue to grow. If our English spoiling is to be revised In accordance with a system of phonetic orthography it must be consistently done. I fail to see tho consistency of 'thru' and 'neighbor,' for ex ample. America can not establish an independent spelling of its own separate from the English, and it would be a calamity if we did; we have too many vulgarisms of our own now. If our Eng lish spelling Is to be revised at all on phorietic lines, in my opinion It can be done only by the. carefully considered action of a commission of the best scholars and writers of all English speaking people."' REFERRING TO Mr. Roosevelt's latest fad, the New York Evening Post says: "We have already expressed the opinion that some of the short list of new spellings proposed are sen sible changes, and may in time bo trusted to work their way into use. But wo never expected earthquake literary reform by executive decree; nor do we think that the president's official exam ple, will have much effect except to excite laugh ter. We doubt if the practice of a single printing office will be changed in consequence of Mr. Roosevelt's order, except that of the public print ing office at Washington. Into It great confusion will be introduced. Two systems of printing and proofreading will be necessary one for the White House output, another for all the rest. This will surely mean delays, with higher cost, and, if we know anything of printers' naturejpjich profan ity at the president's expense." Ir THE INSURRECTION in Cuba grows out of of the Cuban elections of 1905 when Presi dent Palma was re-elected over "his opponent, Gome. Gomez's follower claim that .the ialma men stuffed the ballot boxes and over-awed the people and thus secured a largo majority for their candidate. This is one of tho protoxts for tho rebellion that is now going on Jn tho Island of Cuba. It is believed by Homo that it will soon be necessary for tho United Statos to Intervene, whilo thero are those who have always laid covetous eyes upon Cuba who arc persistently agitating the intervention question. Referring to this question tho St. Louis Globe-Democrat says: 'Under the Piatt stipulations, which the Cuban people acceptod and Incorporated into their con stitution, we will bo justified in stepping In to stop tho rebellion if it lasts much longer and if we see that tho authorities at Havana aro powerless to put tho disturbers down. Many persons interpret tho intervention clause in tho Piatt compact to moan that wo can Interfere only to protect Cuba against forolgn aggression. That provision, 'however, says that not ony aro wo to intervene for 'the preservation of Cuban Inde pendence,' but also for 'the maintenance of a government ndequato for tho protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for discharg ing the obligations with respect to Cuba Imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United State, now to bo assumed and undertaken by the people of Cuba.' This gives us a warrant to Btop in under certain conditions, regardless of whether Cuba is or is not menaced front without, ami also re gardless of whether we aro asked to do this by the government of Cuba. It is for the authorities at Washington to decide whether those conditions have arrived or not." THERE IS A "JOKER" in tho meat inspection bill. The New York American points out that in preparing for the enforcement of the law It has been discovered that under its provisions importations of meats or meat products into this country from Europe or elsewhere is made prac tically, impossible. The American explains; ".Tho law binds .not only local packors to lnapaction ot their products by-the government, with tho at tachment of a seal of approval after such inspec tion, but, by a joker slipped into the bill, compels an inspection and seal approval of all foreign meats brought into the United States. Who introduced this joker is not known. It was quietly slipped In during the heat and uproar of the battle waged over the' bill, and it is only now that its presence is revealed. The government authori ties are nonplussed and admit frankly that inter state commerce carriers and dealers can not handle foreign' meats until they have been in spected. It means that the beef trust has mado absolute Its grip on the American market. What ever competition there was heretofore from for eign lands is now eliminated, and the packers hold the markets of the United States completely at their mercy." MR. BRYAN HAS received from tho American Anti-Trust League the following letter: "On behalf of the American Anti-Trust League and expressing, as we firmly believe the senti ments of tho great majority of good citizens who are opposed alike to the evils of monopolies and the dangers of socialism, we welcome you homo and express to you our gratitude and apprecia tion for all of your great speech of Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, and more especially for your invincible stand in favor of, not tho regulation, but tho destruction of the criminal trusts and for the government ownership of rail roads. We hold that the experience of all civil ized nations has firmly established the principle that the maintenance of highways is one of the chief functions of the government, one of the few great attributes of sovereignty, of which no state can divest Itself without endangering the very existence of the government and utterly de stroying that great principle of equality of rights which is the very corner-stone of the American republic. Wo rejoice in your courage and are proud of the ability with which you are teaching the doctrines of Jeffersonlan democracy and the principles of the American Anti-Trust League. We recognize your leadership in America for- the coming battle for tb,e achievement of the last and the greatest of the rights of man, namely, the economic liberty of alljnen and women. We pledge you our hearty and enthusiastic support and bid you God speed in the good work." I jn i r t. ' j -. ,' a