Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-12-22
THE TURNING OF THE WORM

THE TURNING OF THE WORM
James j. Hill who shares with 9TH
er railroad presidents the feeling
that the country will go to the s'bow
vows if the Interstate Commerce
Commission does not ultimately agree
to the proposed increase of freight
rates by the nations common car.
rlers, issued pessimistic statement
the other day in which he predicted
a suspension of industrial activity
next year.
On the strength of this gloomy pro-
phesy the securities of most of the
standard railroads dropped sympa.
thetically next morning from 3 to S
points On the stock exchange. To
every stockholder of the roads in
question this shrinkage represented
loss of from So to IS share. In
the aggregate it totaled a deprecia.
tion Of many millions in value-all on
the word of one man. AS always in
Wall Street, when stock fluctuates
violently, what was the investors loss
proved the gamblers gain. In the
parlance Of The Street it was "a bear
market" and the bears who thrive on
other peoples misfortunes, as a vul-
ture fattens on carrion, reaped where
others had sown.
The instability and fundamental
weakness of system which makes
it possible for the utterance of a
single man out of the 93,0OO,OOo in
habitants of the United States to i'm
pair the value of securities of estab-
lished merit, and sustained earning
capacity, strikingly illustrates what
can be done when combination Of
powerful men undertake to influence
the market in which a thousand mil
lions of the public's money is invest
ed. So long as Wall Street is con-,
stituted as it Is and its best grade of
listed stocks are made the playthinK
Of men who accumulate riches by
rigging" the market to suit their
needs of the moment, investors in
Wall Street stocks will continue to
pay the piper's bills. The widespread
aversion to the predatory methods
/ in fho f7no jo1 afrSn 1S
New York where everything is con-
demned that does not lend itself to
/ frenzied speculation, however meri-
t0rious it may be, is shown in the in
creasfng number OF industrial corpor.
ations, being operated in the interest
OF their stockholders and not Of Wall
Street, which nowadays decline 10
list their securities on the big ex-
| changes
| A party OF business men returning
from a trip to Texas with John w.
Gates filled with glowing reports of
the prosperity and wonderful develop.
ment of that state visited Wall Street
as the stocks on The exchange began
to tumble and declared it the most
depressed spot on the face of the
earth 1t does not take very keen
mind to perceive that it's depression
is due, not to general economic condi
tions, but, to realization of the fact
that it has lost its grip on the con
fidence of the American people In
the apparent disposition of investors
!, to break away from Wall Street ant
! seek investments of their own choos
ing. as did their forefathars who fin
anced the building of Professor
Morse's first telegraph and Alexande
Graham Bells telephone which th'
" astute financiers of New York de
cried as folly, though it afterward,
netted original stockholders millions
is discerned the turning of the worm
Wherefore Wall Street is sad, defect
ed and chagrined.