The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-10-12

IN THOSE DAYS AROSE KINGS.
Imagine yourself back two years and
. half before Wild Week. back at the
hMe When the kings of finance had
sf1st completed their apparently final
tonquest OF the industries of the coun-
Wy. when they We're seating themselves
Upon thrones encircled by vast armies
u capital and brains. when all the gov
sprnmentS Of the nation-national, state
ind city-were PROSTATE under their
heels.
You may remember that I was a not
n~conspicuous figure then. OF all their
financial agents, I was the best known,
we most trusted by them, the most
selieved in by the people. I had a mag
lhcent suite Of offices in the building
that dominates Wall and Broad streets.
BOSTON claimed me also, and Chicago;
tsnd ! n philadelphia, New Orleans, st.
Louis, San Francisco, in the towns and
-11ral districts tributary to the cities,
thousands spoke of Blackjack as their
:Tusted adviser In matters of finance.
Ny enernies--and 1 had them. numer-
rtus and venomous enough to prove
ne a man worth whi1e-my enemies
poke Of me as the biggest bucket
shop gambler in the world"
Gambler I was-like all h other ma
Tnpulators of the markets. But sbucket-
shop" I never kept. AS the kings OF
nance were the representatives of the
great merchants. manufacturers and
investors, so was I the representative
r h masses. of those who wished
heir small savings properly invested.
The power Of the big fellows was
sounded upon wealth and the brains
wealth buys or bullies or seduces into
Is service; my power was founded
,apon the hearts and homes OF the peo-
pie, upon faith in my frank honesty.
How a I built UP my power? BY
~NcH1HntZInp tho nnScfhf1itiao ~ x,,h1;o
~, b chance which the broadcast
sowing of newspapers and magazines
put within h reach of the individual
nan to impress himself upon the whole
country, upon the whole civilized world.
Tie kings of finance relied upon the
~sssiduity n dexterity of sundry paid
agents, operating through the steaithy,
clumsy. old fashioned channels for the
exercise of power. I relied only upon
myself; 1 had to trust to no fallible,
perhaps traitorous, un~derstrappers;
through the m%egaphone of the press ]
spoke directly to the people.
MY enemies charge that I always
tave been INSCRIPTIONS n dishonest.
So? Then how have I lived and thrived
Ill these years in the glare and blare
Sf publicity?
It is true. I have used the methods
yf the charlatan" in bringing myself
into wide public notice. The just way
70 put 1t would be that I have used for
honest purposes the methods of pub
deity that %charlatans have shrewdly
appropriated, because by those means
b public can be most widely and most
quickly reached. Does good become
evil because hypocrites use it as a
cloak? 1t is also true that 1 have beer
-undignified." Let the stupid cover
their stupidity with dignity" Let the
Swindler hide his schemings under
dignity" I am a man OF the people
not afraid to be seen as the human be-
ing that I am. l laugh when i feel like
4. I hav no sense of Jar when people
call me Matt" I have a good time
and I shall stay young as long as ]
Stay alive. Wealth hasn't made me a
solemn ass, fenced in and unapproach-
able. The custom of receiving obedi-
ence and f1attery and admiration has
got made me a turkey-cock. Life is a
,toke; and when the jokes on me,
laugh as heartily as when it's on the
Dther fellow.
1t is half-past three o'clock on a May
afternoon: a dismal, dreary rain is be-
tng Whirled through the streets by as
aasty a wind as Eve blew out of the
east. Q are in the private office OF
lhat king OF kings" Henry j. Roe
suck. philanthropist, eminent church
man. leading citizen and-in business
- corrupt a creature as ever used the
domino of responsibility. That Office is
on the twelfth floor Of the Power Trust
Gailding-and the Power Trust is Roe
buck. and Roebuck Is h Power Trust
~ ~ "a ..H. -1 N y ~