The Grange advance., 1873-10-15

COuutIy " kaMOie IL everything, te0ue4-s
cy to strive to get wealth without earning
it, to obtain money without returning an
equivalent
Men gamble in wheat, in railroad stocks,
in prize packages. They gamble when
they buy and when they SELL when they
build churches and when they build or
phan asylums, when they go to the fairs
and when they go to the shows. All this
is only another exhibition of the insane
love Of money and worse than insane dis
honesty that is sapping the very life of this
nation. It has grown out Of the fact that
men, by stock gambling, or by other still
more dishonest practices have become sud-
denly rich. No honest man desire the
property Of another without returning an
adequate equivalent no one invests in any
kind of gambling or chance operation
without expecting, or at least hoping to
get more than his moneys worth. De-
signing men take advantage, in thousand
ways, Of this terrible cup,dity and dishon-
est sentiment existing everywhere to make
themselves rich. We see the papers full
of flaming advertisements Of splendid
chances for agents to make fortune in
few days, or Of things for sale at one-tenth
their cost Of places where by investing
dollar thousands may be made; and what
is more wonderful these advertisers find
thousands of fools to believe them. They
find enough to believe them to make it pay
to buy their way into advertising columns
Of the best newspapers, admission into the
most sacred places, aad to give them the
effrontery to stick up their nefarious busi-
ness under the very noses of honest men In
places eonsecrated to nobler and better
things.
We were shocked and saddened to see
one of these internal, hell-born, stealing
institutions admitted within the inclosure
Of the fair grounds at our recent State
Fair.
We do not know nor care who was to
blame for this; it may be that no one was
to blame; but We will say this,th if it
was the fault Of any one Of the managers Of
the Fair, he ought to be plowed so deep as
to the management of State Fairs, a. never
to be seen in this direction again. This
institution was one Of those two-legged,
strong-lunged servants Of the devil-whom
| ;f uo -;sh to ;uo,,lA huu,.o h.;rrs and fho
Great Creator who made man in His own
image, we may csll-men who follow up
circuses and shows and commene their op-
erations by driving through streets and
scattering to the crowd niokle, postal cur
rency and small bills, and using every
means possible TO excite the cupidity, and
for the time being to take away the reason
Of their victims. This one operated like
all others Of his kind. He sold soap, OF
some other worthless article, and gave the
purchasers ch0nce-s chance to lose their
money. He offered his chances at two dol.
lars each, Offering to pay back the money
if no prize was drawn. Several took this
bait. Then hecommenced Offering the
money back, and one, two and three dollars
more if there was no prize, until he roped
in ten, the next step was to get oil to agree
to divide equally whatever prize was drawn
He opened the envelopes, and in one Of then
found-O! wonder of wonders-a numbe,
calling for five dollars. Out Of the twent,
dollars taken from the ten men, he CAV
them fifty cents each, and pooketed tn
fifteen dollars clear profits. Yet thss'
men seemed to think it was all perfectly
fair, and stood gaping ready to be taken il
again by the same or some other trick o
the operator. As we passed around tn
grounds We heard this bello wer's harangu
for hours, and whenever we. looked tha
way saw crowd. We have more particu
larly described this operation, because in
formed that the same thing has been don
at previous Fairs, and because men Of tn
same kit have visited every town Of an,
size in the State, where circuses or show
have passed, and have taken thousands 0
dollars out Of the State this season; an
what is sadder yet, farmers who have gon
to the Fairs, or come into the towns to Sc
the shows, have been among their bes
customers. Now it is proposed to sho,
up in THE GRANGE ADVANCE, IS occasion
may require, every humbug Of which W
can hear, but our readers will great!
tighten this task by remembering some Q