Daily Republican., 1879-05-22
FIFTH EDITION
A RUSH FOR bonds.
The Great Demand for Certificates
Street Gamlns Made the Tools
OF Brokers Against the Peoples
Interest-The secret OF the Rush.

Street Ganlns Made the Tools
Of Brokers Against tho Peoples
Interest-The secret OF tho Rush.
The sale of certificates for AZ per
cent. bonds began at eleven o'clock
this morning at the PostofIice. This is
the first sale that has taken place in
this city, and in view OF this the bro
kers here are making every effort to
get as many as they possibly can. As
is well known these certificates are is
sued for the benefit of the people at
large, and in order to check the bro
kers desire for their possession the gov
ernment has ordered that no amount
beyond hundred dollars shall be dis
posed of to one person. In order to get
the certificates the brokers had hired
boys who with checks for the allotted
one Hundred, present themselves at the
Office Of the postmaster in seemingly
interminably disorder.
The police were called upon and they
by separating the living mass of excl
ted forms brought something like order
out of the chaotic confusion hy stand
ing them all in line. By this arrange
ment all had their turns and evsh after
the turns of some had come and they
had secured their ceI tilicates they took
position in the back of the line and
took their chances for another hundred
Postmaster Pyle has $lo, 900 worth
to dispose of, which he will doubt
tless do before FIVE o'clock. In this
case he will have to make returns to
Washington and then in about two days
he will probably receive another equal
amount. The bonds are very popular
with the people and this rush on the
part of the brokers is the cause of much
dissatisfaction.
The system of repeating" which is
being carried ont by the brokers of
this city is something that the govern
ment, in issuing the above mentioned
decree, wished to guard against. The
law which created the certificates was
passed at the last Congress, and it was
the intention of the makers that the
certificates should be sold to those pur.
chasers who wish to make bona tide in.
vestments.
Against this there is great induce
ment for the broker to secure the pos
session of the certificates for the reason
that they are eXchangeable for four per
cent. bonds, Of which $44 00O,O are
reserved by law. Since the syndicate
took all the four per cent. bonds except
those reserved for exchange for these
certificates, the price Of the bonds has
steadily gone up, until now they are
at nearly two and a half per cent. pre-
MUM.
To buy these certificates at par is,
equivalent to buying four per
cent. bonds at par. When the broker
pays 81 premium for each 800, he
stands fair chance of making 81. so on
each 500 he buys. That, of course,
depends upon the price of the four per
cent. bonds on or after July l, the time
for beginning the exchange of the GER
tiicates for bonds.
The Postmaster who sell the certifi-
Gates get one-eight of one per cent. on
sums less than 80 600. The commits
sion decreases as the sales advance, so
that they receive 81 per $1,000 on ex"
cess of sales above $500 up to $50,
600. Then for sales above $50, 900 they
get so cents per 81 900 on the excess.
1t is believed that about $l4, 900, 900
of the $44 ,OO0, 600 have already been
disposed of, and the prospect is that
the whole will be taken as soon as the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing can
furnish the supply.
The popular rush has taken every one
by surprise. The law provides that the
syndicate may take all tn at the people
do not take before January II, but the
are that there will be none
left for the syndicate. The people will
take the whole 444, 600, 900 with arush.
The rush for the certificates is excit-
ing considerable attention and the pro-
ceedings are watched with great inter-
est. At half-past eleven o'clock there
were fftyfve in line, most of which
were boys, each boy represent
ing one hundred dollars,
The certificates are made out in de-
nominations ranging from ten dollars
and upwards. The boys for their trou-
Bile get from the brokers from fifteen to
fifty cents, and some even more.