The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-02-05
GLORIOUS LARCENY
BRYAN'S NEW CRIME
It Is a Higher Form of Grand
Larceny, He Says and
Law Protects 1t.
ATTACK ON WALL STREET.
GAMBLING IN STOCKS AND FARM
PRODUCTS, HE SAYS, is THE
WORST FORM OF THE CRIME
HE TOLD NEW WORKERS.

New York, Feb. 5.-Taking the
eighth commandment as his text, Will
liam Jennings Bryan pointed out to
the Civic Forum last night the posi-
bilities of larceny in violation of the
law and-what he said was of still
greater mportance-larcen through
the operation of the law.
Mr. Bryan declared that while the
law recognized two general forms OF
larceny. petit larceny and grand lar
ceny, there had been a disposition re
Gently to subdivide the greater crime.
80 now" he added. I'VE are inclin-
ed to think of stealing as petit larceny
grand larceny and glorious larceny.
So general has become the tendency
to overlook rescality in amaZement
at the genius of the man who has
stolen a million that it has been sug-
gested that the commandment be am
ended to read. Thou shalt not steal
on a small scale
Larceny through operation Of the
law was possible, he said. if the laws
were unjust or permitted an unfair
advantage to any class of citizens.
Watered stocks and fictitious capital
izations were placed by the speaker as
among the forms of polite larceny.
Attacks Wall Street.
During the course of his speech Mr..
Bryan attacked Wall street. He said
in part:
And now, at the risk of being accus-
ed of sacrilege. | venture to introduce
to the stock exchange the command
ment which we have been considering.
| am aware that here in New York
the stock exchange is regarded with a
certain amount of veneration and that
many who vehemently denounce gam
bling in a back room where winnings
and losses are small, remain strangely
silent in the presence of the enormous
games that are played upon the stock
market, often with loaded dice. Gam
bling is one of the worst of vices, and
gambling in stocks and in farm pro
ducts Is the most destructive form in
which the vice appears. Measured by
the number of suicides caused by the
New York stock exchange, Monte Car
10 is an innocent pleasure resort by
comparison. Measured by the amount
of money changing hands, the con
trast is still greater in favor of Monte
Carlo; and. measured by the influence
upon those who do not gamble, the
evils of Monte Carlo are insignificant
When compared with the evils of New
lorks commercial gambling houses
Follows Roosevelt Lead.
Mr.. Bryan followed the lead of Pres
ident Roosevelt in assailing rich evil
dCers. He said:
The subject of private monopoly
furnishes us another illustration of
larceny, and here it is not petit lar
ceny, nor even grand larceny: it rises
to the proportions of a glorious lar
ceny, not only because of the amount
taken but because of the respecta bill
ity of those who received the stolen
goods. The object of private mo-
nopoly is to control the price of the
thing sold; it is to corner the market
The theory is that mans necessities
require him to buy certain things
which sustain his life and add to his
comfort Where there is competition
the sellers bid against each other and
the purchaser is able to secure what
he needs at a price which is approxi-
mately fair. If. however. all of the
vendors can be brought together in Il
combination so that all purchasers
must buy of the same vender compe-
tition is eliminated and the man who
fixes the price fixes it arbitrarily; and
We know enough OF human nature to
know he is apt to charge all that the
traffic will bear.
l insist that the commandment
Thou shalt not steal" applies as
much to the monopolist as to the high
wayman, and we shall not make any
material progress in the protection of
the people from private monopolies
until We are prepared TO obliterate
the line that society draws between