Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-13
TON LAWSON ON THE SYSTEM
Frsnzied Finanoisr E1pounds His Views at
Missouri Valley Ohautauqua.
SIMPLE WAY OF BREAKING THE BIG RING
Sell stocks and Bonds at High Figure
and Buy Them Back at Low
md the Trick is
Done.
CFrom a stan Correspondent }

I
his speech delivered in Kansas and at
other points His reception was quite fiat
tering when the local committee. headed by
Mayor James and Congressman Smith
brought him TO tho platform at the Chau-
tauqua tent Congressman Smith intro
duced the Boston man to the crowd and
Lawson at once cut loose on "the system :"
Mr.. lawson is interesting because a
different kind Of talker than the people OF
the west are used to. He Is essentially east
ern In Ideas and in speech. He has a way
Of talking Of his own achievements as a
broker and business man which is calcu-
lated to give the ordinary listener a pain
In his pocket, but really not much informa-
tion that can be made use of.
Finance is simple" said Mr. Lawson.
but the system is all wrong which en-
abes me to make 100000 in a day or SO, -
0ooOOo in a month. as I have done. and as
other men have done"
This statement, made conversationaIly
and as Of the most ordinary occurrence,
opens the eyes of his hearers very wide.
Then. to use his own simile he proceeds to
set up before the audience the "skiuninG
machine" used by the system
Lnwson's Patent Plan.
This plan" said Lawson. "is 10 sell
your stocks and bonds to the Rockefeller
crowd at high price as it prevails TODAY.
when you can get $4,000 for 100 shares Of
United States Steel, which few months
ago were worth only $1,000 II enough Is
SOLD TO them they cannot protect the mar
ket beyond certain point Then II. will
break. In spite OF them You being tho
American public can then buy back the
stocks and bonds sold at the high nrica
Tor lower price and hold them again for
raise That is the plan of the system.
just as It Is worked
The other part Of my plan Is 10 make
your gain In this way cease at a certain
point. That Is, I would have It fixed so
that the inflated value, the over-capitaliza-
ton, would not draw interest. This would
result In railroads being able to buv their
rails and other materials cheaper and hence
they could afford to charge less freight and
passenger rates"
This is almost word for word Mr. Law
son n.s proposition for getting even with the
system and then to reduce the valuation
or the stocks and bonds. He rang the
changes on this in slightly different WAYS
but always got back to my plan"
He paid tribute to Mr. Bryan person.
ally In fattering words and then laughed az
Bryan's policy.
Mr.. Bryan'S remedy was {, Joke then
ana Is now In my circle" he said He
simply promised the man with "a cents IN
his pocket that he would make II a dollar
II Is not nice thing to say. but II Won
touch man in his pocket you arouse him
as nothing else WILL"
Banks and Wall street.
or the banks and trust companies, the
insurance companies and the corporations,
Mr.. Lawson had some caustic criticism TO
vat hn =
all the money from the banks to buy stocks
and bonds when they are low. On another
tack, he traced the dependence OF all west
ern banks, in Missouri Valley and else
where, on Wall street.
The connection is direct and positive .,
he said, "and no one can contradict that
statement. These companies and CORPORA
tlons absorb every year the surplus of the
people over their bare living EXPENSES
But in the west here, I am free to saw.
we find the only real economic freedom. be-
cause we of the east are too directly in
terested in all of these companies. either
directly or through relatives The success
of this movement, II 1t does succeed must
be brought about by the west. and as 7
know the trick by which the system does
its nefarious work, I am going to try
to plant kernel of truth and educate
you, II can. am just the fire alarm
calling you TO sense of your danger, and
it makes no difference whether l am
republican or a democrat. There is no
politics in this.
Neither Rockefeller or Lawson or anv
other man should be allowed TO make the
money they do under the laws of this
land. The system under which one man
gains $500, 100000 in a lifetime is all wrong.
as know and you know Under my plan
IT will be changed. II this plan is not
adopted something terrible must happen
when the crisis comes. and it will crush
out your comfort, your happiness and free
DOM"
At another point in his address Mr.. Law
son dwelt on the assertion that the Amer
lean people are fast approaching what
he called the slavery llne," through the
operations of the syster.
Says He IL Doing Good.
Seen in his private car previous to the
meeting Mr. lawson talked very freely,
but always along the line OF his published
articles and speeches. Asked II he con-
sidered his campaign is having a good or
bad effect, he contended the result has
been and is good. To support this asser-
tion he said:
The people will not lose interest in this
campaign because it touches their pockets.
II is calculated to cut insurance premiums
in half and to bring stock valuations back
where they belong. Then the people can
get the advantage OF their surplus and ben
eft by their prosperity
He gave some attention to a recent edi-
torial in The Bee ian able, good-natured
lecture" but could not agree with the con-
clusions Of the article, he said
Lawson is a hard man 70 understand for
the reason that he absolutely will not de-
part from his set object, nor allow any de-
parture from his own way Of treating II
He is willing always TO talk TO newspaper
men, even at the loss OF a meal His prl-
vate secretary is a Boston newspaper man
named McSweeney, and he has several
other newspaper men in his party. His re-
ception in Kansas pleased him immensely
and he enthusiastic In praise OF the
Kansans, except for their state paternal-
ism, which he says is fallacious. But thev
are very earnest and determined on reform, -
said Lawson. Il never saw such crowds
before In my life, and they were so inter-
ested they forgot to applaud. l couia not
give them enough regarding my plan to
use his own skinning machine on Rookie
feller and his partners.
About Putting a hack.
M lawson. Governor Mickey intimates
(COntinued on Second PaEe)