Easy Money: Oil Promoters and Investors in the Jazz Age

by Roger M. Olien, Diana Davids Hinton

Overview

During the great oil speculations in the 1920s, both promoters and investors became victims of their common greed. Outlining the activities of several different promoters and drawing on business papers, federal court records, and local land records, the Oliens describe the legal and regulatory responses to fraud. Their fascinating story breaks new ground in American social and business history and offers new insight into the culture of American capitalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469639598
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/01/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Takes a lively and often astonishing look at oil investment promoters: their techniques, failures and clients.—Publishers Weekly



This sprightly, well-researched account of a neglected area of business history explores a fascinating array of characters and con men. But its real agenda is that quintessential American craving for the rainbow and its pot of gold: the easy-money, get-rich-quick mentality that formed a curious and compelling bond between the promoter and his victim.—Maury Klein, University of Rhode Island

Editorial Reviews

The Oliens' ( Life in the Oil Fields ) fourth book on American oil takes a lively and often astonishing look at oil investment promoters: their techniques, failures and clients. After World War I's ``forced frugality,'' Americans were ready to spend and speculate, and a boom in the teens made oil a conspicuous and tempting option. But it was no place for the inexperienced: even a relatively honest, albeit mismanaged, venture like Lubbock-Bridgeport's could dump its investors' money down a dry hole. Bleaker still were the chances of those whose savings went to ``General'' Robert A. Lee, ``the Miracle Man of Oildom,'' actually an aging dreamer and front man for two slick thieves, or to S.E.J. Cox, a brilliant entrepreneur whom the FTC called ``the most seductive and unreliable promoter in America.'' Although the government finally clamped down on illegal promotion (Lee and Cox ended up in Leavenworth), it took the 1929 crash to undercut the boom in ``suckers'' and then, not entirely: only recently ``fraud artist'' Stephen L. Smith raised $125 million for his SH Oil Company ``from 700 investors, including his grandmother.'' Photos not seen by PW . (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Nine contributions discuss the relationship between Jesuit missionaries and the Chinese, and concentrate on how Matteo Ricci and his contemporaries were able to create amiable relationships with the Chinese. In examining a specific industry, this study seeks insight on more general issues pertaining to speculative booms and manias--the social and economic basis of speculative booms, the expectations and mentalities they reflect, the relation of fraudulent business activities to manias, and the effect of law enforcement on fraudulent boom-time activity. The authors are both at U. of Texas, Permian Basin. Paper edition (unseen), $11.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews