Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-06-04
rs THIS WALL
STREETS WAR?
BY JOHN SPARGO.

| general rise in the stock market.
When things go contrary TO wall
streets interests and wishes, stocks
always decline. The feeling of
| Wall street is always indicated by
that unfailing barometer.
With this fact in mind, turn to
the financial columns Of any great
| American newspaper for the week s
| Immediately preceding the declara-
/ ton OF war in April, 1917. You viii
\ find that every time the prospects
/ OF peaceful settlement with Ger
many improved prices rose on the
stock exchange. On the other hand,
! every time the prospects of peace
/ lessened and the chances of war in
I creased, there was a marked fall of
| prices on the stock exchange.
/ There could be no stronger evil
/ dence that Wall street wanted
/ peace and feared war.
/ When war was declared by con-
+ gress prices on the stock exchange
tumbIed once more. proving that
( Wall street saw no prospects of
/ great profits from our entry into
! the world strife.
| It is true that American fnan-
ciers had loaned money to the allied
nations. They had loaned about
two billion dollars, principally to
| England and France. That sum, of
| course, was but a small fraction OF
| the total war debt Of those coun-
tries. There is not one chance in
million that they would have failed
| to pay their American creditors,
! > lafanTnI
| They might, in a condition OF
general bankruptcy. fail to meet
| the interest on bonds held by their
own citizens, but they would not
| default on their American debt, eX-
| cept in case Of a social revolution
and the Reputation of all national
debts. Such a revolution was and
| is extremely improbable.
! If the two billions were ever N
| danger Of being lost, big business,
| if devoid of patriotism as charged,
| could have secured its investments
without war. It would have been
easy to get Germany to take the
risk in return for American neu-
! traIity. That would have been big
! bargain for Germany.
| If you assume that Wall street
controlled the government, and
that Wall street cared only for its
billions, it need not have incurred
the risks of war 70 save those bill
lions. Mr.. Morgan, or some other
representative Of Wall street could
have said TO Count Won BernstOrff,
the German ambassador. we can
not lose our $4,000, 600, GOO. Either
Germany must secure us against
that risk or we must force our gov
eminent to enter the war on the
side OF the allies" It would not
have required As hours for Germany
to effect a settlement satisfactory
TO MIR. Morgan.
For the sake of the argument, let
us assume that without our aid the
defeat of the allied nations was
certain; that the two billions loan
ed by American fnanciers to the al
lies was certain to be lost as a re
suit of that defeat; that it would
have been impossible for Germany
to guarantee the safety of the
American investors. With all these
assumptions made, it is easy to
show the absurdity Of the cOnten-
ton that Wall streets interests
could be best served by war
In the two and half years prior
to our entrance into the war Amer
lean big business was reaping fabu-
lous profits through the sale of sup
plies to neutral and beiligereut ma
tons. Sound financial judgment,
uninf1uenced by other cOnsidera-
tions must have desired above all
else a continuance of those cOndi-
tons
Wall street does not lack intelli-
gence In April, 1917, it had the
experience of European nations for
two and a half years Of war to
guide it. From that experience
Wall street could learn as, indeed,
could every intelligent person, that
if we entered the war
% The immense war profits OBJ
tanned through trade with
European nations would
practically cease.
90 Enormous burdens of taxa
ton would be imposed up
on profits and large in
comes.
tThese two items alone
would amount in one year
to far more than the sum
of the loans made to the |
allied nations).
90 Specialization, through gov
eminent ownership, price |
fixing, limitation of profits, |
and other agencies, would !
be greatly extended and the |
opportunities for profit |
making greatly lessened.
a. Radical and revolutionary |
movements hostile to Wall /
streets interest would be /
strengthened.
90 Big business must be heavily |
taxed for many years after !
the war. This is not theor- !
izing; it is the plain lesson |
OF the history Of two and /
half years Of war With /
that history Wall street /
certainly was familiar.
I hold no brief for Wall street.
Its ways are not my ways. Its in |
terests are not my interests. Its /
people are not my people But truth /
demands the reputation OF the ut /
terly baseless charge that we are
in this war at Wall streets bidding.
II is not "a rich mans war" that
we are fighting It is a free mems
war. Not for wall streets gain are
L Iva 81