Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-01-09


the entire payment is to be made at the
end OF year when you do not know, but
that by that time you will be penniless.
Give All Men Their Due
IL you would hold benefcent influence over
them. Do not be too rough in pulling out
the weeds lest you uproot also the mari
Colds and verbenas. In the Stock Exchange
there are some of the most conscientious,
upright Christian men OF our cities-men
who would scorn lie or asubterfuge. In
deed there are men in these boards who
might in some respects teach lesson OF
morality to other commercial circles. /
will not deny that there are special tempta-
tions connected with this business even
when carried on legitimately. So there are
dangers to the engineer on railroad. He
does not know what night he may dasn
into the coal train. But engines must be
run and stocks must be sold. A nervous,
excitable man ought to be very slow to un-
dertake either the engine or the Stock Ex..
change. A clever young man OF twenty
five years of age bought ten shares in the
Pennsylvania Central road. The stock
went up five dollars per share and he made
ffty dollars by tfeoperation. His mother,
knowing his temperament, said to him, II
wish you had lost it." But, encouraged,
he entered another operation and took ten
shares in another railroad and made two
hundred dollars. By this time he was
ready for the widest scheme. He lost, in
three years, $4,000, ruined his health,
broke his wife's heart, and was SUPPORTED
by his father. Such a man as this is unfit
for this commercial sphere. He would
have been unfit for pilot, unfit for mill
tary command, and unfit for any place that
demands steady nerve, cool brain and we'll
balanced teperament.
Bnt while there is
A Legitimate Sphere
for the broker and operator, there are
transactions every day undertaken in our
cities that can only be characterized as su-
members OF Christian Churches who have
been guilty Of speculations that in the last
day will blanch their cheeks and thunder
them down to everlasting mpanionship
with the lowest gamblers that ever pitched
pennies for drink. 1t is not necessary
that / should draw the difficult line be-
tween honorable and dishonorable speCu-
lation. God has drawn it through every
mans conscience. The broker guilty of
cornering we'll knows that he is SHINING
against God and man as though the flame
OF Mt. Sinai singed his eyebrows. He hears
that brother broker has sold short, and
Immediately goes about with wise look,
saying: Stock is going down-stock is
going down; prepare for it," Immediate
ly the people begin 10 sell; he buys up the
the whole affair; drags
down the man who sold short; makes
largely, pockets the gain, and
Thanks the Lord
for great prosperity in business. You call
il "cornering." l call it gambling, theft,
robbery, villainy accursed. 1t is
how some men who are kind
in their families, useful in the church,
charitable to the poor, are utter transform
ed of the devil as soon as they enter the
Stock Exchange. When | was living in
Philadelphia. a respectable member of one
of the churches of that city went into
brokers' Office and said: Get me one hun
drCd shares of Reading and carry il; | will
leave a margin of five hundred dollars"
Instead of going up according to anticipa-
ton, the stock fell. Every few days the
operator called TO ask the broker what
success. The stock stj 4 declined. The
operator was so terribly excited that the
broker asked him what was the matter. He
replied: "To tell you the truth i borrowed
that five hundred dollars that lost, and in
of what was sure | was going
to get by the operation made very large
to the missionary society,""
The nation has become so
Accustomed 10 Frauds
that no astonishment is excited Thereby.
The public conscience has for many years
been utterly debauched by what were call
ed fancy stocks, nlorus muLlcduhS, western
city enterprises and New England develop
ments. liza man find on his farm some
thing as large as the head of pin, that in
a strong sunlight sparkles a little,
are Opened: working capital declared;
n select number go in on the ground
floor" and the estates of widows and or
phans are swept into the vortex. Very lit
lie discredit is connected with any such
transaction il il is only on a large scale.
We cannot hear small and insignificant dis
honesties. but take off our hats and bow
almost 10 the ground in the presence OF the
man who has made 500, 600 by one swndle.
A woman was arrested in the streets OF one
OF our cities for selling molasses candy on
Sunday. She was tried, condemned and
imprisoned. On coming out-showing the
total depravity of woman's heart-she
again went into the same business and sold
molasses candy on Sunday. Whereupon
The police, the mayor and the public senti-
ment of the city rose up and declared,
II ough the heavens fell, no woman should
be allowed t.
Sell MOIasses Candy
ON Sunday. Yet the law puts its hands be-
hind its back and walks up and down in
The presence of thousand abominations
and dares not whisper. There are scores OF
men to-day on the streets whose costly
family wardrobes, whose rosewood furni-
ture. whose splendid turnouts, whose
ynaln ont pf fln dis
tresses of sewing women, whose money
they gathered up in a stock swindle. There
is human sweat in the golden tankards.
There is human blood in the crimson plush.
There are the bones of unrequiteed toll in
the keys of the piano There IS
the curse OF an incensed God lowering
over all their magnificence. Some night
the man will not be able to rest He Will
rise up in bewilderment and look about
him CRYING: who is there?" Those whom
he has wronged will thrust their skinny
arms under the tapestry and touch his
brow and feel for his heart, and blow their
sepulchral breath into his face crying
"Come to Judgment
For the warning of our young men be-
tween Is and % years Of age, | recall
scene of speculation which remember but
they do not. refer to the speculation IN
oil stocks about sixteen or seventeen years
ago, Not owning dollars worth OF stock
in all the world can speak without en-
harrassment. But about seventeen or eight
cen wears ago, bought $500 worth OF oil
stock. was induced TO do this by the fact
that the president and directors were such
famous Christian men. They were at the
head of great philanthrOpies. said it must
be all right or thir names would not be
connected with it. | thought that TO go
into such a company of pious and holy
men would be as good as going to prayer
meeting. The $500 are there yet or some
where up in Venango county. 1t made
but little difference TO me, for / was able 10
earn livelihood, but there were many who
nut their last dollar into that company and
went into penury or starvation. Now the
obtaining of lands, the transporting OF
MACHINERY and the forming OF com.
panies for the production Of oil
was Just as honorable as any
organization for the obtaining of coal, iron,
copper or zinc. God poured out before this
nation a river of oil, and intended us to
gather it up and use it and there were
companies formed that have withstood all
commercial changes, and continued year
after year in the prosecution OF an honor
able business. have just as much respect
fnr tho man who has made 5000 by Oil as