The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1897-06-23
MILLIONS LOST IN FUTURES.
THE CURSE OF THE AGE, SAYS EX-
CONGRESSMAN LAWSON.
Extracts from an Eloquent Speech
Delivered at the Mercer
Alumni Meeting in
Macon.

Macon.
Next to the ravages of war, the South
ern people have suffered their greatest
losses from speculation. They have had
their share of defalcations and embezzle-
ments, but have suffered greater cal ami
ties from speculation of another kind.
1t has been said that the southern people
are race of gamblers. Of course, that
is glaring exaggeration of the truth.
But in every village, town and city, per-
haps, some are found who secretly en-
gage in that fascinating species of gam
bling known as the purchase and sale of
futures. Money earned under hard con-
ditions is eagerly and restesslessly stalk
ed upon some anticipated turn in mar
kets that are manipulated by crafty bro
kers and sharperS, whose livelihood con-
sists in ''shearing the lambs'-an ex-
pressive equivalent of theirs for the act
If fleeing their contiding clients. OF
course the southern people are at great
disadvantage to begin with; the chances
are against them from the start: thew
are scattered over many states; they can
have no cooperation and concert of &C
ton; they cannot concentrate force sufi-
Gent either to bull or to bear the mar
ket, nor can they, save in exceptional
cases, command the large sums of mon
ey IL cessary to maintain their margins.
| Their security depends mainly upon the
good faith of the parties who manipulate
the game and who are a compact, thor
Oughly trained organization, with intel
ligence and resources always concentrate
ed and on the alert for gain, and who
have, so to speak, the secret of shutting
| the cards.
They are composed of men who know
their business, who are organized to
make money ana who do make it with
out scruple. The mania for speculation
is, unfortunately, not confined to our
cities and towns, but has invaded the
rural districts-the native seats of virtue
and cOntentment. A great many plant
ers have discarded the primary objects
of farming, which consists in the pr1-
ductiOn of an ample supply of all the
necessaries of life thai can be raised on
their farms, and have turned their atten-
ton almost exclusively TO its secondary
Object-tO the raising of crops for mar
ket. They are also virtually stalking
their fortunes on futures and deserve to
be classed with the actual spectators in
future contracts.
Countless millions of money have been
lost to our southern homes in these al
Turing transactions. Year by year it
flows in continuous streams from the
homes of poverty and cf wealth as the
contributions of folly, virtually, to the
opulence of the commercial emporiums
of the country.
l warn you that a remOrseless demon
follows in the trail of al kinds of specu-
latiOn. HIS name is debt. He crap
Piles his haplsss victims with hooks
of steel and hauOts him in his wax
ing and in his sleeping hours, in
public and in private, in business and in
pleasure, in secular pursuits and at the
altar of sacred worship. He is ever
present, is never weary and never sleeps.
lie is the thorn in the flesh, the fly in the
ointment, the skeleton in the closet and
the bane of happiness. The vassalage
of debt, unlike many other troubles, is
not the creature of environment. 1t is
voluntarily embraced, and people, ex-
cept in rare instances, should avoid it as
they avoid pestilence. Debt is the
| fruitful mother of poverty, and either
poverty or the dread of it, brought to IT'S
last analysis in this age of materialism.
is the fountain OF all discomfort.
ppPAKFND THE Gamma mn