Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-11-21
"A DEFENSE OF WALL STREET
A Banker Reads a Paper in Defense
Of This Money Center.
He Argues the Necessity of Place Where
Money 10 Kept sunicient for Large In
vsstments, and That all Wealth
10 the Result of LABOR.

New ORLEANS, La, Nov. 13.--The
national convention OF bankers came
to q close last night with the reading
Of paper on "Wall Street" by George
Rutledge Gibson, the we'll known New
York banker. He combatted the idea
that Wall Street Is merely the seat Of
IN unproductivc. useless and injurious
speculation. Large undertakings. "
he said required large capital, and TO
accomplish great results IL is necessary
to amass capital The effort OF no one
individual would be ample to set in
motion the forces which have produced
the prodigious results of modern ma
terial civilization. The principle OF
speculation is inherent in all business
and IL has expressed itself more quickly
and palpably in the stock exchange
than In purely commercial circles The
speaker also combatted the very pre-.
valent idea that brokers are useless
and unproductive individuals, and
claimed that the stock broker as a
middle-man was indispensab BILE and that
DGbNCth Vic tuludlC-ihdh hha VIC Chpi-
talist they performed most valua BILE
service to the comfort and prosperity
of mankind Mr.. Gibson continued as
follows:
81 know that 1t is very common 10
assail capital as hostile TO labor, but
capital is itself the product Of labor,
and to deny TO 1t its natural fruit is TO
deny 10 labor its natural reward. Cap
ital Is the result of abstinence, or labor
stored, and 1t is that part of wealth
itself which is used for purposes Of re-
production. In Its most fluid state we
call 1t liquid or cash capital, that Is to
say. money and credit that may be
transferred from one part OF the world
to another, as it's owner may direct
Wherever there is q vacuum-wherever
there Is lack of tools for the develop
ment Of resources-wherever "a demand
for it expresses itself in high rates of
Observation-Disclosures tempting opportu-
mites offer for development-there this
floating capital goes The western
farmer borrows money, saved by the
industry and frugality OF the eastern
manufacturer or laborer. and he spends
the money thus borrowed in building
new farm-houses and fences, or adding
new tract Of land to his estate, or la
buying new implements of culture. II
u few bad seasons come, or prices are
low, or he is improvident and extrava-
giant, and il misfortune overtakes him,
he condemns the money lender
as an oppressor. This, however,
IL SO palpsbly absurd and
unjust that a mere statement of the
claim carries with 10 it's own refutation
Perhaps il is human nature for the
debtor to dislike the creditor, but,
nevertheless, the creditor equips the
debtor with a command over the i'm
plements Of commerce, which, IL pru.
IDENTIFY and intelligently employed, will
lift him up to a higher estate.
During the war, when the credit OF
our government was at low ebb, Ger
man investors and spectators bought
our bonds, and events justified them in
| their confidence In the integrity and
resources Of the north. IL would be
bad grace. indeed, for US 10 condemn
them for their confidence in us at q
time when we could obtain credit no.
where else in Europe, and TO assail
them with epithcts for having made
\ IEou~y ouv va ouI nSSSsoiti~s~ Tks, ,.
did not create the necessities, they re-
| lieved them So in the case OF. our
great western territory, which has
been developed by the railroads which
eastern capital has built through II:
| by the money loaned TO It's farmers for
purposes Of improvement; by the splen.
did structures put up in western cities
by eastern capital by the capital con.
tributed TO the development of western
mines and factories and warehouse
and financial institutions. Whenever
a bright business man in the interior
conceives new idea or project
involving the use of capital
for its development he immedi-
ately comes TO Wall street, the
Mecca of all promoters, TO procure
funds to achieve his desire A country
without capital Is like factory with
out tools. OF course, we can recall the
time hundred years ago when labor.
ing men resisted the introduction of
labor.saving machinery. and the
blackburn spinners and weavers de-
stroyed the jenny and all its belong
ings. and drove Hargreaves himself
from the home. But the economy Of
the division of labor, the concentra-
tion OF skill and the application of the
forces OF nature to production under
the direction Of capital and machinery,
have vastly augmented the aggregate
output Of the necessaries of life, and
increased the proportionate part which
each individual may claim for himself.
Though this may seem like di-
version from the theme which / have
had chosen, II really is a part Of the
philosophy OF things relating to Wall
street, which deals in the shares of the
great corporations which bring about
these sesulta The moral philoso-
pher may regret that the ponderous
forces Of modern capital and machin-
cry destroy the individual shopkeeper
and small artisan, but since the sum
total OF material wealth which may be
divided among men is vastly aug
mented by the present order of things,
IL 10 folly to think Of gong backwards
to primitive methods, to the canal boat
and stage coach and spinning wheel
ana country forge of our ancestors"
Today a number Of delegates left on
. special train for Bay St Louis and
other resorts along the Mississippi
sound, the New Orleans bankers being
desirous Of showing their northern Wis
itors what delightful winter homes
are In the vicinity of New Orleans A
visit Is also to be paid TO the great
"Bahomey" plantation, the largest In
the world, where the visitors will be
enabled to see the picking, ginning
and baling Of cotton.
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A CHICAGO HORROR.
A Mother and son lbo.xd to IA. n 4.