The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-12-06
TIE SHARKS OF WALL STREET
Are thsy rirales. Rehbers o. Chrlstians.


e money that, upon the way in whic
), they handle it, depends the pro-
perity of the community. The
e can lock it up, and so take out {
circulation the medium by whic
exchanges are made and bushes
facilitated between the other mem
bers Of the community, or they ca
loan it at remunerative rates of In
lerest. If they are good citizen
a and friendly neighbors, the meT
chant can borrow money of then
I so that he can supply his customer
with goods and wait for his return
/, from the consumers. The manu-
]. facturer can borrow money of then
by which he can buy his raw ma
teriAI and pay his hands, and 8,
, bridge over the time that he mus
, wait for returns from his market
t The employees, being puDctuall.
paid for their labor, can pay tn
farmers for their produce, and il
this way and in a thousand othe
ways the facilities of exchange art
furnished, SO that the whole com
munity goes along pr osperously.
The ability of these capitalists Il
secure good interest for all thei
lose funds Is undOnbted. They
: could lend all they have and more
too, but they are content with this
So they have put their wicked
heads together and agree to with.
draw from circulation all the ready
money in their hands and all they
can get, for the simple purpose oil
producing public distress, in order
that out of it they may increase
their profits. The merchant can
get nothing with which to pay his
maturing liabilities. The manufac-
turcr can get nothing with which to
purchase raw material and reward
his laborers. Tho farmers aud the
laborers, dependent upon the pros
perity OF the larger Industries, are
deprived of the means of living,
for they have nothing with which
10 pay the necessRries of life. Eve
rybOdy in the community is in dis
tress. The farmer, whose farm is
Inortgaged to one Of these capital
ist>, rails to pay his interest or to
make his stipulated pay ments Oh
The principal, aud the mortgage is
IoreclOsed. The merchant, who has
laid by a few Thousand dollars OF
valuable stocks, is compelled to
sell them at ruinous discount from
their real value, in order to save
themselves from failure. Here and
there one who is too weak TO bear
the strain Zoos under, and loses en-
tirely that which should have been
the nucleus OF n fortune. Honest
mon aud women are distressed to
provide bread and clothing for their
innocent children. There are buI
three houses in the whole commun-
enter. In these there is laughing
and feasIlng and cOngratulstion, for
into these p0urs the wealth wrung
from the very hearL's.b blood of the
people. They eat and drink that
which other hands have earned.
They glory in the power of bias ting
all the hopes and running the peace
aud prosperity OF all the homes
around them. They fatten on the
public calamity which they volun-
tarily and Of deliberate purpose pro-
duce.
Are these men public enemies, or
are they good citizens? Arc they
men who should be greeted by the
courte sizes of the community, or are
they fascals whom no Christian
gentleman can recognize without
personal degradation and disgrace?
Are they honorable business men,
or are they robbers so base that they
should be hOoted ont of the COM
munity? Is their deed one whit
winter or their motive one whit
better than that of the midnight
burglar or the sly pickpocket? Not
at all. They could not frame and
execute an act in the whole range
of possible immortality more selfish,
more cruel, more base. more cow
ardly, more unpatriotic, more I'M
Christian, more inhuman than this.
It is tyranny against the weak,
cruelty toward the innocent, op-
preston of the helpless, robbery OF
the detenseless, and all for the base
purpose of increasing wealth al
ready too large.
We have supposed this simple
case in order to illustrate to the
people the measures that have been
Instituted and executed in Walt
street recently. There probably
never was finer harvest in Amer
lea than that which rewarded the
husbandman during the past year.
All kinds IF business have been in
fair state of prosperity. Money has
been sufficiently plenty. Building
has been going on everywhere. The
farmers have been paid, the labor
| erS have been paid, manufacturers
have been prosperous aud mer-
chants have been doing well. The
public debt has been diminished
every month by millions. The pub.
| lie funds have been in demand at
good prices, at home and abroad.
We have been at peace with all
the world aud we are likely to re-
main so. There has not been q sim
gle cloud upon the financial horri-
zun. In The mid { of all this pros
periIy and peace aud popular COM
fort, a group of unprincipled men
organized q gigantic scheme for
| Withdrawing from circulation. and
locking up, an immense sum of
money, with which the country had
been doing its business. The con-
sequence was immediate stringency
of the money market and immedi
ate distress. Stocks were sacrificed.
Feeble houses went by The board
Every bauk throughout the whole
country felt the shock, and tighten
ed up its credits. Country banks
that had been in the habit of draw
ing against deposits of New York
bills not mstured, were shut OF
from that resort and privilege.
| Every interest was depressed in the
exact degree that the facilities for
doing business had been withdrawn.
All this trouble, let 1t be remember
ed, was produced by few men for
the simple purpose of making mon
ey out of il. This distress was pre-.
cisely what they aimed at. Their
project would have miscarried en-
iirely If they had not produced it.
Not one dollar have they made out
of il that was not forced from un-
willing hands without an equiva-
lent. II they had presented pis.
toll at the heads of their victims, and
said, "Your money or your life y
and secured their booty in that way
they would not have compelled the
surrender of what was not their:
any moro truly than they did by the
mode which they deliberately and
in cold blood selected.
Now what are we to say of thes.
men, and how are they to be regard
ed? That they have committed al
unprovoked outrage upon the com
munity there can be no question
They have robbed the rich, they
have destroyed the weak, they have
distressed the poor, they have OBJ
J structed the public prosperity, they
. have clogged the wheels of the pub
, lie industry, and all for the purposG
: of forcing an unearned current o
= profit into their own pockets, al
!. ready gorged by gains questionabl,
!. gotten. If this Is not outrage ant