Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-07-28
FRENZIED FINANCE
HAS SHAKEN CONFIDENCE IN
THE BIG FINANCIERS.


THE BIG FINANCiERS.
| Great Financisr and Patriot Not Now Synony-
nous Terms-Recent Exposures in High
! Financial Ethics tia, Shattered That Idol l.
! Some Of the Reasons.
The investigations and exposures Of
/ the last few years have enabled the
public to take measure of the ethica
Of high finance. In 1895 it was as.
sumed by the sound money" advo.
Gates that a great financier WAS the
very embodiment of patriotism, honor
and business integrity, but this idol
has been widely shattered. First
came the shipbuilding trust investi-
CATION. That showed that a number
of money magnates formed consrir-
acy to deceive the public and that a
few of the conspirators formed all in.
ner circle conspiracy to take advant-
age of the rest of the conspirators.
Then came the Munroe & Munroe
investigation. That showed that the
Second Vice President OF the largest
bank in the United States was in a
syndicate formed to fleece the public
through wash.sales" Then Lawson
came forward with his story implicat.
ing the President of the largest bank
and leading spirit of the Standard Oil
trust in gigantic fraud. Following
this the Equitable squabble brings to
light riot of criminal misuse OF trust
funds which has startled the country.
And during this period OF investiga.
tion Miss Tarbell has given us a his.
tory Of the lawlessness of the oil trust,
Mr.. Russell has shown up the methods
of the beef trust, and the Interstate
Commerce Commission has revealed
the rebate practices of the railroads.
Here we have bankers, railroad mag
mates, promoters, manufacturers and
speculators all vieing with each other
in the use OF methods which offend
against both statute and moral law.
What shall We say of the business
ethics OF these men who are actually
engaged in exploitation or who lend
their names to exploiters and draw
salaries for doing nothing? When one
is condemned, his defense is that
"others do the same''-a defense Of
fered by the President for not punish
ing one of his cabinet. Larceny is a
comprehensive term and it applies as
much to the respectable thief who
steals q large amount by indirection
as it does to a professional pickpocket
who pliers on small scale.
OF all the rascality recently exposed
nothing surpasses the conscienceless
transactions OF those who were in
charge of the Equitable. Scarcely a
day passes but some new form OF en-
bezzlement is announced. One day
we learn that a cOterie of directors
made thousands Of dollars by selling
bonds to the company-sold to them.
selves. This was in violation OF the
law, and they are now returning the
money. The next day We learn OF
pensions and salaries that represented
no service. Then we find that the Of.
ficials raised their own salaries to
enormous figures and taxed their per-
sonal expenses to the company. What
is this but larceny? And now Mr..
Morton announces reform, and what
is it? That directors will no longer be
paid $25 per day when they do not at.
tend. 1t seems that the dummy direc-
tors who did nothing when present
but approve OF reports which they did
not examine, were drawing $25 a day
whether present or not. What shall
we say of lot of eminent business
men who thus enriched themselves
out Of trust funds supposed to be held
sacred for widows and children.
The thimbleriggers at a street fair
are engaged in more honorable busi-
nese, for they cheat those who are
foolish enough to risk their money on
q game known to be dishonest, but
these thimbleriggers of high finance
rob the helpless and the dependents
under the guise OF doing an honest
business. The directors who knew
what was going on shared in the
crimes committed against policy hold.
ers-the directors who did not know
what was going ON were scarcely less
criminal because they were sleeping
sentinels whose watchful eyes would
have saved the policy holders.
It is time to establish q higher
ethical standard among our financiers.