The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-06-19

rayed in line Of battle. With 600000.00O he
would sweep away the Jews, become the king
of gold, the master of the world. What a
dreaml and it was very simple, the idea of the
value of money disappeared at this stage of tho
fever, there were only pawns to be moved upon
the chess board. In his nights of insomnia he
raised this army Of 100000 and had them
killed for his glory, victorious at last amid dis
asters, upon the ruins of everything.
Evidently" he rejoined bitterly, II was
conquered; l a canaille. Honesty, glory,
these are simply success. One must not let
himself be beaten, otherwise he will find him
self on the morrow only fool and fraud.
Oil can imagine what they are saying; you
do not need to repeat to me their words. Isn't
it this? They glibly talk of me as a robber;
they accuse me Of having put all these millions
in my pocket; they would strangle me if they
had me in their clutches; and, what Is worse,
they shrug their shoulders with pity a simple
madman, a poor intelligence But, if l had sue
ceeded, imagine thatl Yes, if had struck
down Gundermann, conquered the market, If
were at this hour the undisputed king of
gold, eh? what triumph I should be a hero,
should have Paris at my feet"
There are short chapters from the his
tory of the bourse, such as our own
stock exchanges furnish. The extracts
below show another phase-the cruelties
practiced upon the poor by landlords
and usurers, who are no worse in their
worship of money than the kings Of
speculation, though they may not keep
their hands so clean. The first part of
the quotation refers to a brutal old
woman, proprietor of dwellings" in a
squalid section of Paris; in the other it
is the good little wife of struggling,
poorly paid writer who is in the grip of
Shylock.
A bad business, which would be the death of
her, she said, for she found in it more trouble
than profit, especially now that the prefecture
tormented her, sending inspectors to require
repairs and improvements, under the pretext
that people were dying like flies in her prem
ises. However, she energetically refused to
spend sou. Would they not soon require
chimney pieces ornamented with mirrors in
the rooms which she let for two francs
weekI But she did not speak of her own
greediness in collecting the rents, throwing
families into the street the minute they
failed to pay the two francs in advance, doing
her own police work, SO feared that beggars
without shelter would not have dared to sleep
for nothing against one of her walls. y
Her poor little apartments of which she was
SO proud, her four pieces of furniture which
she so often polished, the Turkish red hangings
of the chamber which she had put up herselfl
She shouted with warlike bravery that they
would have to walk over her body, and she
called Busch canaille and thief at random;
yes, a thief, who was not ashamed to demand
730 francs and Is centimes, to say nothing of
the new costs, for a claim of 800 francs, claim
purchased by him for hundred sous, in
heap, together with rags and old ironl To think
that they had already paid 400 francs in INSTALL
ments, and that this thief talked of carrying
off their furniture in payment of the three
hundred and odd francs which he wished to
steal from them alsoi
This is the story of ssfree competi-
tion;' it is the history of business" I"
Here is the criminally insane specula-
ton which is called enterprise. Here
is the right to Gown" and to collect toll
from the users It is dark and revolt
ing picture, but just what a snap shot at
commercialism, modern capitalism the
world over, the Christian world, reveals.
The curse of it rests upon the devoured
and devourer; but the money mad rush
on and on and see not the chasm which
yawns before them. But it is there, or
nature is a humbug.
Jos. R. BUCHANAN.