The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-05
LARCENY IS BRYAN'S TEXT He Addresses the Civic
 Forum. THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT Nebraskan Dwells Upon ''Criminal
 Wealth." Declares that Stealing Through Opera tion of the Nstion's Lsw Is as
 Reprehensibis as Petty

New York, Feb. 4-Taking the Eighth Commandment as his text. William Jennings Bryan pointed out to the Civic Forum tonight the possibilities of lar- ceny in violation of the law. snc- what he said was of still greater im- portance--larceny through the opera tion of the law.
 Carnegie Hall. as usual at the gath erings of the Civic Forum, was nlied by an audience representative or busl- ness and the professions. and in whicn was reflected the various shades or
 Edward M. shepherd introduced MT. Bryan. who was received with spirited handclapping. the applause being fres quently renewed during the course ot his address.
 Unjust taxation. the manner In which some private monopolies are conducted. and gambling In stocks and farm products were declared 10 be nothing more than form of lar cency by Mir. Bryan. The stock and pro duce markets came In for the most bitter denunciation. He said the New York Stock Exchange has graduated more embezzlers than Fagin's school did thieves, that measured by the num- Der of suicides Monte Carlo is an in- nocent pleasure resort as compared with the New York institution and that the men who once had charge Of the Louisiana lottery never did ttthe of the harm that the grain gamblers and the stock gamblers of New York do every day.
 "when a group of men gamble at a wheel of fortune or at game Of cards" said Mir. Bryan, the injury done is confined to them and to those irn- mediately dependent upon them. but those who gamble In the grain pit or on the floor of the stock exchange deal in commodities or securities in which eighty millions of people are directly or indfrectIySfn interested. Farm pro- ducts are Juggied up or juggled down, stocks are boosted by the bulls or de- pressed by the bears, and the whole country feels the effect.
 The natural laws ef supply and de- maud ought -to- regsEiats pElCeas but these laws are entirely suspended when a few men can by their bets add uiil- lions of dollars to the market value of one product or take millions of dol- lars from the value of another pro- duct.
 After a crusade which convulsed . State and at least impressed the thought of the nation. we got rid of the Louisiana lottery and then we congratulated ourselves upon our vir- tue. The men in charge of the lottery never 0lu Nuo tllilb OAt tAAC h1sA AAA9N the grain gamblers and the stock gam blers of New York do every day, nor did they ever exercise anything like the corrupting influences over politics.
 "Common, Vulgar GambRing.n
 'It has been asserted without denial that ninety-nine per cent of the New York purchases and sales of stock and of produce are merely bets upon the market value with no intention on the part of the vendor to deliver or on the part of the purchaser to re- ceive. This is not business, it is not commerce, 1t is not speculation; 1t is common, vulgar gambling and when to the ordinary chances that the gam" bier take are added the extraordinary chances due to the secret manipula- tion of the market by those who are on the inside, the stock market be- comes worse than an honestly con- ducted gambling resort.
 "If a man takes . cnance upon a wheel of fortune, he knows just what his chance is, and he Knows that the owner of the wheel has a percentage of chances in his favor; but when q stranger gambles upon the stock or grain market he is at the mercy of those who, by obtaining control of the visible supply, can destroy every nat ural law or business rule which the outsider knows.
 While the laws of each State and the laws of the nation should prevent as far as laws can, the use of these commercial activities for gambling purposes, there must be back of the law an educated public opinion and I beg the spiritual advisers of our great cities to consider whether they cannot advance religion as well as morality by pointing out that the com mandant "Thout shalt not steal is rtNo ttn ba stock market and in the grain pit by. those who profess ito believe fin the Bible and to have respect for its teachings"
 Mir Bryans subject was Thou shalt not Steal" He had not selected the subject with any intention of present. ing an argument against stealing he said, but 1t was his purpose rather to apply the commandant to present condition. He divided larceny into