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NOVEMBER 11, 1910
considered quite respectable today for tho legal
representatives of predatory wealth to visit stato
capitals and national capitals and prevent tho
enactment of laws Intended to" protect tho public
from private monopolies, and it Is even more
respectable for the salaried attorneys of these
monopolies to follow close after tho offenders
and furnish them horses in the way of legal
technicalities upon which to escape from punish
ment. And some of our metropolitan papers
are in the same class with the unscrupulous
lawyer. Is it not time to raise the moral stand
ard and to Insist that our laws shall bo made
for tho enforcement of human rights and not
for the protection of those who violate these
rights? Shall we continue to be horrified at
housebreaking and the picking of one's pocket
and yet view complacently and without concern
these million dollar raids upon the earnings of
the entire population? Surely we are justified
in applying to the trust question the command
ment "Thou shalt not steal!"
And will I be entering upon forbidden ground
If I question the moral character of those finan
cial transactions which have resulted in tho
issuing of watered stock and fictitious capitali
zation? The individual cannot circulate his note
unless the purchaser believes that he has back
of it sufficient property to Insure tho payment
of the note, but there is a presumption in favor
of stock issued by a corporation. People assume
that industrial stocks represent their face value.
If a company is formed with a capital of a hun
dred millions, the investors assume that that
much monoy has been invested in plants and in
business, and dividends are expected upon that
basis, but this supposition has been abused and
tho people have been imposed upon. All sorts
of devices have been employed to give to tho
stock the appearance of genuineness. Eminent
financiers underwrite the bonds issued by the
corporation or subscribe for large blocks of
stock and thus lend their names to the schemes
for tho exploitation of the public. A few years
ago it was found that one of the high officials
in a prominent New York bank was connected
with a company which was inflating the value
of certain stocks by what is known as washed
sales; that is, by the selling and re-selling of
stocks among a group of men for tho deception
of the public, and when the matter was made
public, the bank official seemed unconscious of
the moral turpitude involved in tho transaction.
Stock which does not represent money invested
cannot be raised to its face value by honest
or legitimate means, and those who palm off
spurious securities upon the market may make
more monoy by such transactions, but they show
no more conscience in their transactions than
the horsetrader who doctors up a worthless ani
mal and by concealing his defects sells him to
some uwary purchaser. I hope I shall not
be thought guilty of Impropriety in suggesting
that the commandments which ar3 binding upon
the rest of the world ought not to bo suspended
In the region of Wall Street, If we were able
to make an exact calculation of the amount of
money taken from an unsuspecting public each
year by the issue of stocks and bonds known
to be worth less than the amount for which they
are sold, we would probably find that the total
amount of money stolen in this way is larger
than the amount stolen in a single year by all
'of the criminals who have been sent to the
penitentiary during the year for petit or grand
larceny.
Even in the fixing of rates (not to speak of
discriminations and rebates) railroads and franchise-holding
corporations may be guilty of an
extortion bordering on theft. These quasi public
corporations are under obligations to furnish
an adequate service at a reasonable rate and
anything in excess of a reasonable rate is simply
so much taken without right from those who
are the victims of the extortion.
And now, at the risk of being accused of
Bacrilege I venture to Introduce to the stock
exchange the commandment which we have been
considering. I am aware hat here in New York
.the stock exchange is regarded with a certain
amount of veneration and that many who ve
hemently denounce gambling in a back room
where winnings and losses are small, remain
strangely silent in the presence of the enormous
gains that are played upon the stock market,
often with loaded dice. Gambling is one of tho
;worst of vices, and gambling in stocks and in
farm products is the most destructive form In
which the vice appears. Measured by the num
ber of suicides caused by the New York stock
exchange, Monte Carlo is an innocent pleasure
resort by comparison. Measured by the amount
The Commoner,
of monoy changing hands, tho contrast Is still
greater in favor of Monto Carlo, and measured
by tho Influence upon thoso who do not gamble,
tho evils of Monto Carlo aro Insignificant when
compared with tho evils of Now York's commer
cial gambling houses. Tho Now York stock
exchango has graduated -more embezzlers than
Fagin's school did thioves. When a group of
men gamble at a wheel of fortune or at a gamo
of cards, tho injury dono Is confined to them
and to thoso Immediately dependent upon them,
but thoso who gamble In tho grain pit or on tho
floor of tho stock exchango deal In commodities
of securities In which eighty millions of pcoplo
aro directly or Indirectly interested. Farm pro
ducts aro juggled up or juggled down, stocks
aro boosted by tho bulls or depressed by tho
boars, and tho whole country feels tho effect.
