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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
Vol. 5, No. i.
Lincoln, Nebraska, January ao, 1905.
Whole Number 309
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Conscienceless Finance
Mr. Lawson's phrase, "Frenzied Finance," ia
too mild. Conscienceless finance is a more accurate
' description of what goes on in Wall street. "Fren
zied" would imply an excitement so intense as to
temporarily suspend the operation of the reason,
'but some of the Wall street transactions are de
. liberately contrived schemes for deception and pil
lage. One of these schemes is just now being ex-
posed in New York. A brokerage firm by the name
of Monroe & Monroe failed, and the investigation
revealed the operations of conspiracies as scandal
ous a3 any exposed by Lawson.
It seems that a plan was formed for giving a
fictitious value to the stock of the Montreal &
- Boston Consolidated Copper Co. By what aro
called "washed sales" the stock was sold and
bought by a secretly formed syndicate whose mem
bers dealt with each other the purpose being to
deceive the public. Second Vice President Loomia
of the National City bank of New York the Rocke
feller bank was, it is said, one of the syndicate,
and his on was one of the officers of the copper
company. The bank loaned the brokers sixty thou-
sand dollars a day for eight days to help carry
through the "washing" operations. It is asserted
that the money was loaned without security and
Mr. LoQmis seems to think that that is the only
question involved. When asked if he iwas going
- to resign he replied: "Why shoind I resign? They
.saywe lent$60;000 a day. foiMeiglifr daygwithout
dnniinfir1 XJntir rlr 1tntr IrTmnr HfUnL- Hn'niiU;'. J..
had? The bank did not lose a cent." It does not
seem to occur to him that there is anything wrong
in practicing a fraud on purchasers of stock. What
- about the "innocent widow and orphan" of whom
we hear so much when any anti-corporation leg
islation is suggested? What difference is there in
principle between the "washing" process and plain,
- everyrday stealing? Burglary is in the same cate
gory and is not a whit less dishonorable. Has
the federal government any money on deposit in
the National City bank? If so, what does the
president think of an institution whose officers
are so morally obtuse as to see nothing wrong in
such a plot? When the president gets ready to
"shackle cunning" it might be well to include
Wall street operations within the scope of the
criminal law.
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Nogi
and Stoessel Meet
1
. The meeting between General Nogi and Gen
eral Stoessel at Port Arthur, a report of which will
be found on another page, was a most interesting
one. The bravo commander of the beseiging army
and the resolute defender of .the fort exchanged
compliments and expressions of esteem.. "In ap
preciatior of their splendid loyalty to their em
peror and country," General Nogi announced that
he wa3. instructed by the Japanese emperor to say
that the Russian officers would be allowed to wear
their swords. General Stoessel asked General
Nogi to accept his war horse as a token of his ad
miration. The latter replied that he could not ac
cept a personal present but that as the Russian
horses ,became the property of Japan he would
see that the horse was kindly treated.
General Nogi referred touchingly to the two
Bons whom he had lost in assaults upon the fort.
The question that must arise in every mind is:
Can war bo really necessary? Must men fight each '
other and kill each other in order to establish
justice? Must the destinies of nations be forever
determined by their ware?
Ex-Governor Blaclc took the affirmative of this
proposition in his speech nominating President
Roosevelt, and those who favor a large navy seem
to think so, but an increasing multitude look, for
the coming of the day when the people, will learn
'war no, more. ,
"FALL IN!"
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...Enforce The Criminal Clause...
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Recently President Roosevelt was greatly dis
turbed because of the smoke nuisance in the Dis
trict of Columbia. The president caused to bo
addressed to the authorities of the district a letter
directing their attention to the nuisance and also
to the fact that the men responsible for it had
calmly ignored every appeal that it be abolished.
In that letter it was suggested that in order to
provide the people of the district with relief tlio
men responsible for the smoke nuisance be arrested
and re-arrested until they were willing to comply
with the law.
That was, inueed, a very practical suggestion.
Even the most powerful of men are afraid of
the criminal indictment. They aro just a's averse
to being locked up as the most humble violator
of the law is. t.
This incident recalls the fact that the
chief feature, and, indeed, the very first sec
tion, of the Sherman anti-trust law provides flno
and imprisonment for men who violate the pro
visions of that law; for several years many de
mands have been made that the criminal clause
of the Sberman law be enforced; no attempt has
been made to enforce that clause and no one has
undertaken to explain on behalf of the adminis
tration 'why, it has not been enforced.
Justice Holmes of the United States supremo
court, , referring id the Sherman anti-trust law,
said that was a criminal statute and intimated
very broadly that if the law had been violated
criminal prosecutions should have been corn
menced.
We are told that Mr. Roosevelt Is determined
to wage serious warfare against freight rate dis
criminations; that he will Insist upon the inter
state commerce commission being given power to
regulate freight rates so that rebates and discrimi
nations shll actually be prohibited. In this good,
work Mr. Roosevelt Is entitled to the hearty co
operation of all good citizens and evidently he
is receiving great encouragement from the people
on this line.
Mr. Roosevelt says that this provides "the
paramount issue" at this time. A very important
matter, indeed, it is; but it is just as important
that Mr. Roosevelt undertake to proceed by crimi
nal process against the men who conspire in re
straint of trade. It is just as important that Mr.
Roosevelt undertake in a serious way the enforce
ment of the chief feature of the Sherman anti
trust law.
Newspaper dispatches -;ay that in the event thft
United States supreme court sustains Mr. Roose
velt's contention in the beef trust case, the crimi
nal clause of the Sherman anti-trust law will
be enforcsd. LU us hope that these reports ar
correct.
It will be much easier,, however, for Mr. Roose
velt' to enforce a law already on the statute boolui
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