Canyon City news. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1903-1908, 1907-11-29
THE PAklC-lTS CAUSES.

lle llleue engaging Ille dJtenllOn
of the civilized world. From
kings and presidents down to
representatives of the great com
mon masses, we have had opin
ions galore. Some have been
sensible, others visionary and
many too absurd to engage the
serious attention of practical men.
All agree we have the panic and
are feeling its effects, but aS to
the why's and whereforeS the
country. that is the mass of it,
great tinanciers included, in Eu
rope as well as on this side of the
Atlantic. would seem to be vet in
the soup. The News in past is
sues has contended that the pres
ent money Stringency was
brought about by too much spec
ulation of all kinds and every
where: that We had, as people,
gone too fast; that We. all of us,
were putting too much wind or
water, whichever term suits YOU
best, into property values and
that a reckoning, when the fever
of speculation cooled, was as GER
tain as fate. Such was the eX-
pressed opinion of The News
months ago and it still holds that
way. There are others. however,
whose opinions are entitled to
much greater weight and among
those others is Mr.. Bryan. In
the Commoner of last week we
have the following editorial from
his pen;
There seems to be no doubt
that Wall Street speculation Is
the cause of the present financial
panic, and this speculation is
made possible by the fact that a
large amount of fictitious and
watered stock is issued. The
small bankers throughout the
country claim that their institu-
tons are perfectly solvent, that
their assets are good and that
their only embarrassment is that
they cannot collect the money
which they have deposited in
eastern banks in the reserve cit
les. In suspending payments
the bankers have done what they
think is necessary for the protec-
ton Of themselves and their de
positOrS. and it is not fair to crit
iciSe them unless one has a bet
ter knowledge of the situation
than they have; but somebody is
to blame, and from the evidence
at hand it would seem that the
blame rests, tirst-with the spec
ulators of New York who, in their
desire to make money rapidly,
have disregarded the interests
of the rest Of the country; sec
ond-with the New York banks
and trust companies which have
loaned money for speculation;
and third, with the Republican
party whose leaders have linked
our whole financial system to
Wall Street so that the people
throughout the country are fore
ed to suffer for the sins of the
masters of high finance. 1t re-
quires an object lesson to make
people consider remedial legisla-
ton; abuses are never remedied
until there is suffering, and the
present panic ought to result in
legislation which will give to the
public a needed protection.
Gambling is one of the curses Of
the present day-not merely the
small gambling which is carried
on in back alleys and obscure
places, but the gambling which
goes on in the chambers of com
merce, the boards of trade and
the stock exchanges. Purchases
and sales of commodities and
stocks when the sellers have
nothing to sell and the purchas-
ers have no intention of receiv-
ing the goods-this may be called
business. but it is nothing more
nor less than gambling, and in
some respects it is worse than
gambling at thecard table. First,
it is on a larger scale than the
gambling in the houses known as
gambling houses: and second,
the men who gamble on the mar
kets sometimes control the mar
kets and thus take an unfair adj
vantage of those who enter into