The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-06-14
hero Of the bank and hero Of the Stock


markets. Ii the markets greatly sink, he
greatly loses. IL Is as honest 10 deal IN
stocks as 20 deal 10 iron or coal or hard
ware or dry goods. He who condemns all
stock dealings as though they were in
iquitous simply shows his own ignorance.
Stop all legitimate speculation IN this
country, and you stop all banks, You
stop al factories, you stop all storehouses,
you stop all the great financial prosper.
ties OF this country.
\ stock dealer il only a commission
merchant under another name. He gets
has commission on one style OF goods. You,
the grocer, get your commission on anoth'
er style OF goods. The dollar that he
makes IL just as bright and talr and hon
est dollar as the dollar earned by the
day laborer
But here we must draw the line be-
tween legitimate speculation and rulnous
gambling. You, a stock operator without
any property behind you, financially IT.
responsible, sell 500 OF nothing and get
az thirty days. Ii at the end OF thirty
days you get the scrip for $4,000, you
have made a thousand. Ii at the end OF
thirty days you have to pay ,sll 600; then
YOU have lost q thousand. Now, that IL
trafiicking in fiction. That is betting on
chances. That involves the spirit OF
gambling as much as anything that ever
At certain times almost every prosper
Gus merchant wakes up, and he says:
Now, | have been successful IN my line
OF trade, and | have a tolerable income.
| think | shall 80 down TO Wall Street
and treble it in three weeks. There's my
neighbor. He was in the same line of
business He has his S3O0,O 600 or 800 900
from the simple fact he went into Wall
Street. | think l shall go, too" Here
they come, retired merchants who want
20 get a little excitement in their lethar.
gic veins. Here they come, the trustees
of great property. - fool everything away.
Five hundred temporary tents built 10
| accommodate the people until they could
have opportunity Of interviewing John
Law. A lady of great fashion had her
coachman upset her near the place where
| John Law was passing in order that she
might have an interview with that ben
| evolent and sympathetic gentleman!
Stocks went up TO 20j0 per cent, until
one day suspicion got into the market,
and down 1t all weat-John Laws Mis-
| slssippi scheme-burying its protector
and some of the greatest financiers in all
| France, and was almost as bad as a
| French revolution.
Excitement following excitement until
| all kinds OF gambling projects came forth
| under the wing OF this South Sea enter.
| prise. There was large company formed
| with great capital for providing funerals
| for all parts Of the land. Another com.
| pany with large capital e5 000, 900 capi
| tal-to develop a wheel in perpetual mo-.
| ton; another company, with capital OF
| &4OO0,OOO TO insure people against loss by
servants; another company, with f2,5OO,-
| 900 capital, 20 transplant walnut trees
| from Virginia to England then, TO cap
| the climax, a company was formed for
| "a great undertaking. TO know
bot - An II hav
were offered at 600 a share; books were
| opened at Q o'clock In the morning and
| closed at 3 o'clock IN the afternoon, and
| the hrst day II was all subscribed. "A
| great unde-takiag-nobody TO know what
| i. isl"
An old magazine OF those days de.
| scribes the scene (lIunt's Magazine). IL
| says From morning until evening
| Change alley was full 20 oveTflowing with
| one dense, moving mass OF living beings,
! composed Of the most lncOngruous ma.
terials and in all things save the mad
| pursuit whereof they were employed utter
! ~ opposite IN their principles and feel
| lngs and far asunder IN their stations in
| life and the professions they follow
| Statesmen and clergymen deserted their
| high stations to enter upon this great
! theatre of speculation and gambling.
! Churchmen and dissenters lett their
| fierce disputes and forgot their wranglings
| upon church government in the deep and
| hazardous game they were playing for
worldly treasures and for riches, which,
| If gained, were liable TO disappear within
an hour of their creation. Wings and
| Tories buried their weapons of political
! warfare, discarded party animosities and
mingled together in kind and friendly IN
| tercourse, each exulting as their stocks
advanced in price and grumbllng when
| fortune frowned upon them. Lawyers,
| physicians, merchants and travelling men
| forsook their employment, neglected their
| business, disregarded their engagements
| u whirl along in the stream, TO be at
| last engulied IN the wild sea of bank
ruptey. Females mixed with the crowd,
| forgetting the station and employment
| which nature had fitted them 10 adorn,
| and dealt boldly and extensively and, like
| those by whom they were surrounded,
rose from poverty TO wealth, and from
| that were thrown down TO beggary and
want, and all in one short week and per-
| haps before the evening which terminated
| the first day CT their speculation. Ladies
| Of high rank, regardless OF every appear
ance OF dignity and blinded by the pre-
vailng lnfatuation, drove TO the shops of
| their milliners and haberdashers and
| there met their stockholders, whom they
| regularly employed and through whom
extensive sales were daily negotiated. In
| ton of party and religion and circum.
stances and character were swallowed
up
But it was left for our own country to
| surpass IL all about thlrty-seyen years
! ago. We have the highest mountains and
! the greatest cataracts and the longest
rivers, and OF course we had 10 have the
| largest swindle. One would have thought
| that the nation had seen enough in that
! direction during the mOrous muitcouhs
| excitement, when almost every man had
a bunch of crawling sIlkworms IN his
| house, out Of which he expected 10 make
| a fortune. But all this excitement was
| as nothing compared with what took
| pace Iu 1854. when a man near ltusvllie,
! Penn, digging a well, struck oil. Twelve
| hundred oil companies call tor billion
! oi stock. Prominent members OF churches,
1 az soOl "a a certain amount OF stock was
! assigned them. saw II was their privilege
! TO become presidents or secretaries Or
members OF the board OF direction. Some
! Of these companies never had foot Of
| ground, never expected 20 have Their
| entire equipment was a map OF region
! where oil might Ue and two vials OF
| grease, crude and clarified. People rushed
| down from all parts OF the country by the
| trst train and put their hard earnings IN
| the gulf
4 young man came down from the oil
region OF Pennsylvania utterly demented,
| having sold his farm at a fabulous price
| because II was supposed there might be
| oil there-corling 70 a hotel IN Philadel-
| phia at the time | was living there,
| throwing a 5000 check 20 pay for his
| MONDAY meal and saying he did not care
anything about the changel Then be
| stepped back % the gas burner 70 light
| his cigar with thousand dollar note. Ut
terly insanel
The good Christian people said. This
company must be all night, because Elder
L =. - II 10 .vA