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Vol. In.
No. 4
Copyright. l9l5. by THE FATHERLAND Cofvontion
%e Fatherllandi
FAIR PLAY for GERMANY and AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
Edited by George Sylvester Vie:-eel: ‘ New York. September 1. 1915
Entued at the Poet OEce. New York. N. Y.. as Second Class Matter
Q
Price
5 Cents
WHY THE MONEY TRUST BACKS THE ALLIES
' II.-THE IVAR STOCK GANIBLERS
By Charles A. Collman, Author of “The Stolen Railroad,” Etc.
WALL STREET has many moods and guises. It dresses them
i in externals, as an actor does his parts.
The other day I strolled into the entrance of the Stock Exchange,
and my eyes met the large placard posted there ze-
“Gallery Closed for Repairs."
N0 Fellairs are ever needed for the gallery of the Stock Exchange-
I knew the portents of that sign. I have seen it there before, and
kllowzt the reason why. It meant that the public had been exdllded
“Om the observation stand where it is permitted to watth the
brokers’ liubbub about the trading posts in the country's greatest
"“’“9Y market. It meant FEAR.
50 I went around to the Wall Street entrance, where I satisfied
the uniformed watchers stationed there as to my 800d l"“i"ti0“5‘
For all entrances to the Stock Exchange are guarded, as are man)‘
Wall Street banking houses now, whose partners are kept under
Secret Protection when they go about.
I went to the fifth floor of the building to the “Library," where
‘he financial writers congregate. One of them came UP ‘0 me Md
“hispercd: “Collman, do you know they've just DUI 3 '“3“’ Steel
‘Vite netting over the roof of the Exchange?"
We interchanged significant glances. “XVhy," I asked, “have they
hes" getting letters again?”
Yes." he answered, in a lowered tone,
‘0 mention it in the newspapers."
.1“ Order to verify my friend's s
“Xteentli floor of the Commercial Cable Building alld lo
“Don the shaft which opens on the great glass dome over the Hoot’
M the Exchange. My friend had not been mistaken. There It
Spread. 11 new, glittering steel wire netting- Strong 3"‘! fi"rable'
proiecilng the men, who, far below, were buying and selling war
Stocks, to the accompaniment of a clamorous din.
A“d I Could not refrain from asking myself, Why’ Shoulfl me“ be
worki“E Way down there in secret, screened from the public eye?‘
N9‘‘'' in all this fair land of ours, those who are engaged Ill
honest work do not hide behind steel screens, surrounded by guards-
me" I0 protect them from the public gaze. When we $0.10 5“ ‘flher
""3" at business, we are accustomed to a bright Amencan Smile’ 3
hearty handdasp’ and 3 cheery response that times are good and
trade is booming.
Wl“’“ men work in secret hiding places, we are accustomed to
llsmciale them with those wretches ‘who make eXPl05“'ef ‘of the
Slaying of their fellows or some plot ‘0 Sm? ‘hem Sf ‘heir com‘ .
.15 it Possible that Vviill Street can be engaged uP0“ ‘he “’"‘““s'
Sm“ Of a crime?
L“ Us see.
0“ the New York Stock Exchange there are-
These brokers, as a rule, are handsome, hearty
and 300d natured as are most men who make e h
do “Oi Droduce but absorb from the surplus Provided. by those W 0
do the Work of the land. “fall Street men know this so-well
man)’ Of them engage in public movements and Dhil3“tl“'09‘e.s‘ ‘ 3
.ti-eet must be made respectable. Mr, Henry Clews, for ll’lSfi:il'lCCf,
who may be termed the Nestor of the brokerage “’0"ldg ‘5 lien O
the American Peace and Arbitration League. To some it might ap-
“but they asked us not
tatement, I later ascended to the
oked down
1,100 membershiP5-
fellows, generous
asy money. The)’
pear an inconsistency that war stocks .should be permitted to be
posted on the quotation board in his brokerage oliicc. But then that
is business. Since the great war started, however, Mr. Clews, both
as a publicist and a public speaker, has seen fit to single out for
attack one of the many nationalities that go to make up the popula-
tion of our country, and that is not so well. People who live in glass
houses, you know. ’
Mr. Clews and I have known each other for a great many years,
and we have always been good friends, although, if he will permit
me to say so, he is a foreigner and I am an American.
Mr. Clews was born in England and came to this country a poor
boy, for his native land had nothing to offer him. tVe, in our
country, have welcomed Mr. Clews, have given him the privilege
of making a large fortune and enjoying an easy life. I think we
all have rejoiced in seeing Mr. Clews prosper. So far as I know,
nobody has ever attacked Mr. Clews because he is of English birth,
so it does not seem quite just that he should assail another race.
Coming from a man of his age and standing, such words as he has
uttered are calculated to awaken hatreds and dissensions that might
tend to plunge our country into war. I think it is regretful that he
should have brought over to us his old world hatreds. I could
probably say to him: “Mr. Clews, if you don't like the views of my
country and the people of my country, you had better return to
your own." But that is not the American way. I should not like
to see Mr. Clews returned to his country. I like him too well. I
admire him for his many gifts which have been useful to our
people. Besides, I think he has a kindly heart, and is merely sub-
ject to an English fault.
I mention this attitude of Mr. Clews, because I am convinced that
it has a direct bearing on the fact that l.Vall Street today conducts its
work in secret. This secretiveness is an admission of the Money
Trust that in backing the Allies it is wronging other races in this
country, and that it works in guilty fear of them. How much
better would it be for Mr. Clews to prove his loyalty to his adopted
country by advocating an embargo on the shipment of arms and
ammunition to the warring nations, thus putting to shame his next
door neighbor, Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, American by birth, but
official agent for Great Britain, who, for the sake of the money
he makes, brings upon his country crisis after crisis because of his
traffic in war material.
Throughout the United States millions of men are looking upon
Wall Street and its Stock Exchange with eyes red in hatred. They
see there disloyalty on every hand, bankers making themselves
agents for foreign governments, naturalized citizens eager for war
in the interest of the land from which they came, and which they
seem to love better than their own. And among such are the XVar
Stock Gamblers.
Mr. Noble, you are the President of the New York Stock Ex-
change, which is the medium through which the Money Trust un-
loads upon the public the stocks in its war enterprises.
You will recall that several years ago, after the public had been
lured into “Wall-Street, plundered and stripped, a great outcry arose
to incorporate the Stock Exchange.