The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-16
MARTIN LITTLET0N sTIRs 'EM.
Word Pictures Of Carnegie. Rocke'cl'cr
ct al. for Budding Lawyers.

Borough President Martin w. Littleton
OF Brooklyn was the chief speaker at tne
annual commencement exercises OF the
New York Law School last night, when
10 graduates received their degrees at
Carnegie Hall.
Mr.. Littleton talked about the greed
OF gold" and other things. Here are some
extracts
"Not very long ago little man sat down
amid the Allegheny hills and built fire that
burned for days and years and when the
smoke went up and the fire went out he
raked the ashes and found $500 900
melted in the heat Of sweat and toll. His
footsteps fell upon continent OF iron, his
cunning brought conquering army of
Drawn and grit. and with the two to serve
and sleep not he rose to be monarch
crowned with STEEL But when at last he
saw the shadows lengthening toward the
East he turned away from grinding metal
and golden greed to set UP once again his
lost Ideal. Granite galleries hung with art
and color, marble structures stuffed with
books of cult and greed, rose upon this base
of solid gold. But all the granite in the
undiscovered earth and all the marble
massed in unnined mountains, and all the
and passion, would fail to teach one half
as much as the calm confession coming
from this little man that his gain was
wrongly got and his idea lost in the getting.
Another man holds hard in check the
surging commerce OF the age. He, too,
found natures boarded treasure in deep
rich lakes Of liquid wealth, and with privi
lege Government given and with protec-
ton Government guaranteed. ne put
plant together whose boundaries battle all
! nolri ~, urho atu
all the resolute nerve OF nation
"Mistaking the decay of nature for the
grace of God he turns trivial stipend to
the church, a paltry contribution to the
schools and in return he expects the pulpit
and the chair to apologize to God and all
the world for the system by which it came.
Better than colleges browning campus
grounds; better than churches implicitly
pledged to put the case in colorless dis
course; better than all these would be the
plain admission briefly made that all his
gain was got against the laws OF God and
man.
"A few decades ago man began to guar
antee his fellow man against the grave,
and since that time he men who loved
their wives and children bent their backs
send no specters to their simple board
when they were dead. Men hold
ing the highest place In the integrity Of
finance; men molding the customs of the
times into law for those who come after
men called brave. honest America men
charged to hold this treasure in the name Of
the born and the unborn-these men ex-
plot its fullest power for selfish gain, ex
pend its substance in the debonairs de-
bauch; create fictitious bonds and trade
them for the real gold, exchange the litho.
graphed promise Of lie for { he sacred
fund. The collapse comes. and then con-
tending captains of the craft and gain play
high to win the prize. The game Is fin
ished and the fund Of millions for the mil
lions Is organized into gamblers roll to
bet the street up or down the sheet.
Not many years ago the people thought
it wise and best to make law by which
If need arose they could build and run a
railroad underground They chose the
agents to carry out this law, and when the
need arose the road was planned. The
public credit without stint was sed, the
faith Of all the people pledged for two
to group of men who organized its values
into stock and sold them right and left.
The money coming from this was much
that companies old and well established
quit the field. leased and left their plant TO
the new combine, The people know all
this. and vet they are asked To sanction
now a plan by which the last Of all rail-
roads to be built shall go again TO private
hands to yield an income from the public
need. I have spoken thus of many things
in unrelated way to call attention TO the
duty YOU must undertake You owe the
Republic in which YOU live. the State in
city upon whose fields Of labor YOU are 10
enter-you owe all these Gebt which Won
must pay by hard fight to make them
better .