all things save the mad pursuit in which they were employed, the very
opposite in habits and conditions."

What was the end of this chapter of English enterprise? Suddenly
the ruin came. Down went the whole nation--members of Parliament,
tradesmen, physicians, clergymen, lawyers, royal ladies, and poor
needle-women--in one stupendous calamity. The whole earth, and all the
ages, heard that bubble burst.

But I am not through. Our young men shall hear more startling things.
We surpass England in having higher mountains, deeper rivers, greater
cataracts, and larger armies. Yea, we have surpassed it in magnitude
of swindles. I wish to unfold before the young men of the country,
and before those in whose hands may now be the price of blood, the
wide-spread, ghastly, and almost infinitely greater wickedness of the
gamblers in oil stock. Now, the obtaining of lands, the transporting
of machinery, and the forming of companies for the production of oil,
is just as honorable as any organization for the obtaining of coal,
iron, copper, or zinc. God poured out before this nation a river of
oil, and intended us to gather it up, transport it, and use it;
and there were companies formed that have withstood all commercial
changes, and continued, year after year, in the prosecution of an
honorable business. I have just as much respect for the man who has
made fifty thousand dollars by oil as I have for him who has made it
by spices.

Out of twelve hundred petroleum companies, how many do you suppose
were honestly formed and rightfully conducted? Do you say six hundred?
You make large demands upon one's credulity; but let us be generous,
and suppose that six hundred companies bought land, issued honest