The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-11-22
The Stock Exchange.

~ IS no doubt unpleasant to contem-
plate the conversion Of the Stock I9x-
changes Of the world into gigantic gam
4 ing houses. Nor would any one be SO
incredibly rash as to pronounce asweep-
ing verdict Of condemnation against in
stitutions which are not only necessary
but indispensable for the business of the
world, Moral reformers may propose
sto put down racing No one could sug-
gest the abolition of the Stock Exchange.
&et the Stock Exchange is more and
lznore tending to become the gambling
6enter of the world No other rival
\ caAfolsa moment be compared to it for
extent, for convenience, for temptation,
for the magnitude Of its operations, or,
it may be added, for the wholesale
| swindling which has come to be recog-
nized in many quarters as one of the
| legitimate tricks of trade Monaco is
| but q poor country club beside this
i gigantic substitute in which men gam
BILE with all the produce Of the world
The "leyiathan plungerso Of the turf
are but infants compared with the
magnates who corner the harvests of
a continent nnd starve province in
order 10 make a smart deal in futures. =
Every one is familiarwith the hack
neyed story of tho way in which favor
ties for the race course are ''nobbled, Y
/ how Jockeys are brbed to ride 10 lose,
and all the other pettifogging arts Of
yilliany by which confederacies Of
/ rogues contriye to convert horse-racinu
4 into an elaborate mechanism for empty
/ ing the pockets Of simpetons into the
pockets Of knayes But all these yul-
4 ger tricks of the stable boy and the
tout are mere child's play compared
with the colossal frauds of the riggers
OF markets. The variations in betting
are much less violent than the fluctua-
tions in gambling stocks. Take for in
stance, the horses in yesterday race.
\ 0ssian remained almost at the same
\ figure from first to last. After the Derby
Highland Chief was quoted for the st.
Leger nine to two He gradually crept
up in favor to four to one, after q tenn
| porary fall to five TO one, and from four
70 one his position improved until it
stood at two to one on the eve Of the
race Elzeyir started at ten to one III
| June and finished at nine to two. Gal
| lard began at ten to three and receded
TO five to one. The fluctuations in tho
/ prices of most of these horses were
much less rapid than the abrupt rise
and fall in Mexican railways, Denvers,
and other unfortunate stocks specially
favored by the speculator. Many men
made ''pots of money! no doubt, at
Doncaster yesterday, but how many
rivalled the luck Of the tobacconist who
is said to have netted f3O, 900 by specu-
lating for a fall in Mexican railway
stockp
The best thing about horse racing as
a mode Of gambling is that the mischief
1t does Is confined to the gamblers. Far
otherwise is It with the gamblers of the
Bourse. The other day famous cor
nerer, whose exploits had made light
dear in every workman's home in Paris
the whole winter through, committed
suicide in bankers parlor. Unfor-
tunately, the whole brotherhood has not
yet followed his example. They 20 on
making dear by turns light, food. drink
and clothing. They gamble in the nee
essaries Of life, and all mankind paws
their forfeits. Those who imagine that
the betting-ring and the gaming-hoase
represent the sum of human depravity
in gambling should read the remarka-
bic article on Making Bread Dear, .
which appeared in recent numbero the
North 4Anicricdn ReUieW. srThe strono
man. says the author, .'now builds
| corners instead Of castles, and collects
tribute at the end of a telegraph wire
instead Of a chain stretched across the
Rhine. The wealthy criminal classes
have been quick to seize on the ex-
changes, at the risk Of breaking them
down, as the best of all Instruments for
depreciation. They are gamblers whose
dice are loaves Of bread, the chances
they take are the chances of human
life. They make bread and meat dear
throughout the world in order TO fill
their Golfers with ill-gotten gains.
DIR. Farr shows thar the death-rate in
England decreases eight per cent. when
wheat declines two shillings a quarter.
As food grows dear, typhus grows ire :
quent. Scarce bread means more crime.
An increase OF one larceny to every
100000 inhabitants comes with every
rise of two farthings in the price, Of
wheat in Bavaria. The enemies Of The
men who corner wheat and pork could
wish for no heavier burden on their
souls than that they should be success
full. AS wheat rises, -four rises: and
when flour becomes dear through manip-
ulation, it is the blood of the poor that
flows into the treasury of the syndicate
Such money costs too much.
Yet it is with such money that great
fortunes have been heaped up in theold
world and the new. Better thousand
times the wealth acquired in the betting
ring than the plunder wrung from the
toilers of the world by some Of the mon
archs Of finance, the gamblers of the
bourse.
IL is true, perhaps, that in England
things have not reached such a pitch as
in America. But it is thitherward thew
are tending. The trade in s.optionsi'
and Futures" is growing in popularity.
Every month sees additional facilities
for gambling in scrip. Women are be-
taking themselves more and more to
the study of the markets. In Paris the
bourse is almost the Only temple left. II
rs Ln sIlnh nnra a.a,a, NJ 1. a.. IL.