Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-12-30


/ Editor Ru4la,,d Hesel4 There sessIl
10 be prevsiling desire With . large pro
portion Of the people Of this day to get !
living without work. Various are tn
articles resorted to to esoape labor, which
We have been thought from or 9ariiss'
youth il grsst curse. The result h TIA
the various pro8sauions aEs lid - OVER
flowing while mechanics md dsy lsborsrI
are comparatively scarce.
But there i . olas Of men not included
with the professional or laboring class
These are men who are said to live BY
their Wits. and were aptly described By
the Dutchman who in speaking of the
men of Wall street said 'They trade and
sheets Won annudder and calls it pisness.'
Of this latter class there are many varie.
ties, but the one which seems to be the
most prosperous and increasing most
rapidly, is the cheat, sort of an unde-
scribed species of the genus homo, who
has the faculty of exciting the imayina'
ton and credulity Of his fellow man, and
making him believe that, for very little
money invested, he is to reap large sum
This is done in various ways. In cities il
has been accomplished oftentimes by q
"broker" who went to "friend" and com.
municated to him, or her, in confidential
and friendly manner that he knew OF
valuable stock in some mine, petroleum
well, or manufacturing enterprise that
promised" great returns in the way OF
profits, and made his duped victim believe
that an overflow of the milk of human
kindness was the only prompting motive
that led him to disclose the information
that would enable his friend to invest in
such valuable and richly paying enter
prise. There are thousands of men of
moderate means, hundreds of laboring
women who had laid by few hundred
dollars, who have invested all their avail
able funds in these promising" schemes
who never have and never will again see
dollar of their investment. The villains
who inaugurated and consumated these
nefarious schemes bartered away their
conscience, betrayed aud lost the con-
fidence and respect of all honest men, but
they have got in return wealth which
effectually shields them from labor, the
great curse, as they regard, and they
think themselves blessed
Harvests Of this kind are past, but
operators of a like type are at work in
new field. The gullible citizens of the
country are now being feeced by those
who promise great returns for small in
vestments. Gift enterprises, although
they have made victims of hundreds and
probably of thousands in the State of Yer
mont, are doing good business in some
sections; circulars informing lin conf
Dental manner of course) parties in the
country where they can obtain counterfeit
greenbacks "that will pass as well as the
genuine for very moderate price, thus
affording, for any man who will invest,
an opportunity to secure fortune with
out labor. Another dodge is to send word
to some one in the country that he has
drawn prize in a certain lottery and if
the lucky one will only remit five, ten or
fifteen dollars to pay the percentage on
the prize of two hundred, four hundred
or six hundred dollars, this accommodate
ing agent will at once remit the prize.
and generally is SO careful as to inquire
whether the lucky person will have it
sent by express or check on the nearest
bank-asking the name of the latter ito
avoid mistakes" Now those who have
been caught in these gull traps" or men
who know enough of human nature to
understand that if there ever was race
of human beings that would give two dol
lars for one that they have become ex-
tinct in this country, know full well that
all these offers are made with the inten-
ton of fleeing the unwary. We call
these operators knaves and rank their acts
among the blacklist on the catalogue of
crime. 1t is like robbery for these vii
lains to thus take money from their uu-
victims and give them nothing
in return. This mania for acquiring
money without giving any equivalent is /.
increasing in our land, and credulous
ticket buyers equally anxious to acquir.
wealth suddenly, are numerous. Who can
tell where this state of things will land
the American people We are becoming
3 nation Of gamblers. Many of the
churches in our land couutenance il
as winter approaches, have lot
ery swindles been started to raise money 4
Tor what are called benevolent or re-
igious purposes. Bed quilts and silver
tea sets are already advertised to be sold
By ticket, and those who attend fairs will 7
De importnned to guss on the cake. to buy
piece of the ring cake, to buy ticket
ior the bed quilt and if they fail to do
10 they are likely to be called stinpy or
lot willing to aid in the work of tn. l. .rd
We know an instance where q fair with
hese lottery swindles I'VE should cali
hem swlhdles under any other circum-
tances) was recently got up to raise
money to finish building church.
How eau the clerg yman that &c, upie-
he desk Of the church ever consistently
lenounce gambling? Will not every
'erson in his parish know that the finish.
ng OF the house in which he stuld- wns
'aif for with money raised in lot,er,
should "pious ggmblins" be tolerated and
legitimate lotteries-tlat puy regular tax
o government be- discouffsnanced We
hink not. II one is wrong the other is
qually so. The villain who Genes out
irculars for gift enterprise aud ppckets
fortune from bis duped victims q,,irts /,
lis conscience with the thought that the
nds justify the means and as he has i,
ecured enough to release him from that
,reat curse, labor, he is satisfied and W.