Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-06-14

whose steamboats, ana whose opera
houses could not atone for his adulter-
Gus rides through Central park I'm 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.
l hold up the polluted memory 60
warn young men whose moral prin-
ciples are not thoroughly settled TO
keep out of Wall street. It is no place
for 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 type to stand firm i'm Chris
tan principle. You are in great COM
mercial battlefield. Be courageous.
There is such thing as q hero of the
bank and hero OF the Stock Tx
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 il as have admiration for that
venerable banker on Wall street who
in 1864 stood on the steps OF 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 burt Daniel,
and he will not allow the bears 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 n 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 Spectator. lie 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
huctuation OF the markets. If 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 ia iron or coal or hardware
or dry goods. He who condemns all
stock dealings as though they were
Ubiquitous simply shows his own igno-
rance. Stop all legitimate speculation
In this country, and you stop all banks,
you stop ali factories, you stop al
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, stock operator
without any property behind you.
financially irresponsible. sell 500 of
nothing and get paid for II. You sell
100 shares at $4,000 az so days. II at
the end OF 80 days you can get the
scrip for $1,000. You have made n thou
snhd. II at the end OF 30 days you
have TO pay $1,000. then you have
lost thousand Now. that is trafick-
Ing In hctlon. 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 proc.
porous merchant wakes up, and he
says: Now, l have been successful In
my line OF trade. and I have a toierab BILE
income. / think I shall go 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 100000 or 100000 from the sim
pie fact he went into Wall street. !
think / shall 90 too" Here they come
retired merchants, who want to get q
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
MOODS or widows and orphans. Do
you wonder that sometimes they be-
come insane? 1t is insanity. DO you
Know there arc 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 10 mercurial Amer
leans. oh, no! Almost every nation
has INDUCED in Il. The Hollanders
the most phlegmatIc people in the
world, had their gambling seizure In
1888. 1t was called the tulip mania. 1t
was speculation In tulips. Proper.
ties worth half million dollars turned
into tulips. All the Holland nation Of.
Their buying or selling tulips. One tn.
iip root sold for $500, another for So
Ooo. 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
$l,S16,OOO! That is a matter of his
tory. Or course the crash came. and
all Holland went down under IL.
Great Financial Disasters.
But France must have its gambling
expedition, and that was in 11I6. John
Laws Mississippi scheme, 1t was call.
ed. The French had heard that this
American continent was built ont of
solid gold, and the project was to take
it across the ocean and drop ii I'm
France. Excitement beyond anything
that had yet been seen in the world.
Three hundred thousand applicants
Tor shares Excitement so great that
sometimes the mounted military had
TO dispense the crowds that had come
TO buy the stock. Five hundred tenn
porary tents built to accommodate the
people until they could have opportu-
nifty OF interviewing John Law. A
lady or great fashion had her coach
man upset her near the place where
John Law was passing in order that
she might have an Interview with that
benevolent and sympathetic gentleman
Stocks went up TO 1850 per cent, until
one day suspicion got into the market
ana down it all went-John Laws Mis-
sissippi acknowledging its protector
and some OF the greatest financiers in
al France, and was almost as bad as a
French revolution.
Sedate England took its chance in
llZU. That was fhe soufh con h,,h,>,o