The National Co-operator and Texas Farm Journal. (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 11, 1909 Page: 4 of 16
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age 4
NATIONAL CO-OPERATOR AND FARM JOURNAL
THURSDAY, March xa.
Senator Jeff Davis on Cotton Gambling
(Speech of Mon. Jefferson Davis of
Arkansas in the senate of the United
States, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 1909.) _
(Continued from Last Weck.)
A careful analysis of this abstract,
Mr. President, will show that thir-
teen members of the New York Stock
exchange are accredited with a wealth
of more than $1,3 00,000,000, and the
other 1,087 members may be safely es-
timated at ten times this amount, or
$13,550,000,060; in all about $15,000,-
000,000, or 7 per cent of the entire
wealth of the 90.000,000 people that
constitute these United States. Add
to that, sir, the wealth of the mem-
bership of the New York Cotton ex-
change and you have a sum that equals
at least 15 per cent of the entire
wealth of the nation; add to this the
wealth of the men directly and in-
directly associated and affiliated in
business relations with these two great
exchanges and you have fifty-one men
whose wealth equals 35 per cent of the
entire wealth of the United States,
and 4,951 men whose wealth equals
87 1-2 per cent of the entire wealth
of the government, a list of which
was given by me in a speech delivered
on December II, 1907. Seeing, Mr.
President, this great combination of
wealth of these two great gambling
institutions and their allied forces,
that control 87 1-2 per cent of the
wealth of this entire nation, is it a
wonder that the committee of this sen-
ate, headed by Senator George, found
that the New York Cotton exchange,
one of the tentacles of this great
octopus, had built up an oligarchy of
wealth that held subject to its will
the chief product of ten sovoreign
states of this republic. Not only so,
Mr. President, but this combined force
of gamblers can murder and stifle
competition, can bring about a panic
at will in the money markets of the
country, can cause stagnation in busi-
ness at will, and thus reap golden
harvests by means of their illegal
transactions.
The bill that I here present, and for
which I bespeak the careful cons: I.
eration of the senate, is directed at
great evils and is intended to cripple
it and so destroy its power of com-
munication with its patrons that its
evil effects may be destroyed. Gen-
tleemn of the senate, can there be
anything wrong in this bill? In your
hearts and consciences answer me the
question: Ought not this great gam-
bling institution to be destroyed? It
may be said that the penalty of this
act may be too severe. I think not.
Mr. President. If a postal official,
knowing the illegal character of a
letter that is being transmitted through
the mails, fails to arrest it and place
it in the hands of the proper offi-
cial he shall be fined not less than $100
nor more than $5,000; shall be re-
moved from office and not allowed to
hold an office of profit or trust un-
der the government. If the ordinary
individual shall violate the provisions
of this act by sending a letter or by
using the telegraph or telephone for
the purpose of engaging in this illegal
transaction, he shall be adjudged guil-
ty of a felony, and upon conviction
sentenced to the penitentiary/for not
less than five nor more than fifteen
years. If a corporation running one
of these gambling institutions or own-
ing a telegraph or telephone system
shall be guilty of violating any of the
provisions of this act, they shall be
fined in a sum not less than $10,000,
nor more than $100,000, one-half of
which shall be paid to the informant
Ah, Mr. President, if we would de-
stroy this evil we must lay the ax at
its very rotos; we must, by penalties
sufficiently severe, dig it up root and
branch and make a participation in
this gambling transaction hazardous,
indeed, that none will dare to risk
the penalties of this statute, Mr. Pres-
ident, the suppression of this great
evil and the consequent crippling of
the New York Stock exchange means
not only a relief for the Southland,
but for the great West as well. Ah,
it means more than this, Mr. Presi-
dent. It means a brighter day for
this republic and renewed hopes for
our toiling people. Let us for a mo-
ment consider the condition of our
government today. It may be repe-
tition, Mr. President, but I say it with-
out fear of successful contradiction
that the money power of the country
has so tightened its grasp upon the
arteries of trade and commerce, has
so stifled competition that the gov-
ernment itself is upon its knees today-
begging quarter at their hands. What
is the wealth of this government, Mr.