Tho natural laws of supply and demand ought
to regulato prices but these laws aro entirely
suspended when a few men can, by their bets,
add millions of dollars to tho market valuo of
ono product or take millions of dollars from tho
valuo of another product. After a cruBado
which convulsed a stato and at last Impressed
tho thought of tho nation, wo got rid of tho
Louisiana lottery and then wo congratulated our
selves upon our virtue. Tho men in chargo of
tho lottery never did a titho of tho harm that
tho grain gamblers and tho stock gamblers of
New York do every day, nor did they ever ex
ercise anything Hko tho corrupting Influence
over politics. It has been asserted without de
nial that 99 per cent of tho New York pur
chases and sales of stock and of produce aro
merely bets upon tho market valuo with no In
tention on the part of the vendor to deliver or
on tho part of tho nurchaser to receive. This
Is not business; it is not commerce; it Is not
speculation; it is common, vulgar gambling,
and when to the ordinary chances that the gamb
ler takes aro added tho extraordinary chances
due to the secret manipulation of the market
by those who are on tho inside, tho stock market
becomes worse than tho honestly conducted
gambling resort. If a man takes a chance upon
a wheel of fortune, he knows just what his
chance is, and he knows that tho owner of tho
wheel has a percentage of chances In his favor,
but when a stranger gambles upon tho stock
or grain market, ho is at tho mercy of thoso ,
who, by obtaining control of tho visible supply,
can destroy every natural law or business rule
which tho outsider knows. While the laws of
each stato and the laws of the nation should
prevent, as far as laws can, tho use of these
commercial activities for gambling purposes,
there must be back of tho law an educated
public opinion, and I beg the spiritual advisors
of our great cities to consider whether they can
not advance religion as well as morality by
pointing out that the commandment "Thou shalt
not steal" is openly and notoriously violated in
the stock market and in the grain pit by thoso
who profess to believe In the Bible and havo
respect for its teachings.
If time permitted I would call attention to
the adulteration of food which sometimes in
volves a violation of the commandment against
killing as well as tho commandment against
theft.
But law finds its foundations in morals, and
back of wrong doing is a false conception of
life. I have not exhausted the field of illustra
tion; I have not applied my text in all the mul
titude of ways In which it can be applied, but
I shall conclude tho discussion for this time by
calling attention to the fundamental conception
of life that more than anything else is respon
sible for the various forms of larceny to which
I have referred. In our haste to make money
we havo cultivated tho Impression that life Is
to be measured by its Income and that men are
worthy of respect in proportion as they have
accumulated. If I were delivering a religious
address I would insist that life should be meas
ured by its overflow rather than by its income.
I would insist that It is what wo put Into tho
world and not what wo tako out of it that de
termines the success of a life. But for tho
present I shall content myself with presenting
an economic standard rather than a religious
ono and say -that tho only economic rule for
accumulation is that one shall draw from society
in proportion as ho contributes to the welfare
of society. Forms of government, methods of
administration and legislation all should have
for their object the securing to each citizen of
the rightful and legitimate rewards for his toil.
