The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-05
VIOLATIONS OF LAW
CANNOT Be GONDONEO
Mr.. Bryan Delivers Notable Address
Before the Civic Forum of New
York and Is Applauded BY
the Populace.

| eighth commandment as his text William
| Jennings Bryan pointed out to the Civic
| Forum tonight the possibilities of larceny
! in violation of law and-what he said Of
| still greater inportanee-larceny through
| the operation of the law.
Carnegie hail. as usual at the gatherings
| of the Civic Forum, was filled by an au-
dience representative of business and the
! professions, and in which was reflected
the various shades of public opinion. Ed
ward NJ Shepherd introduced Mr. Bryan
who was received with spirited handclap-
ping, the applause being frequently re-
| newed during the course of his address
Unjust taxation, the manner in which
| some private monopolies are Conducted
and gambling in stocks and farm prod
| ucts were declared to be nothing more
than form of larceny by Mr., Bryan
| The stock and produce markets came IN
! for most bitter denunciation. He said the
| New York stock exchange has graduated
| more embezzlers than Fagins school did
| detectives; that measured by the number
of suicides Monte Carlo is an innocent
| pleasure resort compared with the New
! York institution, and that the men who
| once had charge of the Louisiana lottery
never did tthe of the part that grain
gamblers and the stock gamblers of New
York do every day
General Gambling.
when a groupsof men gamble at a
wheel of fortune or at game of cards.
said Mr. Bryan, the injury done Is con-
fined to them and to those Immediately
| dependent upon them, but those who
gamble in the grain pit or on the ioor
OF the stock exchange deal in commodities
or securities IN which S0,00O,O00 OF people
| are directly or indirectly interested Farm
products are juggled up or juggle down,
stocks care boosted by the bulls or de-
| pressed by the bears and the whole
| country feels the effect The natural
laws of supply and demand ought to regu-
late prices, but these laws are entirely
| suspended when a few man can by their
lets add millions of dollars to the mar.
ket value of one product take mill
| lions of dollars from the value of an
| other product.
After a crusade which convulsed
state and at least impressed the thought
of the nation We got rid of the Louisiana
lottery ana then we congratulated our
selves upon our virtue. The men in
charge of the lottery never did a tithe of
| the harm that the grain gamblers and
I tie stock gamblers of New York do every
/ Gay nor did they ever exercise anything
! like the corrupting influences over poll
tics.
Bets Upon Values.
"It has been asserted without denial
| that 80 per cent of the New York pur-
| chases and sales of stock and of pro-
| ducts are merely bets upon the market
| value with no intention on the part of
the vendor or dealer or on the part CT
the purchaser to receive This is not
| business it is not commerce.; it is not
| speculation; 1t is common, vulgar gam
bling, and when to the ordinary chances
that the gambler takes are added the
| extraordinary chances due to the secret
manipulation of the market by those vino
| are on the inside. the stock market be-
comes worse than an honestly conducts
| ed gambling resort.
"If a man takes chance upon wheel
of fortune, he knows just what his chance
| is, and he knows that the owner of the
| wheel has chances in his favor, but
| when a stranger CANDLES upon the stock
| or grain market he is at the mercy of
| those who by obtaining control of the
visible supply, can destroy every natural
law or business rule which the outsider
| knows. While the laws of each state
| and the laws of the nation should pre-
| vent, far as laws can the use of these
| commercial activities for gambling pur-
! poses. there must be back of the law
an educated public opinion and l heg
| the spiritual advisors of our great cities
! to consider whether they cannot advance
| religion as well as morality by point
| ing out that the commandment Thou
| shalt not steal is openly and notoriously
violated in the stock market and in the
| grain pit by those who profess to be-
| lieve in the Bible and to have respect
| for its teachings"
| Glasses of Larceny.
| Mr.. Bryan's subject was "Thou Shalt
| Not Steal" He had not selected the sub
| 1ect with any intention of presenting an
| argument against stock trading, but 1t
was his purpose rather to apply the
comma ndment to present conditions. He
| divided larceny into three classes, petit,
| grand and glorious. BY glorious lar
ceny, he said he referred to the tendency
| to regard stealing upon large scale as
| less reprehensbe than stealing upon a
/ small scale, which has led to the sug-
| gestion that the commandment be amend
| ed to read, "Thou shalt not steal on a
small scale"
Mr.. Bryan took the administration OF
the tax laws to illustrate what he called
| larceny in violation of the law. "lf
two men live side by side" said he, "and
one contributes in taxation $40 when his
| lust share is only SIS and the other only
pays s5 when he ought to pay $40, one
, loses IS that he ought to keep, while
the other keeps S. that he ought to give
! to the government. The effect in this
case is Just the same as If one man took
the other mans property and applied it
| TO his own use. The fact that the gov
! ernment. acting as a collector, took the
| S. from the man who is overburdened
| and gave 1t to the man who is UNDER
burdened does not change the character
of the transaction.
Private Monopoly.
THE subject of private monopoly