Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-06


sites of the traders, but as they were all
busy at that moment he concluded he was
safe, and turned his willing ear once more
toward the handy man, who proceeded:
"Not one in ten will sell. They want to
buy. They cannot, somehow, be reconciled
to the idea of selling something they haven't
got. can account for it in no other way.''
81 notice that they bring their work along
with them"
"Yes. The other day two or three neigh
bors brought quilt with them and worked
industriously on it through both morning
and afternoon sessions. Sometimes they
have no time to monkey and when there
is an active market they are kept humping.
The"
Goodness gracious, Mrs. Blank" piped a
shrill voice close by, 81 can never get that
stitch. I've been working on it an hour
| The reporter looked in the direction
whence the voice came, and then saw the
ancient matron with the ball of red yarn
| trying to induct a younger woman, in a
faded merino dress with short flowing
sleeves, through which protruded the red
arms of a kitchen slave, into the mysteries
of new wrinkle in hosiery manufacture.
The pupil did not linger long, her atten-
ton being drawn to another part of the
room by the thin treble of the lightning
tanner, calling out January wheat 1O1."
"There it goes again." sheiexclaimed, "$12.50
gone on that last quotation. I am always
getting on the wrong side," and she pranced
off to study the visible supply and the
chances of bloody foreign war. The
women are immense on analytical calcula-
| tions, though, as with the sterner sex, it is
| observed that the greatest wisdom prevails
among the fresher dealers.
GLOW high do the women bet?" inquired
the reporter, addressing one of the proprie-
| tors of the deadfall as the congregation was
| breaking up.
"As high as they want to; we have no
limit. They usually range from one thou
sand bushels to five and ten thousand,
| though we have customers who go as high as
| twenty thousand when they think they have
sure thing"
"What are the striking characteristics of
female speculation?'
"The women are buyers, as rule, and
| when they get hold of mean deal they will
never let go, but will keep margining up as
long as they have nickle. They cling to a
bad deal with the tenacity of a terrier to a
root
"Do they kick when they loose?"
"No, indeed. They take their losses very
philosophically, and display more nerve than
| men under similar circumstances, Our Gus
| toners are principally the wives or relatives
of board of-trade men, who are accustomed
to this sort of thing. Many of them deal
merely for pastime. They board, and just
come in here to spend few hours and leave
US little money"
The blanks used at this institution are
| iIya i,,, oE 9th Oh C
customer wants to buy one thousand bush
els of wheat she fills out the following blank,
pins it to $40 note, and passes it over the
cashiers desk
BLANK GRAIN EXCHANGE (Order to buy Wheat,
| CHICAGO, Dec. /, 1851 buy one Thousand
bushels No. spring wheat at 81. 10I per bush
ell commissions to be added to said price, for
delivery in January. Margin $40.
| SOPHIA FRESH.
In return fer this she receives the follow
ing contract, signed by the authorized rep
resentative of the alleged exchanges:
Transferable Only on the Books of the Elk
change. All Clerical Errors Subject to Cor
| rection.
! No.. Chicago, Dec. 1, 1880.
| THE BLANK GRAIN EXCHANGE SELL to
Sophia Fresh 1000 bushels No. 2 wheat for Jan
uary delivery Sellers op;ion) at $l.l015 per
| bustel (Which price being commissions added);
|
shall be imperative and void, without notice,
| should the margin become exhausted.
| Time order received. Margin, $40; exhaust
| ed at 81. 0912. BLANK GRAIN EXCHANGE.
| Received payment in full.
WILLIAM FLIP.
| The $40 put up represents one cent per
bushel margin, or rather it did represent
that before the "bank' took out one fourth
Of the amount for commission. This mar
/ L.
cent, or $3.50 for 1000 bushels, so that the
dealer is betting against her own money.
The odds are dead against her from the
start. The banker takes 25 per cent. of her
capital, to begin with, and, instead of having
an even thing, it is $12 80 against $3.50,
the bank betting that the customers
$3.50 will be exhausted before its
$3.50 is swept away. Unless the market is
all one way, and the parties get on the right
side, the bucket-shop owners have as soft a
thing as one could wish. The percentage is
much greater than that of faro bank or
roulette table, and the business is quite as
legitimate. When the tide sets in against
one of these institutions it pays out as long
as the ''other fellow's'' money lasts, and
then suspends. They are very seldom as
| seriously bitten as the man on Change who
was bewailing the loss of $4,000 in sin
| gle deal.
eyes," said he, wiping tear from the
southeast corner of his eye, "snd the hell of
it is, $3.50 was good money put in my
self" They generally quit when the "vel-
vet'' is gone, and sometimes they pinch a
part of that to provide against contingen-
| cies.
To explain this beautiful system
further: The $40 put up by Mrs.
Sophia Fresh does not exhaust the
possibilities of that deal. Far from
it. If the market goes against her three
fourths of hundred-weight, che can then
put additional margins, blanks having been
provided for that purpose on the contract,
and she can keep putting up until there is
change or the money is gone. She Gan let
| &c at any time, however, and abandon the
! trade. Whenever minimum is reached and
| she fails to come to the scratch, she forfeits
her contracts and her money is hopeIessly
| beyond her reach. The process is the same
if she wants to sell, the stake Off being the
same both ways and the chances as great
| against her. It is said that when the market
favors lady speculator she is more apt to
win largely than men. Her bump of caution
is less largely developed, and she stacks up
| her winnings with the recklessness of a
thoroughbred gambler. Not con-
| tent with the profits or tie original capital