The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- History
This is the new code we offer--a code taught to us by the times and by
the facts that assail us. When we see an 'honest' Judge 'Iago' rise
from his bed at midnight to pander to the contemptible rascality of
stock thieves we have but little hope for even what we dignify by the
name of law. When we see our churches allowing a host of gamblers to
gather for false worship at their shrines and pander to them, that they
may share their plunder for the 'benefit of the Lord,' we have still
less hope in our future. When we see great criminals respected and
lesser criminals imprisoned we believe that the American mind is sadly
out of a proper moral pathway.
"The operations now carried on in Wall street, be they of any stock, or
of gold, call for the interference of some power sufficient to crush
them. If the City or the State is powerless, let the general government
take the matter in hand for the general good. Take gold, for example.
There are not over two millions of the solid coin used as a basis for
the operations which in a single month represent a sum twice the amount
of our national debt. The harpies who gather around the Gold Rooms in
their mad shoutings are at the same time shouting 'Death to the
republic!' They unsettle all values, and are, as a mass, a public
calamity, and should be dealt with as such. As with gold, so with
stocks, and no nation can long afford to let its future hang upon the
will of a mass of unprincipled men who daily bleed its prosperity
beyond all calculation."
These things are well known in New York, but no one heeds them. Each
one thinks he is shrewd enough to avoid the dangers which have ruined
others, and only discovers his mistake when it is too late to repair
it. Men of all classes, even ministers of the Gospel, and frequently
women, rush into Wall street in pursuit of sudden wealth, where, to use
an old adage, "if they are not gored to death by the Bulls, they are
sure to be devoured by the Bears."
Persons who wish to succeed in New York, or elsewhere, should shun
speculation. Legitimate business offers brilliant rewards here, but
speculation means ruin. If you wish this assertion enforced, go into
Stewart's or Claflin's stores, and see how many salesmen on small
salaries you will find there who were once wealthy merchants doing
business on their own account. They succeeded in their legitimate
pursuits, but were not satisfied with their success. They wanted more,
commenced speculating, and lost every thing. Men to succeed here must
be energetic, cautious, enterprising, and economical.
BOGUS STOCK COMPANIES.
On fine afternoons visitors to the Park do not fail to notice a
handsome equipage driven by a stylish young man, with rosy cheeks and
light curly hair. His face is the perfect picture of happy innocence.
He is very wealthy, and owns a great deal of real estate in the city.
The manner in which he made his money will show how other persons
enrich themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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