“When the country was precipitated into a panic in 1893, I was not one of the sufferers; I was one of the scoundrels active in bringing the distress upon the people.  I aided in the establishment of the all-powerful Money Trust.

“Later I was interested in a big mining scheme.  It appeared to me to be one of the best things in which to invest money.  I put the bulk of my fortune in the mining stocks, and lost.

“In attempting to retrieve my losses I dissipated my fortune to the last cent.

“The whole of my career as a banker was of a criminal nature.  Nearly everything I had touched was a speculative venture.  The cursed practice of watering stocks to three and four times their actual value was the common work of my days.

“At the end I was caught in the net which I had so often thrown out to ensnare others.  My former partner, James Golding, the Napoleon of Finance, wrought my undoing.

“All of this leads to this conclusion: 

“I am an enemy of the Trusts now, because I know their methods; I know the results that follow the practice of fictitious speculation.  Before you all I acknowledge that my past has been of the darkest and most disreputable nature.

“I also wish to state that I have experienced a change of heart.  It has not come upon me solely because I have lost my fortune; I have felt it creeping upon me for the past three years.  In my inmost heart I feel a beating that will not be stilled unless I am engaged in the work of destroying the power of the accursed Trusts.

“That there is a chance on earth for a man to redeem himself, I am confident.  I have heard the call and have responded to it.  I am resolved to use the rest of my strength in battling with the enemies of the people.  And I am the more in earnest since I can never forget that I am personally responsible for the distress of hundreds.  Widows and orphans, young and old, all have been my victims.

“What object Nevins may have in getting us to recount our grievances, I do not know; but if it will lead to any good result, he may depend upon me to give my untiring aid.

“I have but a word to add.  Since my ruin, I have seen my wife and only child, a daughter of twenty, languish and die before my very eyes.  This has embittered me against the men who have worked the ruin of the masses more than anything else.  I have pledged myself to avenge the sufferings of humanity.  I shall be doing something for the good of the race; something to atone for the evil deeds I myself have done.”

There is nothing in the recital of Harrington’s life’s history that is of an exceptional nature.  True, no one present is aware that he had at one time been the head of the great bond issue plot.

But the delegates are looking for something of a far different tone than a mere recital of crime and a fall from affluence to penury.  Several of the committeemen are on their feet demanding the floor.