Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-15
THE INSIDE OF
WALL STREET
BIZ EDWIN LErEvRB.


Probably because tho general public is
not in the market today, notwithstanding
the urgent invitations OF sundry pools and
speculative cliques during the past six
months. professional Wall street sometimes
permits itself to wonder to what extent the
deplcrable apathy Of the same public may
be traced to the effect of the insurance
revelations on the popular mind. A super
fetal observer listening to the talk of the
financial district would inevitably conclude
that Wall street Is quite black 1t is
painted. He would have to strain his ears
to catch the faintest tinge of indignation in
the voice of the average Wall street man
commenting on the developments of the in
vestigation, unless It is the indignation
naturally felt at something calculated to
curtail the business Of buying selling on
commission.
It Is not moral callousness that is re-
veaIed so much as an amazing shortsight-
edness. To begin with, what is news to the
public at large lacks the stimulating quail
ty OF novelty to the average Wall street
man. who has long suspected the practices
of the people In control of the finances OF
the big life insurance companies, and. for
that matter, Of the officers and insiders OF
more than one trust company, and, OF
course, of rich corporations. This does not
mean that 1t is assumed that the stock
holders are being actually defrauded of mil
lions nor that the companies are fncompe-
tently managed, but that certain practices,
called graft" by ignorant enthusiasts, have
been long regarded as the perqusites that
go with the position If anybody took the
trouble to think two seconds about it, he
would realize that money thus made comes
out of the pocket of the public, though
nobody in particular seems to be robbed.
To say that nobody is hurt is a delusion
similar in character to the apparent beau
ties of certain forms of indirect taxation.
But at all events, the average man in
Wall street has long had strong suspicious
as to why certain people went into under
writing syndicates and other schemes with
the leading banking firms. The present in
vestigation discoses some details and moth
ing more. The moral sense of the street in
regard to such things Is neither more nor
less blunted than that of the average citizen
who takes it for granted that politicians
think more of their personal prosperity than
of the public welfare. To the victor belongs
the spells. be he an insder in a corpora
ton or an officehoIder under the admins
tration, and if the average Wall street man
does not holly denounce the insurance
CRATER neither is the average citizen I'M
willing to evade such duties as. for ex-
ample serving on juries There Is no in
tention of defending Wall street men in all
this. 1t is, indeed, a sad state of affairs.
but because of widespread tendency to
call Wall street q particularly corrupt
place, IT is well to bear in mind that this
curious moral apathy Is not confined to the
financial district. Just as there are reform
clubs and political idealists and ardent anti
imperialists and, generally speaking, So
ciety-saviors all over so does man in
Wall street now and then express his
anger or disgust just as the others do, In
words and not much more. But the moral
of
moved.
The remarkable thing the Indifference
of the rank and file in Wall street to
such things as the insurance investigation
has brought to light is that it is distinctly
urbusinesslike. 1t is all very well to say:
IF L make money, never mind who loses.
1t is the publics lookout if it is misled by
pools and syndicates and stock manipulate
ors." But 1t is, after all, the public which
enables the little well the big Wall
street men to accumulate bank accounts.
The average commission broker should take
as much interest in the square deal Mr..
Morgan or Mr.. Schff, for the square deal,
in the long run, pays best. The business
world has yet to learn what Is glarlngly
true, to wit that in cold dollars and cents,
honesty is the best policy and that strict
Christian dealings in commerce and finance
arc by all odds not only the most satisfac-
tory to the conscience. but the most profit
able to the pocketbook. But it is common
fallacy to confound ethics with Utopian
drea ms. The awakening will therefore be
slow IN coming.
X
1t cannot be stated as a fact, but 1t seems
altogether likely that If the state of public
sentiment had not been disturbed by see
ing the over-excited half-truths of frenzied
financial writers, apparently corroborated
by such disclosures as, for instance, those
concerning the life insurance companies,
Wall street would have enjoyed very
fair-sized stock boom this year. AS 1t is,
prices of securities have risen to unpre-
cedently high levels and the investing pub
lie has absorbed a vast amount of bonds
and dividend-paying stocks. But consider
ing the great crops and profitable prices OBJ
tanned for agricultural products, the expan-
sion in the iron and steel business and in
other industries, the general wealth and
prosperity of this country and the steadily
and enormously increasing gold production
of the world there has been no such lively
stock gambling any one familiar with
the spirit of~the American people might
confidently have expected. This Is the opin-
ion of the ablest men in the financial world,
men who need the public's cooperation In
q wholesale way in order to carry through
their schemes and plans-men, some OF
them, whose names have been frequently
mentioned in connection with the syndicates
in whose life inSura crowd