I consider that a broker goes according to the instincts that are in him,
and means no harm, and fulfils his mission according to his lights, and has
a right to live, and be happy in a general way, and be protected by the law
to some extent, just the same as a better man. I consider that brokers come
into the world with souls - I am satisfied they do; and if they wear them out
in the course of a long career of stock-jobbing, have they not a right to come
in at the eleventh hour and get themselves half-soled, like old boots, and be
saved at last? Certainly - the father of the tribe did that, and do we say anything
against Barabbas for it to-day? No! we concede his right to do it; we admire
his mature judgment in selling out of a worked-out mine of iniquity and investing
in righteousness, and no man denies, or even doubts, the validity of the transaction.
Other people may think as they please, and I suppose I am entitled to the same
privilege; therefore, notwithstanding what others may believe, I am of the opinion
that a broker can be saved. Mind, I do not say that a broker will be
saved, or even that is uncommon likely that such a thing will happen - I only
say that Lazarus was raised from the dead, the five thousand were fed with twelve
loaves of bread, the water was turned into wine, the Israelites crossed the
Red Sea dry-shod, and a broker can be saved. True, the angel that accomplishes
the task may require all eternity to rest himself in, but has that got anything
to do with the establishment of the proposition? Does it invalidate it? does
it detract from it? I think not. I am aware that this enthusiastic and may-be
highly-colored vindication of the brokers may lay me open to suspicion of bribery,
but I care not; I am a native of Washoe, and I will stand by anybody that stands
by Washoe.
- "Daniel In The Lion's Den - And Out Again All Right," The Californian,
November 5, 1864
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