Beschreibung:

Celluloid badge with "Mr. Investor" shaking hands with "Mr. Miner," "Our Mutual Friends, in Attendance at Annual Meetings, 1904" along the side. Button with Whitehead & Hoag Co., Newark, NJ and patent date of 1896 on verso; 2 in. diameter. Red ribbon printed "Douglas, Lacey & Co. / Western / New England / Representative." Ribbon bar at top "To New York." No pin or clip or other way to attach it. According to "The Mines Register: Successor to the Mines Handbook and the Copper Handbook, Describing the Non-ferrous Metal Mining Companies in the Western Hemisphere." (vols. 8-9, Mines Publications, 1909), Douglas, Lacey & Co. was a firm of swindlers. They are accused of defrauding over 20,000 mostly small investors of anywhere from 2 to 5 million dollars. They opened 40 branch offices, most on the East Coast (where the money was) and sprinkled in the West (where the miners were). A few mines and smelting works were opened, mostly to keep up appearances, but the company never earned anything from the mines, only from the next group of investors. It was a pyramid scheme in which a few early investors received "dividends" on their shares, even though there were no profits upon which they were based. Efforts began in 1903 to investigate this firm, but no government office seemed to be seriously looking into their practices. Eventually, President Theodore Roosevelt was notified, but he referred it back to the Postmaster General, then Secretary of the Treasury. About all that came of these "investigations" was that Douglas, Lacey & Co. was notified that they were under investigation. The firm's answer to questions by the government was that Copper Handbook was a blackmailing publication. Government questioners accepted this answer, and moved on to other projects. By 1907 the firm was being liquidated by Amalgamated Properties, Inc. which ultimately recovered about one-half cent on the dollar. Seventy percent of small stockholders - widows, teachers, clerks, etc. - were wiped out of their investment, usually their entire savings. Condition: Print on ribbon wearing off. No pin as noted. Some soil/discoloration on celluloid, but still very good.