St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-02-01

the greatest noise and publicity in and
about series of buildings devoted to
the purpose. Perhaps 1 ought to make
third division to include the lottery
and policy business, but the two above
referred to are sufficient for present
purposes.
As l have Just limited, hard times
cause the Wall street kind of gambling
to languish to some extent, and not the
heightened morality of the people. The
spirit is willing, but the pocket is very
feeble; and many a broker of the Olden
times, who was wont to make his hun
bred dollars day commissions, to wear
the sOftest of raiment, to take cab if
he had occasion to go a block, to have
champagne and boned turkey for lunch,
and to subsist upon the adipOse tissue
of the land generally, has now been
driven, either to seek some other and
more labOriOus occupation, or to scrape
together a shabby living amid the scenes
of his former mushroom prosperity.
But while the old original Stock Ex-
change men suffer by the lowered con-
ditiOn of things, another class of brokers
find in it their opportunity. According
to the rules of the exchange, the small
est transaction allowed is for one hun
bred shares of stock, and the margin
required to carry through even this lit
tie ''deal" is now more than a large
proportion of wouldbe spectators has
to risk. So, to hold good the saying
that wherever there is demand there
is supply, number of brokers have
gone into the retail business, so to
speak, and opened offices in which the
clerk, the mechanic, OF the small mer-
chant can operate on us little as five
shares, and thus, while enjoying the ex-
citement, the risk, and the exercise of
his own sagacity as much perhaps as
Gould, Hatch or Keen, stakes only SIS
or $40, us the case may be. The Stock
Exchange men look with great disfavOr
upon this class of offices, which they |
contemptuOusly style "the primary |
schools" though why they should feel so
is not quite clear. The small offices are
really only Il nursery for infant specu-
lators. In the language of one of the
primary school" brokers, "There are a
good many men who want to speculate
and don't exactly know how. They are
afraid to risk much and so don't 90 in.
But they can come here and buy or sell |
just as small lot us they want to.
They can afford to risk five dollars to
learn how. Men will come here, specu-
late IL little, get more and more familiar
with stock speculation, and 90 from
here to Il larger field in the regular Ex-
change. In that way we shall benefit
the business generally"
The other, and less reputable style of
gambling, while il has suffered in vol
ume with the general decline, possesses
too great charms for its votaries to lie
entirely dropped by any considerable
number of them, and so in its various
forms it goes steadily on beneath the
very eyes and noses of ''the finest po-
lice i'll the world" with only occasional
and spasmOdic Interruptions 1t is gen.
orally supposed by the innocent public
that the faro tiger is exclusively Il noe
tnrnal animal whose proving, like that
OF his cOngener of the Indian Jungle, is
only done after honest folk are asleep.
This, however, is il great mistake. The
New York tiger is IL wakefu beast,
whose chronic hunger demands victims
at all hours. During the day, his growI
Is the loudest between the hours of
twelve and two, when the thousands of
merchants and clerks are tout to lunch.n
Absence from the store or office at this
time is not suspicious, and, consequent
ly, those whose tastes incline them to
feel the claws of the beast choose this
hour for their encounter. do not mean
tn he understood us asserting thnt such
are the MONDAY exercises of the bust
ness community us Il whole, but it is
safe to say that the numb Der of thousand
dollars which are monthly thrown into
the jaws of the "animile" alluded to, by
all classes of the community-chur
members and their young sous not ex-
cepted would greatly astonish correct
society, were full particulars to lie made
known.
As in stock speculation, however, the
stakes ventured nowadays seem mig
gardly beside the reckles betting of
flush times. Then thousands were fire.
quently put up where now hundreds. or
even tens, are the limit of the ventures
There is even II tradition of a game of
poker played 10y four ''solid men, of
this city, eight or ten years ago, in
which bets ran higher and higher till
the game WAS brought to il close by one
of the number, IL well-known newspaper
proprietor and politician laying down
check for $500, 900, and us no one could
cover it, taking the pile. | wonder
what President Grants Minister to Eng
land would have thought of that {?
Every one who took even casual note ,
of the progress of the last Presidential ,
election will remember the campaigL
brought against Mr.. Tilden, ,
to the effect that in 1861 he defrauded ~.
the Government by failing to pay his ;
Income-taX. L presume no one imaTin-
ed that to be anything more than a bit
of election mud that always flies freely :
during canvass; and it was therefore -,
with considerable surprise that we saw ,
in the papers the other morning an ac- :
count of the suit of the U. S. against ;
Tiden, which had just come to a hear ,
ing in the Circuit Court IN this city. :
But though the suit has actually been .
brought into court, it will probably =
to nothing, the Judge deciding -,
a preliminary point in Tilden's favor, .
and with such prOmptness as to indicate =
that he will treat the remaining aues- :
tons in like manner. The controlling ;
fact in this case is that the income-tax, :
not formally repealed until :
1867, was never sought to be collected g.,
in 1861, the present suit being the only :
one ever brought to collect it. :
AS your readers are doubtless aware. :
there has recently been some talk in .
Congress about re-imposing this OBJ -,
noxiOus tax. How distasteful this act
would be to the country is we'll shown
by petition to Congress, numerouslv r,
signed, which condemns the measure I
in vigorous terms, quotes an opinion y
given by VIM. NJ. Evarts in 1871, to the =
effect that the tax is unconstitutional. J.
and concludes with a plain hint that L