The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-01-26
4 Crying Evil.

| Speculation is the primal curse of tho
nineteenth century. 1t is the gilded idol
of the present day and generation. It Ia
glittering monster, attractive in mien
but bloodthirsty and relentiessin dispoai.
tion, to which whole natioas are bending
| the knee; and which one day will turn
and rend Its wOrshipers. The gambling
spirit seems to have gone mad in the land.
ihe men oil former generations haznrded
| their fortunes upon the fall of the dice or
the turn of the cards, but those of 10 dav
speculate upon the price of the very brea,;
they eat and clothes they wear. Nov,
worse than that, they use the fotd
and raiment Of the poor, the neccssitiesaf
life itself, MS the implements of their
nefarious trace, exacting Cesar's tribute
from every poor mans crust, in order that
they may reap their profits from tho hide.
| Gus games OF chance which they play with
| the grain from which it is made.
II IL impossible To ovcrdraw The picture
OF evil caused by the speculative spirit of
the present day. 1t is far worse than out
and out gambling, for in the latter there
can be but one direct sufferer, and he not
an innocent party. Speculation" as
wheat, corn, pork aud cotton gambling
are politely termed, possesses The power
Of injuring both guilty and innocent
alike. IL injures the speculator himself.
though he is seldom the worst sufferer'
II Injuries the producer oftentimce.
tilching from him portion of his honest
profits; but even he is not the one most
aggrieved. 1t is the consumer who paya
the piper for This mad dance-a bitter
price il in, too, to the worlds majority,
though divided up among millions, for Il
Is the worlds poor who pay il, the worlds
poor Upon whose kard.earned pennies.
wrung from them by necessity's relentless
force, these richest and meanest of pam.
blers grow fat end opulent.
What honest man can face the astouud.
ing figures regarding the extent to which
speculation is being carried, and the
terrible influence it has upon the markets,
without feeling the blood boil in his
indignant veins To read of $4,000 900
bales of cotton sold last year in options,
when the total production OF the entire
cotton belt was only 100000 bales to
read of one den of thieves, yclept first.
class business house, cornering the pork
market OF the entire country, and
squeezing several million dollars prima.
fily out oi the pockets of other spectators,
of forty or fifty millions of consnmera
to read of the great wheat corner of '81'
whicn drove up the price Of that staple
to many shillings above its normal value
ia to read of crimes crimes which.
though not illegal in thia strangely. ruled
country, are deserving of the Enout, the
dungeon and the gallows-crimes which
would almost excuse Judge Lynch's jus.
tice, ifa little Wholesale hanging executed
by the hand of the suffering public could
pnt an end TO the curse.
And, indeed, what end can be put to it9
Is there any cure for thia crying evil
!s there any power in the land Which can
be summoned to banisE this strange idol.
atry? Is there any way by whic!i the poor
people can remove this yoke from their
nccks? Not until the Press. tho Pulpit
and the People have Joined hands in com.
mon cause against the hydra. headed mon.
ster, Speculation-will the days of its
power and glory be ended. Slavery was
O. no more detestable institution than
speculation is; Mormoniap,, thrice &C.
cursed instrument of evil, is no more
deserving of extinction; butpublic opirs
ion, which has learned the Lessor of the
former and ia fast learning that of the
latter vice, is only beginning to awaken
to the trne insyerdness Of gambling ;a
staples. May the day hasten It's coming
when this vice also becomes the target Of
reiormers' arrows, and The by.word and
reproach, which it ought to be, of all hon.
est men !-Norkh and South.