The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-10-09
Financial Baruumss

II, said Mr.. Fisk, with the self-complacency
that seems to distinguish the man in all rela-
tons, 81 am speculator." That is to say, II
General Grant was in this gold uproar 1t was
no doubt mOnstrously corrupt of him il Mr..
Boutwell, was in 1t he is the grandest Of
swindlers; If Mr.. Corbin was in 1t Judge him
guilty Of piece Of roguery; but il !, Fisk,
was in It, well, 81 am a speculator" Grant.
Boutwell, Corbin-all these people have souls
to save, perhaps; nay, what Is Of greater
consequence, they have characters to lose; but
/, being Spectator, am in quite another
category, and my actions must be judged BY
other standards and codes Of morals and
ethics. Here is the trouble with Wall street.
Here Is the cause that has made Its name
synonymous with keen and INSCRIPTIONS
roguery, and so fixed its fame that par
sons in their pulpits deem it legiti-
mate subject for sermonizing to discuss whether
or no there are any honest men in its limits.
In the midst of its legitimate dealers, so con-
founded with them that the world at large
cannot see the difference, are men who openly
and without any perception of shame pretend
that the universal ideas Of right and wrong do
not apply to their transactions, that they do
not stand on the fair ground Of trade that
dealers stand on the world over, but that it is
properly within their sphere to profit by sharp
practice on other peoples pockets.
We have frequently touched upon the same
sort of morality in the case of notorious
exhibitor of monstrosities. If man possesses
q calf with double the usual allowance of head
he may put himself in a booth at the cross
roads and people may pay him their two cents
for glimpse at what nature can do or what
may happeu by some accidental perversion Of
her laws; and all that may be an
honest transaction, though it add but
little to the dignity of the exhibitor. But II
it prove that, In fact, there was no vagary Of
nature-that the second head was con-
trivance Of the showpa9-then be is only =
cheap and common swindler, to be consigned
to that place in public estimation that is the
nearest equivalent to horse pond. But does
it change the relations of this man to society
for him to boast of his roguery2 Can he
defend his swindle on the ground that he is q
speculator2 Does his holding up his rogueries
as il they were triumphs make them anything
but rogueries +? It would almost seem as IL It
did in Wall street-as If the atmosphere there
were such that sharp transaction appeared
to all others just as it did to the sharper. But
here is Robert Macaire on the STAGE He
WITCHES handkerchief from the pocket Of
passer-by and holds 1t up, glorying in the art
with which he has taken it; but any boy in
the pit will call his art stealing. When the
Snowman disposed of his museum property he
practised sharp game in regard to his leases
that straightforward people in most places
that as Robert Macaire does over the spoil he
has taken. But that does not change the Cha
racter of the transaction.
Wall street may be sure that it is just the
same with the transactions it permits and
accepts. Calling a thing "a speculation" may not
make it any the less piece Of roguery; and
If the financial Barnums that now flourish
in that latitude are to give the tone; If the
geniuses who get up an excitement to-day with
woolly horse in stocks, and tomorrow with
Feejee mermaid in gold, are to pass without
some open and clear reprobation from fair
traders, the whole body must take the odium.
'sUNoLE Tom" IN SPAIN.-The aboltiouist
societies of England and France have addressed
the Regent Serrano, in Madrid, on the subject
Of ''human slavery" and aboltionism in Cuba.
Poor Serrano! The Cubans in arms are bad
enough, but what will he do when the foreign
abolitionists are added?
TRY HIM ON CoPY.-Stealing papers