THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 197 



mand from abroad for our products, the country was 

 thrown into a fever of alarm, and business of all kinds 

 dealt a severe blow by the machinations of a few gam- 

 blers in the stock market of the principal city of the 

 United States. 



The panic also showed the extent -to which railroad 

 gambling had demoralized the business and people of 

 the country. It showed that some of the strongest and 

 most trusted houses of the country had lent themselves 

 to the task of inducing people to invest their means in 

 the securities of railroads, the success of which was 

 doubtful, to say the least. It showed that the banks, 

 the depositories of the people's money, had to an alarm- 

 ing extent crippled themselves by neglecting their 

 legitimate business and making advances on securities 

 which proved very uncertain, if not worthless, in the 

 hour of trial. The money needed for the legitimate 

 business of the country had been placed at the mercy 

 of the railroad gamblers, and had been used by them. 

 The funds of helpless and dependent persons, of widows 

 and orphan children, had been used to pay fictitious 

 dividends and advance schemes in which the people 

 had no confidence. An amount of recklessness and 

 demoralization in the financial interests of the country 

 was revealed that startled the most hardened ; and in 

 all of it the hand of the railroad gambler could be 

 clearly and unmistakably traced. 



The lesson has been severe, but it was needed. The 

 people of this country now see what recklessness and 

 greed in the management of our railroad interests can 

 do, and what they dare attempt ; and the nation will 

 richly merit all the evil that will come to it if it does 

 not profit by the lesson. 



