Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-09-14
waIIsrxEEr.

ton Of Wall street many people sud-
denly stand stiIl, look bewildered, draw
long breaths, sigh. and do many other
strange things, as IL they could hear the
rumbling of ealamity's ehariOts in the
distance Noticing such things il u
quite natural that people should ask,
what il Wall street? and what is there
In and about Wall street which, when
it e mentioned, creates suen huoouo?
Wall street in the city Of New York.
II reaches far below the curb stones OF
Gotham. 1t is paved hellwards and
beayenwards. People goodwin IN wal
street, and they go up in Wall street.
They sink like plummets or rise Ike
kites. They die like dogs or live Ike
Princes. In Wall street there is cash
and curses. Wall street Is gambling
hell, and the smoke Of the torments OF
those who fail to win never clears away,
tut rises night and day forever.
Wall street is the place where the
money power sits enthroned, grim, and
cold, and relentless as death.
Since the earliest times when New
York city was regarded as the market
centre of America singular power has,
hy common consent, been bestowed on
Wall street. It's origin was undoubtedly
in the fact that from q very early day,
when legitimate business was alone
thought Of As q means Of making
money, the "streetn wss the great
money centre from which came the
necessary funds to carry on the great
commercial interests Of New York. 1t
has continued still to retain the ruling
in nSneaip.!glrnSIssV SJfaiEr hut Tiers
whereby Wall street absolutely sets the
price and governs the transactions Of
the whole country. The mania for
speculation is there developed and
maintained upon every known article
which the United States produces.
Wall street furnishes TO the cotton
planter the price per pound which he
shall receive for his cotton, which Is
yet standing blooming i'm the field; AM
with equal facility dictates to the west
ern farmer what wheat and corn shall
bring before they are hardened
on the stalk. IL does mOre-it goes be-
meath the surface OF the earth aud puts
a price upon the oil which is gurgling
toward the light, aud gives rate and
value to precious metals before they are
loosed from their primitive surround
ings. II there be a million bushels of
actual corn or wheat, Wall street will
buy and sell thousand millions, and
20 on through all the gradatiOus Of spec
ulation Wall street extends and multi
plies to infinity the actual by the spec
ulatiye until the actual is entirely lost
sight Of and all things take shape from
the unreal.
But it is nevertheless the fact that by
the enormous and unreal transactions
which are of every day occurrence a
fictitious and unfair advantage is given
TO the INSCRIPTIONS Spectator and
broker in the heart of a great CONNER
cial city to fix a price upon the bread
that poor men labor for, and regulate it
by that selfish standard which coins
money for them at the expense OF the
poor, and without regard TO the real
value oft article.
Some idea may be obtained ofthe,im-
mense amount of money which is turns
ed into the advantage Of the stock
broker, when the value OF seat in the
exchange is placed at $4,000, and the
seats are limited 10 a certain fixed num-
Der which can neither be increased or
diminished. The broker who buys and
sells alone on commission, combining
himself merely to the commission
profits Of the Transactions, has generally
an assured increase of many thousands
of dollars with no possible chance to
lose anything.
Wall street, omuipOtent in all things,
ears nothing. Laws are regarded as
things made for the benefit of the out
eide world, for the Exchange makes a
law unto itself which is enforced with
out regard to the sancity and sacred.
ness Of the proper tribunals for the adj
ministration Of Justice.
The attention of the courts and Leg
islatures to the subject of attempting to
curb by wholesale restraints the power
of Wall street has met with uniform
failure. Wall street daily violates the
most venerable doctrines of the COM
mon law with the levltp with which it
derides every statute passed for its gov
nernment. All of its disputes are set
tied rs family quarrels within ITSELF
With these vast elements of IOwe-
and influence Wall street bestrides the
! commerce, the industries and finances
Of the United States. Its control is linn
tied alone by the confines OF the coun-
try. Ifit does the country any good it
is by that lucky accident which is not
to its credit since it was nOn.intention-
al. There seems to be no escape from
its thralldOm, since it is maintained by
the common consent of the people.
What its end will be cannot be sur
missed. But when to it can be traced
the perils of hard times, panics and
high prices brought about simply to
swell its gains, wave Of popular iniig-
nation may sweep ii out Of existence.
OfcOurse the demands of large CONNER
Cial interests require an exchange for
,hO fixing Of prices The main bust.
ness Of such an institution should de-
pend upon actual conditions and not
upon the speculative ingenuity Of reck-
!ess men. An exchange of that sort
would answer the needs Of the country
TO all intents and purposes without the