Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-09-13
The Secret Of Wall Street

Across the Island of New York
in 1856 a wall of earth and stone
was built, wall cannon mounted,
to keep back the savages- Along
this wall ran a street, and as the
street kept the line OF the wall, it
was appropriately called Wall
street. Short, narrow, unarchitec-
tural, and yet unique in its history,
and excepting Lombard Street,
London, the mightieSt street in the
was born. There Washington held
his Ievees. There Mrs. Adams and
Mrs Arnold, and Mrs. Caldwell and
Mrs. Knox, and other brilliant wO-
men of the revolution, displayed
their charms. There preached
Witherspoon, Jonathan Edwards
and George Whitefeld. There DIR.
John Mason chided Alexander
Hamilton for writing the constitu-
ton without any God in it. There
negroes were sold in the slave-mart.
There criminals were harneSSed to
wheelbarrows and compelled to
draw burdens. There they were
lashedF through the street behind
carts to which they were fastened.
That street has seen the coronation
and the burial OF ten thousand.
The abode of just the opposites-
answering integrity and tiptop
scoundrelism, heaven-descended
charity and bloodless Shylockism.
The history of Wall street would
be the history Of the commerce of
America. | would like to put the
plowshare i'm at the curbstone in
front of Trinity church, and drive
clear through to Wall Street Ferry,
and so it shall go if the horses are
strong enough to draw the pillow.
We are all stunned with the recent
deGalcations in Wall street, and
there Is no more absorbing question
to-day than this: What caused
"Black Wednesday ?' what caused
"BIack Friday 2" What has caus-
ed all the black days of financial
disaster with which Wall street has
been connected for the last forty
years ? Some say il is the spirit of
gambling ever and anon becoming
epidemic. Something back Of that.
Some say Ii is the sudden shrinkage
in the value OF securities, which
even the most honest and intelli-
gent men could not have foreseep.
Something back OF that. i will
give you the primal cause OF all
these disturbances. 1T is the eX-
travagance OF modern society which
impels man to spend more money
than he can honestly make, and he
goes Into Wall street in order TO get
the purpose of immediate display,
and sometimes the man Is to blame
aud sometimes his wife, and oftener
both. Five thousand dollars income,
ten thousand dollars income is not
enough for man to keep the style
OF living he proposes, and therefore
he steers his bark toward the mael-
strom. Other men have suddenly
snatched up fifty ora hundred thous-
and dOllars-why not he? The
present income of the man not be-
ing large enough, he must move
earth and hell to catch up with
neighbOrs. Others have country
seat-so must he. Others have eX-
travagant caterers-So must he.
Others have palatial residences-so
must he. Extravaganza is the. cause
of all the defalcatiOns of the last
forty years, and il you will 60
through the history of all the great
panics and all the great financial
disturbances no sooner have you
found the story than right back OF
it you find the story of how many
horses the man had, how many res
licences in the country the man had,
how many banquets the man gave
always, and not one exception
for the last forty years, either di-
rectly or Indirectly, eXtrav-
agance the cause.-Dr. Talmage.