ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 363 



much better judge of men than of markets. The gentle 

 Israelite is sure to take the correct view of the effects of 

 an act of Congress upon the markets. He has a sort of 

 sixth sense that leads him unerringly to a right judgment 

 in these things. The man who is actually turning the 

 grindstone cannot see into it any farther than anyone 

 else, and the legislator seldom correctly gauges the ef- 

 fects of his acts upon the price of stocks. We had a prac- 

 tical illustration of this fact when the Sherman law was 

 passed in 1890. There probably never was an act of Con- 

 gress that led so many legislators into speculation as this. 

 When the law was passed many members of Congress 

 backed up their judgment by buying silver bullion. For 

 a short time they were rewarded for their faith in the ad- 

 vance in that commodity by some substantial profits, and 

 then the tide turned and these lambs were shorn, not only 

 of all their newly acquired fleece, but of the older wool as 

 well. 



It is always wrong to do wrong. It is wrong for a 

 legislator to attempt to make money by speculation based 

 upon his knowledge of prospective legislation. It is grat- 

 ifying to know that he does not often need to be punished 

 for his offense by the people. Wall Street almost invari- 

 ably makes the punishment fit the crime. A member of 

 Congress has no peculiar knowledge of the fact that a bill 

 is about to pass which would influence the markets, that 

 is not open to all men alike. Our system of government 

 precludes this, for the bill must go through committees 

 in two houses and be approved by the president, and its 

 effects are always discussed by the outside public, who 

 are as well advised as any member of Congress can pos- 

 sibly be. 



Nothing is more common than for congressmen to ask 

 the views of bright newspaper men as to the probability 

 of a bill's securing a majority of the two houses. Their 



