, 1907-10-31

them at the best prices possible. The
lack of confidence was communicated
to the innocent public. The gamblers
went around with long faces and de
spondent u~tterances and predicted the
ruin of the world. without thinking
Of Heinze and his crowd they denounc'
ed the president for destroying the pri'
vate credit of the country and for dis
turbing confidence when he did moth
ing more than declare that all dis
honest men should be punished, rich
as well as poor.
The earning capacity of no estao-
iishment in the United States was af.
Iected; the dividends OF no corporation
were reduced; there was no cessation
Of business in any line of activity
througout the entire country and
while the gamblers were forcing down
stocks on Wall street, the prices OF
wheat and corn II other agricultural
products were soaring to almost un
p~recedented figures. The runs on the
banks in New York were due directly
to the lamentations of the gamblers
who frightened honest depositors and
sent them to draw out their deposits.
After the collapse of the copper ring
and the %scandalous exposures as to
the methods employed by Heinze, II
his associate promoters, no one could
be expected to trust them or to trust
the banks which they had been mapip-
ulating.
The cataclysms will occur at inter
walls so long as people are permitted
to buy and sell stocks, grain, cotton
and other things on margins, but
there does not seem to be any way
of preventing them. The laws OF
ment securities. Section 422 of the
French penal code defines gambling as
ANY agreement to sell or deliver gov
eminent securities which the seller
cannot prove to have been in his pos
session at the time of the agreement.
THE penalty is Imprisonment for not
less than two months or more than
two years, with a fine of not less than
1000 francs nor more than 10000
francs for each %Uffense, n after the
period of Imprisonment the offender
may be placed under surveillance for
not less than five or more than ten
years and be required to report all
his financial transactions to the gov
eminent.
Speculation in government securi-
ties and in food products is also prohib'
lited In Germany, Switzerland and in
several other European states ana
twelve or fifteen years ago an earnest
attempt was made to secure a law by
congress to prevent speculation in az.
ricultural products.
IF Heinze and his crowd had not
been permitted to buy and sell copper
on margins the disaster that finally
overcame them would not have oc-
Cured. If they had been compelled Ia
pay the full value Of every share of
stock they bought, or If they had becn
price of every share of stock they sold
there could nave been no such coIn'
plications as those in which they be
came entangled, and in which hun.
dreds of thousands of innocent holders
of stock in copper mines throughout
the country have been involved. If
1t had not been for the collapse Of the
copper ring tho Kni~clSerbocker Trust
company would not have been compell'
ed to close its doors and the panic on
the stock exchange would not have oc'
Cured, and yet the president of the
United States is held responsible fol
all that has happened because he de-
clared in a public speech at Nashvil.e
that dishonest rich men should be pun
ished."