Evening star., 1914-01-25
William C. Van Antwerp Also
Lauds New Banking and
Currency Law.
CRlTICISES ATTACKS
ON STOCK EXCHANGE
Defends Wall Street Business Meth
DDS at District Bankers Asso-
citation Banquet.

Enthusiastic praise Of President Will
sons recent trust message and Of the
banking and currency law, criticism of
attacks on the New York Stock Exchange
and an attack on some of the findings of
the Pujo money trust Investigating conf
mittee were voiced by William C. Van
Antwerp. a governor of the exchange
and writer on economic subjects, last
night at the annual banquet Of the
Bankers Association Of the District of
Columbia.
Chairman Antwerp took as his sub
Stock Exchange" but he spoke Of bust-
was warmly received by the large gath
erins Of bankers and business men
present. William A. Mearns acted as
toastmaster at the dinner, and other
speakers were Senator Hollis of New
Hampshire. Senator Shafroth of Colora-
do both members of the Senate banking
and currency committee, and carter b.
Keene, director of the postal savings
system.
Mandate of Fair Play.
.When tho President of this grand
cussing the future of business in the
United States. speaks OF the 'atmos-
phere of accommodation and mutual
understanding'-when he dwells In
loving kindness upon terms of honor
able surrender; when he tells us the
antagonism between business and gov
ernment is over-when he speaks OF
heartening the young man coming on;
when he tells US that the constitution
Of peace is honor, freedom and pros
perity'-when. I say, the head of this
government, whom we once thought
to be speaking in the platitudes of his
predecessors, but whom we now know
to be speaking in words burning with
vitality-when he says these th1ngs-ls
he not .voicing a mandate of fairplay,
for altruism and for righteousness?
"Will Earn Admiration"
"Heresies and schisms come and go;
man-made laws appear and disappear,
but the human heart does not change,
and in the last analysis we come to
know that only righteousness exalteth
a nation. We of the stock exchange
know this today better than we ever
knew it before. and we intend to live
by it through the years. We shall make
stick to our standards and rejoice in
them. and some day-mark my words
this great market place will earn the ad-
miration and respect Of the whole peo-
pie.
+ I'VE are determined to show our critics
by our deeds that the stock exchange
means something vital and vitalizing IN
America, that it Is an important adjunct
of the new Wall street-a broad highway
from ocean to ocean, doing its utmost to
skeet the needs of happy and prosper
ons land" = 81
r Attacks Committees Stand.
J Mr., Van Antwerp contrasted what he
called 1.-The Wall street Of Mother Goose
and Baron Munchausen' with "the real
Wall street" He said the legitimate
business Of the stock exchange was often
popularly condemned for the sins of pro-
moters. bucket shops and Inflated VEN
lures. He attacked the money trust
committees Interpretation of figures
showing loans of New York banks on
stock exchange collateral, and declared
that actually the amounts of New York
money loaned to the country at large far
exceeded loans on stock.
1.-The harm done by these random and
misleading 1npllCdt1OHS Is lnCdSuiaple'
and good but unimaginative business
men who accept such statements as au-
thoritative should be told plainly the
facts" said he. THE New York Stock
Exchange today is conducted on high
er plane of ethical business standards
than any business in America or any
profession in America, bar none.
Ready to Condemn.
There arc men in New York, and l
have no doubt In Washington ALSO who
whenever a new proposition comes out
of the south or west, condemn 1t as ir-
rational and visionary without giving
thought to the emergency which gave
1t birth. We arc provincial and narrow,
and in hugging our chains with smug
Pharisaic Indifference to the problems
of the country at large we fail utterly
in the fundamentals of good conduct
Can we of New York and the east
obstinately refuse to adapt our course
to new and ever-changing country
wide conditions? Before we appeal to
our critics in the west and south for
sanity and clear thinking i'll our own
affairs, we must emancipate ourselves
from whatever is local. provincial and
selfish. We must put away the isolat-
ed, detached and narrow view when oc-