Society cannot say to a man that ho must as
a matter of religious duty give more to society
than he takes from society, nor can it, without
violation of Individual rights, Bay to a man that
ho must glvo to society more than ho gets' from
society. Tho citizen owos a cortaln obligation
to tho govornmont, and tho govornmont owen
a cortaln obligation to tho citizen, and thoso
obligations aro equally binding. Tho govern
ment can havo no favorites; It can not put tho
burdens upon somo and offor tho rewards to
others. Tho bcBt government ia that which fur
nishes to each citizen tho most perfect security
ngalnst ovory arm uplifted for his Injury and
which, Insofar as it ontors upon a co-opcratlvo
work, distributes with equity both tho burdens
and the benefits of that co-operation. Perfec
tion Is not to bo oxpocted in govornmont but
tho doslro for perfection ought to control tho
citizon In his civic work no it controls him in
IiIb own life. Jofforaon taught this conception
of govornmont when ho Insisted upon tho maxim
"oqual rights to all and special privileges to
none." Lincoln had this purposo of govern
ment In mind when ho said at Gettysburg that
thoso who ncomblofl there should resolve that
"a government of tho people, by tho people and
for the peoplo should not porlsh from tho earth,"
and Jackson gave expression to tho samo thought
whon he said in ono of his messages:
"Distinctions in society will always exist under
every Just government. Equality of talonts, of
oducatlon or of wealth, cannot bo produced by
human institutions. In tho full enjoymont of
tho gifts of Heaven and tho fruits of superior
industry, economy and virtue, ovory man ia
equally entitled to protection by law. But whon
tho laws undertake to add to those natural and
just advantages artificial distinctions to grant
titles, gratuities and exclusive privileges to
make tho rich richer and tho potent more pow
erful tho humblo members of socioty--tho
farmers, mechanics and tho laborers who havo
neither tho tlmo nor tho moans of securing Hko
favors for themselves, havo a right to complain
of tho Injustice of their government."
Tho "swollen fortunes" against which tho pres
ident justly inveighs, almost without exception,
find their sourco In special privileges and gov
ernmental favoritism which legalize Injustlco;
It is not strango that tho "humblo members of
society" complain, but It Is strango that con
science does not more often restrain tho "rich"
and tho "potent" from asking for such unfair
advantages.
The nearer wo can make government conform
to tho dlvino plan, tho nearer wo shall approach
justice and, according to tho divine plan, tho
reward should be proportioned to tho industry
and tho intelligence with which ono labors.
With tho great mass of mankind this must re
main tho only basis of rewards and those who,
in tho pulpit, on the platform, through tho press
and in legislative halls, assist In tho creation of
public opinion should labor in season and out
of season to present an ideal of life that will
make each Individual as anxious to render faith
ful service to society as ho Is to draw an ade
quate compensation from society. Tho com
mandment "Thou shalt not steal" will not havo
tho weight that it ought to have among men
until it is so construed as to bring the feeling
of guilt and shamo to thoso who draw from tho
common storo more than they add In service.
If wo can but create a sentiment that will make
men ashamed not only of wrong doing but of
Idleness as well and fill them with an earnest
doslro to mako generous return to society for
all tho blessings that society confers, it will bo
easier to prevent these varieties of larceny which
aro so difficult to define and which tho officers of
tho law find it hard to detect and punish.
DAVfD B. HITjIi
Tho death of Ex-Senator David B. Hill, of
New York, removes ono of the greatest politi
cians of his day. His long illness has prepared
the public for the final announcement but his
departure from life recalls an interesting story
of trials and triumphs. Ho had a genius for
organization and was a master of details. Ho
was diplomatic in his dealings with men and
gave abundant evidence of tho powers of leader
ship. No American has ever understood practi
cal politics better than he, and with tho inaugu
ration of tho direct primary, ho Is not likely to
have a successor.
Though ho dealt with large subjects and
wielded great power for many years, his public
life was as clean as his private life was ex
emplary. He had opinions and the courage to express
them, but ho was a fair fighter and compelled
the respect of his opponents. Friend and foe
alike mourn tho departure of a great democrat.
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