The Washington herald., 1907-03-22

Philadelphia March 2l.-An address this
afternoon TO students OF the University
Of Pennsylvania on the subject Of Faith.
the Basis OF Finance" by Stuyvesant
Fish was followed By curious quiz. dur
Ing which q number Of questions were
hurled at him By his audience. Not once
did Mr. Fish mention the name Of Ed
ward H. Hartman. but the identity OF
the man he was aiming at was plain.
During the quiz. when one student asked
him If he meant that Hartman made
the money in the panic?" Mr. Fish smiled.
This is an abstract discussion OF
causes. not Of concrete instances, said
Mr. Fish
President Roosevelt" said Mr.. Fish,
was not the cause of the panic at all.
Neither was he the cause OF the deDrecia-
ton OF railroad stocks and the general
uneasiness OF capital and investors.
''The cause Of the lack Of confidence BY
the public in railroad directors integrity
ana honesty was the rotten condition
in certain railroad circles unearthed BY
the Investigations.
These conditions" he said further on,
could only be characterized by extremely
bad language"
In telling an anecdote Of his connection
with Hartman. wheu he did not name.
he said that a certain governor OF a GER
tain Western State had been attacking
his road
Fish in Bad Company.
When Fish asked him why. the gov
ernOr said: Fish. you're all right. but
you're in -- bad company.
It was after he had shown that there
can be no good financial system unless
the people have faith in their banks.
bankers. and securities" and that the
men who by their acts sap such conf
dence are TO blame for disaster, that 8lr.
Fish launched into his attack on Har-
riman.
1t has Of late he said. become. very
much the fashion to blame President
Roosevelt for what has recently happened
at the stock exchange
The fact that the investigation OF the
railroad condition was ordered by Presi-
dent Roosevelt had no more TO do with
the recent furry in railroad stocks in
Wall street than you or J.
Il cannot. and do not, join with other
railroad men in blaming him for the re-
cent events. The fact is he saw. as
others had. that there was something
wrong IN the railroad situation. and feel
ing it TO be his duty. ordered an investi-
CATION This investigation brought 10
light conditions and practices in high
finance which can only be characterized
by extremely bad guage-language
that might be called vituperative.
Many of those familiar with affairs IN
Wall street had condemned those tzansac-
s~-- r~F--
dent took a hand 1t is TO those condi-
! tions and practices that the recent catas-
trophe in the stock exchange is due. and
not at all 10 any act or omission on the
part of the President or Interstate Com
merce Commission.
These gentlemen simply acted in the
line of their duty, and in doing so brought
to the knowledge of the general public
here and abroad certain things which
were already known 10 many in Wall
street.
In this case, as in former cases.
through things done by certain railroad
men to the detriment of all the innocent
Will have to suffer with the guilty.
Refers 10 Hartman.
Who the guilty were Mr.. Fish then by
innuendo speeihSl
From the day I left college to this Z
]
of the time employed IN railroads. The
earlier years association with my elders
in the business / learned much Of what
had gone before. / have also read some
what extensively on the subject, and 1
have no hesitancy in saying that no rail-
road fortune was ever made through en-
hancing rates, expressing shippers, or
withstending the general tendency of
rates to decrease.
And what Is more. every dishonest rail-
road fortune has been made by robbing
the stockholders. Should you ask whv
these stockholders have not sued for res
titution. 7 would remind you of cost and
laws delay, and the fact that when res
tituticn should be made 1t would be to the
corporation Of which. in all human prob
ability, these dishonest managers would
even remain as the majority holders,
and as officers and directors. so that the
funds restored would simply return to
the custody OF their tender mercies.
stock jobbery cannot be stopped by
legislation, and the only way il can be
stopped is by getting rid of dishonest Of
ficials. Laws will never remedy the evil.