Rumor in the Markets

            Rumors affect not just Jews in society broadly, but also those characters in The Way We Live Now who are rumored to be Jewish. Roger Carbury, the representative of traditional, often outdated, values in the novel, allows rumors to influence his social behavior concerning the potentially Jewish Melmottes: “he was a gentleman – and would have felt himself disgraced to enter the house of such a one as Augustus Melmotte” (Trollope, 61). Before he even meets Melmotte he has a base of purloined knowledge from which he draws conclusions concerning Melmotte’s character. These types of rumors affect not just the Jews in the novel, but also the three other distinct markets in the novel: the financial market, the publishing market, and the marriage market.

            The financial market in the novel centers on “the Great Railway to Vera Cruz” and the board that controls it. The railway is a scheme dreamed up by Mr Fisker, an American and business partner of Paul Montague. He proposes that shares for a railway in America be sold to investors in England and the initial investors be paid off by the money of subsequent investors – no railway would ever need to be built in order to produce a large financial return for those who are in control of the shares. Melmotte becomes the head of the board because of his perceived financial prowess and is one of only a handful of people who know that this is not a legitimate business venture. Because there is no actual good or product being produced Fisker, the American man who initially proposes the plan, “unhinges the shares’ worth from the railway’s material base” (Clabaugh, 3). By divorcing the production of goods from the act of generating money, Fisker proposes a process by which shareholders are able to make money out of nothing. The end result of this Ponzi scheme ends up mirroring the criticisms that surrounded the Jews who practice usury. By allowing investors to take their pool of “ready money” and leave it to sit with the board and collect a larger return at some indefinite point in the future the scheme essentially allows investors to collect interest on their money so long as it stays out of their direct control – no actual work must be done and no goods produced – they are living off the money of others without doing anything in return.

            The business of speculation becomes entirely founded on rumor. The success of the railway is determined by others believing that the railroad is already successful. Rumors of the success of the business are vital to ensuring their continued success in the future; therefore, unfounded statements concerning the railroads profitability were made in order to gather greater interest from potential investors and support from the public who will continue to generate positive rumors. For this reason, Melmotte ensures that other investors do not realize that they too have become the giant “swindlers” that he is rumored to be, and avoids any and all questions concerning the actual progress of the proposed railroad so they will remain unaware that they are in unscrupulous practices.