DEALING IN FUTURES. 647 



States to send a message to Congress demanding that these 

 institutions that gamble in food be abolished; that trusts 

 be abolished. Then write to your present Congressman 

 and Senator at Washington, and ask that they at once 

 take notice of this crying evil and legislate it out of 

 existence. Go to those who are candidates for Congress 

 and exact pledges from them to abolish these institutions 

 in case the present session does not do its duty. The 

 present Congress has spent nearly a year in skirmishing 

 for points on which to carry the next election, while the 

 interests of the people are going to the Devil. It is time 

 to put a stop to it, and the workingmen of the United 

 States should speak out in thunder tones to them on this 

 great issue." 



It is certainly in the interests of the people that gam- 

 bling in the prices of the necessaries of life and the 

 unlawful combinations against the natural laws of trade 

 should be prohibited. That it is not only permitted but 

 considered respectable and engaged in by members of the 

 church professors of Christianity is a serious reflection 

 upon the intelligence and morality of our civil institutions. 

 That a man who has been publicly connected with this 

 business for years, and is notorious for his success in grain 

 gambling, could be elected as chief magistrate* of the great 

 commonwealth of Missouri, reflects little credit on the 

 party which is responsible for his election a party, too, 

 that claims to be the "party of the people." All preten- 

 sions to reform accompanied by such action are the merest 

 shams, and the sooner the masses of the people realize this 

 fact the better it will be for the Republic. 



*It is a notorious fact that Mayor Francis, recently elected Governor of 

 Missouri, was conspicuous for his success as a dealer in futures at the St. Louis 

 Board of Exchange. 



