Frenzied Finance, Vol. 1: The Crime of AmalgamatedLawson, Thomas William
History
Frenzied Finance, Vol. 1: The Crime of Amalgamated
Lawson, Thomas William
Amalgamated Copper Co.; Gas companies -- Massachusetts -- Boston; Insurance -- United States; Speculation; Standard Oil Company
As I have explained, Henry H. Rogers, when not working the handle or
hopper end of the "System's" grinder, is a warm-hearted and generous
man. And now, resting from his labors, he was the genial and kindly
gentleman whom his social acquaintances admire so sincerely. I believe
he felt almost as badly as I did over the sad picture he had drawn of
the proud old merchant yielding up his children's birthright. I felt
grieved to the depths of my soul at Leonard Lewisohn's predicament, for
I knew, as did all men connected with Wall Street or Copper, what a
stalwart he was. He had the heart of an ox and the pluck of a lion, and
his white-man squareness and sense of justice belonged to other periods
than that of frenzied finance. No man or woman in distress ever left his
house or office without relief, and he gave as generously of his time
and advice as of his money. Amid the jagged rocks and treacherous cross
currents of Wall Street Leonard Lewisohn stood as a beacon lighting the
way to better things, and men pointed at him and said, "There is still
hope." Amalgamated may not have broken this man's heart as it did
others, but I can imagine the bitterness and distress it caused him,
whose proud boast it was that he had never gone back on his word. One of
the promoters of the company, his name stood, in the minds of many
investors, especially European, for a guarantee of fair play and square
dealing. Yet the course of Amalgamated was one continuous going back on
words. He had never allowed an associate of his to lose through his
ventures, but in Amalgamated there was nothing but loss, and loss by
trick and fraud. After the flotation, with its harvest of disgrace and
scandal, Leonard Lewisohn became a changed man. His old-time happy smile
was seldom seen, and it is said that before he died he summoned his sons
to him and instructed them to destroy the notes and obligations of all
his poor debtors and to return to them their collateral, of which there
was a safe full. This man employed no press agent, and so his golden
deeds were never reported in the papers, nor did he found a college to
perpetuate his name; but he left a million of his estate to found a
great home for the Jewish poor, for he loved and was proud of his race.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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