The Humbugs of the World · Chapter
XXIII explained
This chapter recounts several historical humbugs involving fraudulent mining and canal schemes.
What happens
This chapter recounts several historical humbugs involving fraudulent mining and canal schemes. It begins with a California coal mine hoax where prospectors sold stock based on coal lumps left behind by a U.S. surveying expedition. Next, it describes a Hartford coal mine venture that failed because the investors bored into old red sandstone, which never contains coal. Finally, it tells of a fabricated story about a vast ancient canal discovered in Guatemala, invented to promote a Central American transit route to California.
Themes in this chapter
Definition and Nature of Humbug
The chapter illustrates humbug through fraudulent mining claims and a fabricated ancient canal, showing how deception is crafted and sold.
Gullibility and Human Nature
Investors and the public eagerly believe in the coal mine and canal stories, driven by greed and excitement, despite lack of evidence.
Advertising and Showmanship
The promoters of the California coal mine and the Guatemalan canal story use secrecy, stock sales, and public exhibitions to generate hype.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Barnum
Narrator and commentator on the humbugs described in the chapter.
Key passages
“The hole they made, however, as my informant gravely observed, was left sticking in the ground, and if he is right is to this day a sort of appendix or tail to the well northwest corner of the State House Square.”
The borehole remained as a permanent, useless feature near the State House well.
Barnum uses humor to underscore the absurdity of the Hartford coal mine venture.
“Twelve hundred dollars in coin for one share (par $100) was laughed at.”
Shares soared to twelve times their face value, yet were still considered too low by speculators.
Illustrates the irrational exuberance of investors in the California coal mine hoax.