A FIGHT FOR MILLIONS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7957, 6 February 1906, Page 7

A FIGHT FOR MILLIONS.

The short oable message published In the middle >of December stating that T. W. Lawsou, the Boston financier, had lost a large snm of money in trying to lowoi the price of cooper, and bad stakod his all on a further attempt, was a bald summary of a tromeudous fight for millions, in wbicri Lawson wag pitted agaiust the Standard uil Company. To find the eauso of tbe figlit one has to go] tack several years. Lawson undertook a cigantic arnalgamatiou of copper-mining interests, and the Standard Oil people agreed to finance the project, Lawson and his friends investing heavily in certain companies which were to be included. Then, according to Lawson's story, Staudard uil, or rather Henry Rogers, its guiding spirit, decided to loavo out of tbe amalgamation tbe companies in which Lawson had invested. Lnwson then declared war against Standard Oil, and roused all America by his articles on "Frenzied Finance." At first Standard Oil spid nothing; it was no new thing to bo attacked by men who had been "squeezed" in Wall Street. But as publio iutorest grew, efforts ■were made to atop the crusade, and aooording to Lawson, Rogers sunt him a huge cheque to cover his losses in Amalgamated Copper. Lawson sent" it back. Rogers' solioitor tried to persuade him to stop; Lawson's reoly was to increase his advertising contracts in the daily newspapers, and make his attacks more sensational. At length Lawson wrote an onen letter to Rogers in which he said that murder was Rogers' preferred stock-in-trade providing it was safe, and adding a threat to "shoot on sight any hired thug sent to assassinate me.".Then Lawson formed a pool to "bear" Amalgamated Copper, and it was a 'case of war to thb jpife. The whole of Standard Oil's enormous wealth and influence was brought to bear on Lawaon to "squeeze" him, and Amalgamated Copper was forced steadily upwards. On December 13th Lawßon admitted that his losses were £BOO,OOO. A new £3,000,000 pool-was immediately formed, and Lawson announced that he'had put every penny he had into at. Replying to a query from the Dally ExDress, Lawson declared that Standard Oil as "tbe greatest publio oppressor since man dropped his tail." The trust, he declared, knew that oopper would shortly go down, •and wanted to unload £20,000,000 "worth of inflated oopper stocks on the publio. It was his business to stop that. "I would not quit for the United Kingdom. I want the honour of absolutely destroy ing that band, ana I'll have that honour the day the world knows what I know—that the price of copper (the metal) is to be, from legitimate causes, for all time below fivepence per pound, and the sun is just beginning to shine on that day." It was not the first time Lawson had staked everything on the turn [on the market, and if Standard Oil won he declared he would find some fresh form of attaok.