w. The
people needed the gold beyond measure--that is, they needed the
_money_; and gold is one form of money. The industries of the people
had been prostrated by an international conspiracy, and the nation was
quivering on the verge of apprehended ruin.

In this crisis the patriotic Street devised the bucket-chain, the
crank of which was in the hand of the Street, while the "chain" ran
through the Treasury of the United States. Every bucket came out
filled with gold. Lazard Freres emptied out the gold and shipped it
abroad to their confederates. This created the necessity for buying it
back with bonds. The people were stunned with the audacity of the
thing--just as the unfortunate owners of a house in flames are stunned
to see gentlemen of the profession rush in and empty the safe. Wall
Street danced and shouted while the work was done. The bonds were
"popular," and the Street got them--got them for one price and sold
them for another.

By this beautiful process the great American nation was literally held
up and _robbed_ of more than nineteen million dollars! No highwayman
ever more successfully clutched the wizen of his victim than did the
Street with its supple fingers around the white larynx of Columbia.
The wheezing of the strangulated Republic could be heard from the St.
Lawrence to the Rio Grande. The nation was thus "saved," and the
robbers took the money and went sailing away on summer cruises to
Norway and Venice and the Cyclades. The "national credit" was
preserved; Wall Street "rescued" us from dishonor! That part of the
proceeds not consumed in yacht races, pyrotechnics, and balls was
passed to the credit of the reform fund, needed for the restoration of
prosperity in the fall of 1896! Certainly a history of "Wall Street,
Past," ought to contain some reference to these crimes.

Mr. Clews, turning to "Wall Street, Present," tells the nation that
now "the great banks have a superabundance of gold to lend on solid
and readily salable collateral at low rates of interest, approximating
the prevalent rates in London and Paris, where similar accumulations
of idle capital exist." This is a true statement of the facts. Mr.
Clews has here spoken by the books. What he says signifies that Wall
Street is now ready to go ahead and issue new mortgages on the
American people. It is now ready to offer inducements to our fourteen
millions of voters to sell themselves into another twenty-year cycle
of bondage. If they wi