The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-02-23
STRIKE AT THE ROOT.

For actual and conclusive results the
campaign that has been waged against
Wall street methods has not borne
much fruit. 1t is true that glaring
faults have been remedied, but that
was because they were SO apparent it
was not hard to overwbelm them with
the weight of outraged public opinion.
The railroads have been forced to stop
the practice of granting rebates; par
tial victory was scored against the
huge packing interests by the passage
of the pure food law; the penitentiary
is yawning for millionaire bankers
who break the law, etc. But the root
of all these evils remains untouched
and, though it has been shorn of some
of its pernicious out-crops as stated
above, it is yet in a position to send
forth a new and bountiful crop as
soon as public opinion resumes its old
and accustomed attitude of indiffer-
ence. We refer to Wall street as the
root of all the evils assaiing our coun-
try and the chief reason Wall street is
SO bitter and SO insistent in its at
tacks on President Roosevelt is be-
cause he stirred public opinion out of
its Indifferent attitude and is keeping
1t awake and on the alert by his splen-
did efforts to purge the country of that
undesirable element, known as mil
lionaire anarchists.
President Roosevelt, however, has
missed an excellent opportunity to de-
stroy Wall streets cdrrupting influ-
ence once and for all time. The root
of Wall streets strength lies in the
New York Stock exchange and is kept
alive wholly by the gigantic gambling
game that Is allowed free rein there.
Destroy the gambling operations allow
ed on this stock exchange and you de-
stroy all the illigitimate profits of
Wall streets spectators And when
you destroy the profits you also take
away the one incentive that makes a
man forget his honor and his duty to
his fellow man and stoop to the tao
tics of low down sneak thief. 1t is
not necessary to prohibit legitimate
stock exchange transactions. 1t is
right and proper that there shall be
places where stocks and bonds may be
bought and sold. But cut out the mar
ginal transactions, make 1t crime
punishable by a penitentiary sentence
for man to go short" on the mar
ket in other words entirely eliminate
the gambling features of the exchange
and the power of the Morgans, Rookie
fellers, Rogers and Harrimans, etc,
will be gone forever. And with their
power gone it will not be difficult to
eliminate their baleful influence from
the great corporations and railroads Of
our country and take these great in
terests out of politics. They are only
in oplitics in order to control the gov
eminent and through that make sure
their present system of wholesale de-
frauding of the people will not stop.
They debauch our state legislatures,
dictate whom we shall have for sena-
tors and, with few exceptions, make
our national representatives do their
bidding. Until this can all be stopped.
until the power to repeat such things
is entirely gone, this country can not
lay claim to being the only and origi-
nal free land on earth. But if our
citizens will demand that Wall street
must go-that is. the gambling fea-
lures of Wall street-then we have
nothing farther to fear from that
source. Corporations and railroads
viii then be run in the interests of
their stockholders and not in the inter
.ests of gang of financial SISTERS in
order to bull" or bear" the market.