Fifty years in Wall Street
the great political parties for political effect is none the less
injurious and reprehensible because it can never have any substantial
result, much less the destruction of Wall Street. It is scandalous abuse
of which we may have more before the November election, but it is
already high time that it should stop in the interest of truth and
justice and the public welfare.
These assailants of the New York Stock Exchange would also abolish all
other stock exchanges, and the Chicago Board of Trade, as well as all
the other grain and provision exchanges, and all the cotton exchanges in
the country that deal in futures. Perhaps they are not aware that the
farmers and planters of the West and South derive, or can derive, great
benefit from having a free market for “futures” open to them, for it
enables them to sell their crops before they are harvested, if the
prices are satisfactory and they want to make sure of them. This applies
also to the Coffee Exchange and importers of coffee.
To drive dealings in time options from the Produce and other exchanges
would be to drive them to Canada, Liverpool, and London, and let the
markets there make prices for us, instead of making them for ourselves,
all of which shows the absurdity of this clamor against speculation in
stocks and speculative commodities. Speculation is thus stigmatized as
gambling with no more reason or justice than the inevitable risks of
ordinary mercantile trade could be called gambling, for no one can
engage in trade of any kind without taking risks.
Now that the storm of the crisis has passed away, and the investigation
and prosecutions that have taken place have laid bare the corporate
evils that were rife among us, including railway rate rebating and
various forms of looting and wholesale graft by controlling capitalists,
we have come into a purer business atmosphere. Corrupt, plundering, and
law-breaking officers of banks, and railway, insurance, and other large
corporations have, in many cases, been exposed and shown the error of
their ways, and we have in consequence a higher business morality than
we had before we passed through this ordeal of purification. In other
words, the house cleaning we have had has done us good, and this of
itself is a compensation that can hardly be overrated in its future
influence. Banks and trust companies and railways, insurance, and other
corporations have been freed from much unsound and dishonest management,
and also loose, grafting and speculative practices, and we have in their
place that higher moral tone which is safeguarded by greater publicity
of accounts and more rigid official examinations under new and stricter
laws than ever before.
Thus temptation to chicanery and other corporate wrongdoing, and abuses,
by those in control of corporations, is largely reduced, and this is
important, for an old proverb tells us that opportunity makes the thief.
Good grounds for an optimistic view of the situation and the future, you
will all acknowledge, can be found in our unequaled and immense natural
resources and their uninterrupted development. These and the enterprise
of our people and our free institutions and popular government, which
makes us all sovereigns in our own right, are national blessings. They
fortify our national life, and leave our splendid growth and powers of
achievement unchecked; and our wonderful progress in the past will no
doubt be eclipsed by our still greater and grander future, with the
United States of America the foremost nation in the world.
In all this progressive movement the cotton and other mill industries of
New England, and the rest of the country, will share; and in this
natural and legitimate expansion, gentlemen, you and your successors may
look forward to, and find, the potentiality of wealth beyond the dreams
of avarice, as Andrew Carnegie did in Pittsburg. From such a great
American object lesson for manufacturers as Carnegie, you should all
derive a vast amount of encouragement, and that hope that springs
eternal in the human breast.
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CHAPTER LXXXVII.
PEACE ASSURANCES FROM JAPAN.
* * * * *
ASSURANCE FROM VISCOUNT KENTARO KANEKO, THE EMINENT
STATESMAN OF JAPAN, THAT BELLIGERENT
REPORTS ARE GROUNDLESS.
* * * * *
FABRICATIONS, HE SAYS, OF SENSATIONAL NEWSPAPERS.
* * * * *
NO APPREHENSION IN EMPIRE OF ANY DISRUPTION OF FRIENDSHIP EXISTING
BETWEEN THE TWO NATIONS.
* * * * *
Declaring that all talk of trouble between this country and Japan is the
outgrowth of “pernicious fabrication on the part of sensational
newspapers,” Viscount Kentaro Kaneko, who was special Ambassador to the
United States from Japan during the Russian-Japanese war, has written a
reply to a letter addressed him by me, in which the latter, under date
of December 5th, last, expressed the hope that no difficulties might
arise between the two countries which could not be readily and amicably
adjusted.
