50 What My Critics will Say 



Another friend of mine, also a broker, to whom 

 I said one evening at dinner, "You have pro- 

 duced nothing, earned nothing of value to- 

 day," replied to me: "Yes, I have. Here is 

 a check for $200, the profits of a turn in wheat ; 

 it was done in half an hour. I bought low, 

 and I sold high." "And," I asked, "do you 

 not pity the man who lost that $200, for you 

 gave no equivalent in work for it?" This 

 seemed to be so extraordinary a view of the 

 matter that every one laughed ; no one seemed 

 to have the least sympathy for the unfortunate 

 loser in the game. Do not these things show 

 that this speculation disease is blunting the 

 moral sense of the community? My friend of 

 whom I spoke first is a man to whose friend- 

 ship I owe much, and for whose character I 

 have the highest esteem. He is kindliness 

 itself. And yet point out to him, or try to 

 point out to him, that the life of a broker, al- 

 though admittedly gambling, pure and simple, 

 is a vicious one, and he will laugh good- 

 naturedly, and go on with profound content 

 upon his "vicious" course. 



To state briefly my view, to sum up the gist 



