Bisbee daily review., 1908-02-01

or Tor speculative or gambling pur- poses. There is no difference in
 gambling at cards or in lotteries or
 at the race track and gambling in | the stock market. One method is
 just as pernicious to the body polite
 as the other kind, and in degree the | evil worked is Tar greater. But it | is far more difficult subject with | which to deal. The bulk of the busi- | ness transacted on the exchanges is | not only legitimate, but is necessary | to the working of our modern in dustrial system, and extreme care would have to be taken not to in terfere with the business in doing away with the bucket shop type of operation. We should study both the
 successes and failures of foreign leg
 islators who notably in Germany
 have worked along this line, so as
 not to do anything harmful. More
 over, there is special difficulty in ] dealing with this matter by the Fed eral government in a Federal repub- lie like ours. But if it is possible to devise a way to deal with it, the ef- | fort should be made, even if only in
 a cautious and tentative way It would seem that the Federal govern
 ment could at least act by forbidding
 the use of the mails, telegraph, and | telephone wires for mere gambling
 in stocks and futures just as it does
 in lottery transactions.
 Alter calling attention to attacks
 on his administration by the heads of
 corporations that hava fallen under | the ban of the law, as well as by individuals and newspapers that sym | pathize with wealthy violators of law | and especially President Ripley, of
 the Santa Fe, who is referred to in
 a letter from Heney, as violating Cal ifornia law, the president continues:
 Prom the railroad rate law to the pure food law, every measure of hon esty in business that has been passed | during the last six years, has been op- | posed by these men on it's passage and
 in it's administration with every re-
 source that bitter and interruptions craft could suggest and the command
 of almost unlimited money secure. | But for the last year the attack has
 been made witk most bitterness upon i the actual administration of the law.
 especially through the department of justice, but also through the inter
 state commerce commission and the bureau o fcorporations. The extra | ordinary violence of the assaults upon
 our policy contained in these speeches editorial articles, advertisements and pamphlets and the enormous sums of
 money spent in these various ways
 give fairly accurate measure of the
 anger and terror which our public ac-
 tions have caused the corrupt men of
 vast wealth to feel in the very marrow
 of their being.
 Much is said in these attacks upon ! the policy of the present administra-
 tion. upon the rights of innocent
 stockholders" That stockholder is
 not innocent who voluntarily pur-
 chases stock in a corporation whose l methods and management he knows
 to be corrupt. There nas been in the past grave wrong done innocent stock
 holders by overcapitalization, stock
 watering. stock iobbing, stock manI- pulation. This we have sought to prevent, first by exposing the thing
 done an dpunishing the offender when
 any existing law had been violated; | lhp
 of laws which would make unlawful
 similar practices for the future. The 1 public men. lawyers and editors wno
 loudly proclaim their sympathy for
 the innocent stockholders when a great law defying corporation is pun ished. are the first to protest with } frantic vehemence against all efforts by law to put a stop to the practices which are the1real and ultimate
 sources of damage alike to the stock holders and the public.
 , Tne keynote of all these attacks . upon the1feffort to secure honesty ir , business and in politics is well ex- pressed in brazen protests against any effort for the moral regeneration oi the business world, on the ground that i. is unnatur unwarranted and in furious, and that business panic is the
 necessary penalty for such effort tc , secure business honesty. The moral ity of such plea is precisely a: ! great as if made on behalf oe the meI 3 caught in a gambling establishmen' ! when that gambling establishment is } raided by the police. If such words mean anything they mean that those 7 whose sentiments they represent ; stand against the effort to bring abou 1, a moral regeneration of bushes: i l which will prevent repetition of the 2 insurance. banking and street rail j. road scandals in New York; a repe' 3 tition of the Chicago and Alton deal I a repetition fthe combine between r certain professional, politicians, cer' , tain professional labor leaders, ant !, certain big hnanciers from the dis , grace of which San Francisco has jus been rescued; a repetition of the sue . cessful effort ythe Standard Oil peo' l pie to crush out every competitor tC s overawe the common carriers and tc 3 establish a monopoly which treat! 6 the public with a contempt which tho 1, public deserves so long sit permits men of such principles and such senti ments to avow and act on them witf Q impunity. The outcry against stop l. ping dishonest practices among wront
 doers who happen to be wealthy i: F precisely similar to the outcry raised 7 against every effort Of cleanliness anC ! decency in city government, because 3 forsooth, it will ''hurt business" Th' same outcry is made against the de ; partment of justice for prosecuting 1, the heads Of coilosaI corporations tha 2 have been made against the men wh' l in San Francisco have prosecute, f with impartial severity the wront ; doers among the business men. public