TITANIC FIGHT FOR MILLIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13095, 7 February 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

TITANIC FIGHT FOR MILLIONS.

GREAT DEAL BETWEEN STANDARD OIL AND MR. LAWSON. FRENZIED FINANCE. New York, Sunday, December 24.Wallstreet is witnessing the greatest financial battle of modern times. Mr. Thomas W. Lawson lias tried for neairly two years to crush the Standard Oil Company's stock market " system'' and now the Standard Oil Company is making a superhuman effort to crush Mr. Lawson. This is the climax to Mr. Lawson's extraordinary campaign agai'mst " frenzied finance,'' fought for the last eighteen months in newspapers and magazines, on the Stock Exchange, and even through huge posters on theatrical hoardings. .Stating that heand the public—had been betrayed by the Standard Oil interests when. £40,000,000 was lost through the crash in Amalgamated Copper, Mr. Lawson declared! war against Standard Oil in genera,!, and Mr. Henry H. Rogers, its guiding spirit, in particular. riITTIKG BACK. Tiring at last of his broadsides, the Standard Oil interests have now taken the aggressive, and are attempting to drive Mr. Lawson out of the market, and to this end they are forcing up the price of copper. The Lawson-Rogers feud grew out of the. gigantic combination of copper-mining interests which was undertaken by Mr. Lawson'several years ago! He worked out the details of the scheme, and then laid it before the Standard! Oil people, who agreed to finance the project. Mr. Lawson invested heavily in the shares of certain companies which were to be included in the amalgamation, and he induced his friends to do likewise. At the last moment, according to Mr. Lawson's story, Mr. Rogers admitted to him that the Standard Oil had decided to exclude certain mines from the first flotation—and the mines excluded were the ones in which Mr. Lawson and his friends had invested. When the storm burst Mr. Lawson was denounced all over the United States as one of the greatest swindlers in Wall-street. Thereupon he declared that lie had been shorn as well as his friends, and he instituted his picturesque crusade against the " system'' which had "squeezed"' him. , Mr. Lawson first talked to the newspapers. Then he secured control of a magazine, ailld began the series of sensational articles on "Frenzied Finance." EFFORTS FOR I'K.U'K. At first the .Staudard Oil Company said nothing. It is accustomed to attacks from men who have been " squeezed" in Wallstreet. But as public interest grew in Mr. Lawson's revelations, efforts were made to stop his crusade. According to Mr. Lawson Mr. Rogers sent him aw astonishingly large cheque for the amount of his personal losses in Amalgamated Copper. Mr. Lawson sent it back. Mr. Rogers' solicitor tried to persuade him to .stop": Mr. Lawson promptly increased liis advertising contracts with the daily newspapers, and his attacks became more sensational. Then, according to Mr. Lawson. other forms of persuasion were tried. On December 21 last, Mi'. Lawson published a frank open letter to Mr. Rogers, in which he said : — "... Of course, I know your methods, and that murder is your preferred stock-in-trade provided it is safe," and adding, the threat to " shoot on sight any hired thug sent to assassinate me." Several months ago Mr. Law.son formed a pool to "bear" Amalgamated Copper. He declared that the stock was highly inflated, and that a financial crash was inevitable. In the language of "Frenzied Finance." be " had the Standard Oil people on the run." THE ATTACK. Mr. Rogers and Mr. William Rockefeller ascertained last week that Mr. Lawson was many thousand shares "short" in .Amalgamated Copper, and Mr. Rogers is reported to have said, "We'll squeeze him." The Standard Oil Company's enormous capital and influence was trained against him. and Amalgamated Copper was forced steadily upwards. Mr. Lawson's fust pool was soon exhausted by the "forcing" tactics, and on Wednesday he admitted that his losses were £800.000.' A new £3.000.000 pool was immediately formed—according to Lawson again—whereupon he issued a statement that his interest in the new pool represented every dollar of his fortune If the pool failed, lie was a bankrupt. Lawson is a true stock-market gambler, ' who has many times before staked everything on a single turn of the market. If the Standard Oil wins, he says lie will immediately cast about fur some fresh plan of attack. He states that Ik* lias mortgaged! his splendid Boston mansion for its full value, likewise a valuable country estate, his horses, and his yacht. Meanwhile copper is steadily rising. While Wall-street admires Mr. Lawson's pluck, it believes that he cannot survive the pressure <>t the almost inexhaustible Standard Oil interests. He has not sutlifienl money. The only hope tor him is said to Ik' in y, compromise,' and those who know this strange man say that he will not compromise.