President, and of what is it composed?
I submit, sir, a table from govern-
ment statistics showing the wealth of
this government which I ask to have
printed in my remarks without read-
ing.
The matter referred to is as fol-
lows;
Forms of Wealth.
1904.
Real property and im-.
prove ments taxed... $55,510,247,564
Real property and im-
provements exempt ..
Railroads and their
equipment .
Street railways ........
Telegraph systems ....
Telephone systems ....
Pullman and private
6,831,244,570
11,831,244,000
2,219,966,000
227,400,000
585,840,000
cars ................
Shipping and canals....
Privately owned water
works ............-..
Privately owned elec-
tric light and power
stations .............
Live stock ............
Farm implements and
machinery ...........
Manufacturing machin-
ery, tools and imple-
ments ...............
Agricultural products...
Manufactured products.
Imported merchandise..
Mining products ......
Gold and silver coin and
bullion ..............
Clothing and personal
adornment .........
Furniture, carriages and
kindred property ....
123,000,000
846,489,804
275,000,000
562,851,105
4,07 3.7 91,7 36
844.980,863
3,297,754,180
1,899,379,652
7,400,291,668
495,543,685
408,066,787
1,998,603,303
2,500,000,000
5,750,000,000
Total ..............$107,194,211,917
This table, sir, shows in round num-
bers that the wealth of this govern-
ment is $107,000,000,000. How is this
wealth divided? How is it distrib-
uted among the 90,000,000 people of
this republic? As has been shown
by me upon a former occasion, fifty-
one men, all of whom are directly
and indirectly connected with these
two great gambling institutions, own
35 per cent of this wealth, and 4.000
other men, who own not as much as
twenty millions in wealth, but more
than one million, added to the fifty-
one mne and their holdings, make the
alarming showing that 4,051 men own
87 1-2 per cent of the entire wealth
of this government. How did this ■,
condition occur, Mr. President/ How
was it brought about? There is a
reason for it. Nothing ever happened
in this world but that behind it is a
prompting and promoting cause, and
as I see it today the cause of this
great concentration of wealth lies
chiefly along these lines. Our peo-
ple, sir, as a whole—North, East,
South and West—were more pros-
perous and happy just subsequent to
the great civil war than now. It is
true that the Southland, from which
I hail, in this great conflict had been
laid waste and made barren; our
homes had been destroyed, our for-
tunes had been dissipated; but the
Confederate soldier, as brave and as
true and as gentle as ever lived upon
God's green footstool, returned to his
desolate home, and with a bravery
and chivalry unequaled in modern his-
tory, that challenged at once the wop
der and admiration of the world, set
about to restore his fallen fortunes,
and how well he has succeeded his-
tory itself may repeat. .
But the people of this entire gov-
ernment, I contend, were more pros-
perous, taken as a whole, just subse-
quent to the civil war than they are
today. We had few tramps. The
millionaires of the government, Mr.
President, at that time might be num-
bered,on my one hand.
The people were, as a rule, prosper-
ous, contented and happy. They nat-
urdally divided into great classes,
working in two different fields of in-
dustry. The one class, upon my
right, the larger class, numerically,
set about to work the fields of human
endeavor, the fields of human enter-
prise. Every implement of human in-
dustry that could be contrived was
brought into play, whereby this great
army of industrial workers might earn
bread, as God commanded, in the
sweat of their faces. They worked in
the fields; they worked in the shops;
they worked in the mines; they worked
behind counters; they did everything
whereby an honest penny might be
turned for the support of themselves
and those dependent upon them. The
other crowd, upon my left, smaller in
number, viewing the situation from
a human standpoint of selfishness,
from a standpoint of greed and av-
arice, chose to work in other fields,
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Grant, A. W. The National Co-operator and Texas Farm Journal. (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 11, 1909, newspaper, March 11, 1909; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1636872/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .