Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1901-06-13

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late with them: that is no place for
man to go who does not quite know
whether the laws of the state forbid
usury or patroniZe 1t. oh, how many
men have riskcd themselves in the vor-
tex and gone down for the simple rea-
son their integrity had not been thor
oughly established! Remember poor
Ketcham-how soon the flying hoofs
of his iron grays clattered with him
to his destruction; remember poor Gay,
at 80 years of age astonishing the
world with his fortunes and his for
geries; remember that famous man
whose steamboats, and whose opera
houses could not atone for his adulter-
Gus rides through Central park In the
face of decent New York and whose be-
havior on Wall street by its example
has blasted tens of thousands of young
men of this generation.
1 hold up the polluted memory to
warn young men whose moral prin-
ciples are not thoroughly settled to
keep out of Wall street. 1t is no place
for a man who shivers under the blast
of temptation. Let me say also to
those who are doing legitimate bust
ness on that or similar streets of which
that is a type to stand firm in Chris
tian principle. You are In great COM
mercial battlefield. Be courageous.
There is such thing as hero of the
bank and a hero of the Stock Ex-
change. You be that hero. l have not
so much admiration for the French en-
press who stood in her balcony in Paris
and addressed an excited mob and
quelled it as have admiration for that
venerable banker on Wall street who
in 1864 stood on the steps c. his money
ed institution and quoted the fears of
depositors and babe peace to the angry
wave of commercial excitement. God
did not allow the lions to hurt Daniel,
and he will not allow the clears" to
hurt you. Remember, my friend, that
all these scenes of business will soon
have passed away, and by the law of
Gods eternal right all the affairs of
your business life will be adjudicated.
Honesty pays best for both worlds.
Speculation and Gambling.
Again, l have to remark that Wall
street is a type throughout the country
of legitimate speculation on the one
hand and of ruinous gambling on the
other. Almost every merchant is to
some extent a speculator. He depends
not only upon the difference between
the wholesale price at which he gets
the goods and the retail at which he
disposes of them, but also upon the
fluctuation of the markets. Ii the mar
kets greatly rise, he greatly gains. If
the markets greatly sink, he greatly
loses. 1t is as honest to deal in stocks
as to deal in iron or coal or hardware
or dry goods. He who condemns all
stock dealings as though they We're
Ubiquitous simply shows his own igno-
rance. Stop all legitimate speculation
in this country, and you stop all banks,
you stop all factories, you stop all
storehouses, you stop all the great
financial properties Of this country.
A stock dealer is only a commission
merchant under another name. He
gets his commission ON one style of
goods. You the grocer, get your COM
mission on another style of goods. The
dollar that he makes Is just as bright
and fair and honest dollar as the dol
lar earned by the day laborer.
But here we must draw the line be-
tween legitimate speculation and ruin
Gus gambling. You, a stock operator
without any property behind you,
financially irresponsible, sell 500 of
nothing and get paid for it. You sell
100 shares at $4,000 at 80 days. If at
the end of 80 days you can get the
scrip for $4,000, you have made thou
sand Ii at the end of 80 days you
have to pay $1,000, then you have
lost thousand. Now, that is traffick-
ing In fiction. That is betting on
chances That. involves the spirit of
gambling as much as anything that
ever goes on in the lowest gambling
hell.
at certain times almost every pros
porous merchant wakes up, and he
says: "Now, l have been successful in
my line of trade, and 1 have a tolerable
Wall street and treble 1t In three
weeks. There's my neighbor. He was
in the same line of business. He has
his 100000 or 100000 from the SIM
pie fact he went into Wall street. l
think l shall go too" Here they come,
retired merchants, who want to get a
little excitement in their lethargic
veins. Here they come, the trustees Of
great property, to fool everything
away. Here they come, men celebrat.
ed for prudence, to trifle with the live
lihoods of widows and orphans. Do
you wonder that sometimes they be-
come insane? 1t Is insanity. Do you
know there are hundreds of young
men who are perishing under the pas
sion for stock gambling? Do you
know that In all Christian lands this
is one of the greatest curses?
1t Is not peculiar to mercurial Amer
leans. oh, no! Almost every nation
has INDUCED in 1t. The Hollanders,
the most phlegmatic people in the
world had their gambling seizure in
1858. 1t was called the tulip mania. 1t
was a speculation in tulips. Proper
ties worth half million dollars turned
into tulips. All the Holland nation ell
Their buying or selling tulips. One tu-
900. Excitement rolling on and rolling
on until history tells us that one Am
sterdam tulip which was supposed to
be the only one of the kind in all the
world actually brought in the markets
$1,S16,00O! That Is a matter of his
tory. OF course the crash came, and
all Holland went down under It,
Great Financial Disasters.
But France must have it's gambling
| expedition, and that was In ZIG. John
Laws Mississippi scheme, it was call.
ed. The French had heard that this
American continent was built out OF
solid gold, and the project was to take
it across the ocean and drop 1t in
| France. Excitement beyond anything
that had yet been seen in the world
Three hundred thousand applicants
for shares. Excitement so sSeat that
sometimes the mounted military had
| to dispense the crowds that had come
to buy the stock Five hundred tenn.