[44 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
borne, if not by the private speculator, nor to inquire what is 
the moral of Lenin’s recent experiment in Russia in “abolish- 
ing” both speculation and private property. Yet it surely 
argues little for the wisdom or consistency of those who con- 
demn socialism as roundly as the writer could wish, that they 
should be equally ready to attack speculation, which is one of 
the cornerstones of private property and private ownership. 
But we must not hold the idea that speculation, with all the 
harm it occasionally works to the individual, is simply an 
ancient and unshakable evil which fate has condemned us to 
endure with what grace we can muster. Speculation in several 
{istinct ways is a positive and constructively beneficial factor 
in modern civilization, as a moment’s reflection will show. 
Speculation a Phase of All Pioneering.— Financial specu- 
ation plays an integral part in all pioneering and in all the pre- 
iminary and experimental stages of new enterprise. In almost 
every instance, financial speculation has been the mainspring 
nd economic basis of those bold and hazardous explorations 
which have discovered and opened up new continents, and of 
‘hose inventions which have subjected even the blind forces of 
aature to man’s will. Behind almost every pioneer whom his- 
tory has declared a hero has stood some financial speculator, 
unhonored, unsung, and usually forgotten, who nevertheless 
must have possessed some of the hardihood and imagination 
of the actual adventurers whom he financed. Even good Queen 
Bess, so the story goes, did her share in financing the bold 
Francis Drake in his amazing forays upon the plateships of the 
Spanish Main, which cleared the way for the British coloniza- 
tion of North America. And so it has been since her day with 
adventurers and pioneers, successful and unsuccessful. 
No business in the world is so entirely judged by results as 
speculation; if the adventure succeeds, the speculator is pro- 
claimed a genius, while if it fails, he is ridiculed as a credulous 
fool. And vet. however valuable or practical the inventor’s