Fred C. Kelly

In the 1920s, millions of average Americans hoped to get rich buying and selling stocks on Wall Street. But some people, such as author and columnist Fred C. Kelly, saw that rich and powerful bankers stacked the odds against middleclass investors. For typical working-class citizens, investing in the market was little different than gambling in a casino where the house always wins. Unfortunately, Kelly's sage observations could do little to counter popular get-rich mob psychology that outweighed common business sense.

Wall Street is a symbol for activities of powerful banking interests and of speculation in stocks and bonds. Yet the New York Stock Exchange is not even on Wall Street, but around the corner on Broad Street. Great banks are here, however, J.P. Morgan & Company, the National City Bank, the Bankers' Trust Company—powerful financial groups that...