The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-05-15
MALL STREET DO|NGS
UHs Defended Yesterday in a Sermon
by q New FORK Clergyman.
STOCK BROKERS ARE HONEST.
Their Earnings Are Declared to be as
Legitimate ss Those ofa Preacher-A
Law TO Mako Broke Responsible
Noodod-

NEW YORK, May B.sRev. Addison
c. Peters of the B~loomingdale Reformed
church preached a sermon last night to
stock brokers. He said:
"Across the island in New York, in 1765,
a wall Of stone was erected to keep off the
Indians and along the line of that wall n
stree. was laid, called Wall street. II Is
the mightiest street in the world today.
People talk Of its being a street that run
from Trinity church to the East river. It
reaches from the Atlantic to the Pacific
and from the lakes to the gulf.
$50 many bad things have been done in
Wall street that with some people it
stands only for heightened scoundrelism.
go up and down that street and look at
che names on the signs and the names of
the many Institutions, and you viii find
the names of more tried and true men than
you can find In the same space in any
part of the business world. Stocks have
become one of the essential means of our
commercial and political progress; they
are therefore as
Legitimate an Article Of Trafao
- groceries, and It is necessary that there
oaoaAA oO q - VA hAO uCNClODSu
TO this business.
"And while there are financial despera-
does in the street (which Is the misfortune
OF all professions), there are many men
there Of the highest standing for honesty.
The board of brokers was organized 20
years ago, and In that time not more han
two or three members have been found
guilty of fraud while connected with it, a
financial standing unequalled by any
monetary institution In the world. Many
men Of Wall street are prominently identi-
fled with the management of our churches,
colleges and charities Of our country.
Every merchant Is In 0Dme sense a specu-
lator, and it is just as legimitate to deal in
railroad stock as IL Is In goods. Stop
legitimate speculation and you might as
well shut up all shops.
THE stock broker Is q commission
merchant, and the dollar he earns is as
honest q dollar as / earn by preaching.
But abuses have crept among the brokers,
and which all the honest men of their pro-
fession deplore equally with candid OBJ
servers from without. Confine specula-
ton to bona ade stocks and bona ide in
vestments, and the moralist will
Have No Ground For Complaint.
IL you sell a man Tfancies'' worth a dollar.
you are giving him the worth of his
money. You say a man Is foolish to buy a
fourth class article. Legitimate commerce
Is a contrast between responsible parties
and an actual exchange of equivalents.
Betting on the rise and fall of markets
II identieally the same as horse races, SO the
country regards IL. Money is frequently
poured, by defaulting clerks, into brokers'
hands as II from acknowledged million.
aires. Sooner or later the theft is dis
covered, the yonng man sent to prison, the
firm shoulders the loss and the broker
basks in content.
"Now, / believe that we need a law
which shall make every broker ~responsi-
BILE for his dealings; let him satisfy him
self as to the individual responsibility and
means Of the man for whom he negotiates
a deal and make him liable for all losses IL
he accepts money from one whose position
makes the honesty of his money question
able, and there will be an end to despoiling
to whose custody is given their
honor. William II. Vanderbilt once said:
Not one man in 10 who goes into Wall
street is not a loser In the long rum
MANY a Wall street investment might
be put into the battle by this little fable:
This is a picture Of Freddie's rabbit. But
II Is the picture Of a fox. The fox is very
lat. Where are Freddie's rabbitsf'"