Discussion
From 'Canal Days in America' by Harry Drago:
'Unquestionably it was the search for funds that led the Morris Canal and Banking Company astray. The old California saying that "more gold was put into the ground than was ever taken out of it" was applicable to investing in canal stock, many investors losing every dollar they risked. Some canal promotions were outright swindles. But in the majority of cases failure was due to ignorance and honest miscalculation. Behind the Morris Canal and Banking Comapny were men of good reputation, prominent in their communities, but in a mad scramble for money they began walking the very thin line between honest promotion and corruption. In the wave of prosperity and speculation that swept the country in 1835 the directors of the Morris became more interested in their banking privilege than in the canal. "They embarked on financial ventures which were nothing short of criminal" charges Harlow. "Their bank was a wildcat institution of the worst type... They participated in fake promotion schemes, floated loans on spurious collateral, perpetrated swindles through dummy organizations and divided illegal gains with crooked agents and brokers."'
'Over the years between 1811 and 1833 the Union Canal Lottery Company conducted almost 50 lotteries... and distributed $33,000,000 in prize money - a great share of which it paid to itself. This was accomplished by withholding thousands of tickets from sale and when a drawing was about to occur, dumping the stubs into the drum along with the stubs of the tickets the public had purchased. Eventually this utterly fraudulent trickery had a great deal to do with putting the Union Canal and Lottery Company out of business. Wealhy men seldom invetsed in lottery tcikets; it was the small farmer and laboring man, dreaming of winning first prize ($20,000), who made the enterprise fantastically profitable for the proprietors.'
So perhaps modern times are not as bad as we think! Or are they?
'Unquestionably it was the search for funds that led the Morris Canal and Banking Company astray. The old California saying that "more gold was put into the ground than was ever taken out of it" was applicable to investing in canal stock, many investors losing every dollar they risked. Some canal promotions were outright swindles. But in the majority of cases failure was due to ignorance and honest miscalculation. Behind the Morris Canal and Banking Comapny were men of good reputation, prominent in their communities, but in a mad scramble for money they began walking the very thin line between honest promotion and corruption. In the wave of prosperity and speculation that swept the country in 1835 the directors of the Morris became more interested in their banking privilege than in the canal. "They embarked on financial ventures which were nothing short of criminal" charges Harlow. "Their bank was a wildcat institution of the worst type... They participated in fake promotion schemes, floated loans on spurious collateral, perpetrated swindles through dummy organizations and divided illegal gains with crooked agents and brokers."'
'Over the years between 1811 and 1833 the Union Canal Lottery Company conducted almost 50 lotteries... and distributed $33,000,000 in prize money - a great share of which it paid to itself. This was accomplished by withholding thousands of tickets from sale and when a drawing was about to occur, dumping the stubs into the drum along with the stubs of the tickets the public had purchased. Eventually this utterly fraudulent trickery had a great deal to do with putting the Union Canal and Lottery Company out of business. Wealhy men seldom invetsed in lottery tcikets; it was the small farmer and laboring man, dreaming of winning first prize ($20,000), who made the enterprise fantastically profitable for the proprietors.'
So perhaps modern times are not as bad as we think! Or are they?
Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 12th October 19:08
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