Viscount Kaneko, whose elevation to his present title and whose
appointment as adviser to the Emperor on all things American, came close
upon the heels of the close of the struggle with Russia, besides is one
of the present eminent Statesmen of the Empire. During General Grant’s
first term, he was a member of a commission sent here to study American
finance. Prince Ito was the head of this commission and I acted as
friendly adviser, at the request of General Grant, then President. This
commission afterwards went to London, Paris, and Berlin, and made a
similar investigation of the financial systems of each of those nations,
and on their return home, via the Suez Canal, they made a full report of
their mission and in it strongly recommended their government to adopt
the American system, which was promptly done, and I was appointed by the
Japanese Government special agent to aid in carrying out their new
financial system. I awarded the contract for the engraving to the
Continental Bank Note Co., of New York, on their successful competitive
bid, and after all the work of establishing their new financial system
was accomplished I received a flattering commendation from the Secretary
of the Japanese Treasury for my services in the matter and a very
handsome pair of Japanese silver vases as a souvenir accompanied same.
My letter, which was sent when reports of impending trouble with Japan
were numerous, is as follows:
December 5, 1907.
MY DEAR VISCOUNT:
It gives me infinite pleasure to congratulate you on the
bestowal of your present very great title by the Emperor,
knowing as I do that it is so richly deserved. No one in this
country can bear stronger testimony of your untiring vigilance
and masterly efforts in the work you had on hand in this country
during your war with Russia, and the marvelous success which
crowned your exertions. No one of your nation who has visited
this country made more or stronger friends than you did amongst
our people, and we are all hoping that the time will come when
you will return as Ambassador. It would indeed be an appointment
for the benefit of both nations, and would do more than anything
I can think of to strengthen the long-existing friendly
relations between the two peoples. There are occasional rumors
of our relations being strained, but they originate, I am quite
sure, in either Russia or Germany, owing to a desire in some
quarters to disrupt the friendship. You can rely upon one fact,
however, that if there is ever a severance, which God forbid, it
will not emanate from this side.
Faithfully yours, HENRY CLEWS.
VISCOUNT KANEKO’S ANSWER.
MY DEAR MR. CLEWS:
Your kind letter of December 5th reached me a few days ago and I
am infinitely obliged to you for your hearty congratulation on
my recent advancement to a higher rank for a modest service
which I was able to render my Emperor and country during the
late war. In performing the duties which were entrusted to me
during my sojourn in your country, what little I was able to
accomplish was due to the kind encouragement and assistance
which the friends in America so unsparingly gave me. and in this
connection I assure you that you share the largest part of it.
You mentioned about the so-called strained relations between
America and Japan. It is really a pernicious fabrication of
sensational newspapers, and I am glad that you seem to believe
it to be so too. So far as I am aware there is nothing of a
serious nature diplomatically pending between the two countries.
It is absolutely groundless, therefore, even to imagine, as some
alarmists would have us believe, that there may be a possible
disruption of the friendship which has been cemented so firmly
ever since this country was introduced by America to the family
of civilized nations in the world. I assure you that every one
of our people on this side of the Pacific is keenly alive to the
gratitude we owe you, and I think it most remarkable that nobody
in this empire seems to entertain, even to the slightest degree,
any apprehension of a breach of the friendship. Such a thing
never comes into our head. Again thanking you for your courtesy,
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) KENTARO KANEKO.
TOKYO, JAPAN, January 21, 1908.
I have kept up a correspondence with Prince Ito and other Japanese
Statesmen ever since I was first associated with them thirty-seven years
ago. The letter from the Viscount spoke for itself and showed the utter
nonsense of sensational reports.
I also wrote to Marquis Ito about the war rumors as follows:
December 5, 1907.
MY DEAR MARQUIS:
Notwithstanding the frequent rumors that have of late sprung up,
both in this country and Europe, to the effect that the
long-existing friendly relations between Japan and America are
becoming strained, I think I am in a position to know that there
is not the slightest foundation therefor, so far as we are
concerned. There has been, however, a vicious motive in their
circulation, and it is quite dear to my mind that they have had
their origin in, and are disseminated by people in Russia and
Germany, the wish being father to the thought. For some reason
or other they seem particularly anxious that the pleasant
relations existing between our two countries should be weakened,
and finally severed, hence the strenuous efforts in that
direction. I feel quite sure, however, that there is not the
slightest possibility of such a contingency.
To show how false these rumors are, as well as to cement the
friendship which now exists between our countries (which you and
I know to be real and lasting) and to put an end to the jingo
talk of the press both here and in Japan, would it not be an
excellent idea for the Emperor to formally invite the Admiral
and Commanders of our fleet, which is to cruise in the Pacific
waters, to meet him at some convenient seaport in your country?
I know that the American people would appreciate such an honor
and that the greeting they would receive from your countrymen