The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-13
LADY SPECULATORS.
New York Ladies Squandering Pin Money
in Grain and Stocks.
BROOKLYN EAGLE.

Brooklyn Eagle.
Many of the wives, sisters cousins and
| aunts of brokers display the ligeliest inter
est in the vagaries of the stock market, and
not infreo uently invest their pin money in
stocks. They lose themselves in the excite
| ment of the game, however, when they go in
too deeply, and are the most unreliable spec
ulators 1t is astonishing what easy dupes
| these women are to sharpers who have up
town offices labeled as branches of prominent
downtown firms. In the vicinity of Union
and Madison squares there are a dozen or
more Ladies' Banking Houses" Uptown
Branches of the Stock Exchange for Ladies'"
and similar institutions wherein women are
encouraged to invest their money in stocks.
| That thousands of women do this the pros
perity of these establishments attests. OF
course they victimzed, as legitimate COM
missions would not support the establish
| ments. The women have only small means
! to squander When once they have expert
enced the fascination of the game they find
| it difficult to desist and they usually wind up
| by borrowing money at heavy interest from
| the proprietors OF these concerns | went
| into one of these offices not long ago on the
west side of Broadway, just below Four
! teenth street. l was surprised at the ele-
gance of the place. The recepton-room
with plush carpet and heavily curtained
and furnished lavishly, was quite vacant
when I stepped in, but a moment later q
well-dressed and rather handsome man
| walked from an inner room, and asked me
softly what he could do for me. 1 told him
| wished to look at the place, and he said he
would be happy to show me about, but there
were number of ladies in the inner room,
and as most of them were nervous about
| their operations being known he could
not take me in. At this moment the door
| through which he had passed opened, and
| a richly dressed woman started out. She saw
me there and hurriedly retreated. l caught
| a glimpse of handsomely furnished Office,
with several ladies sitting around, and heard
the notes OF the musical "tickers'' as they
| reeled offthe quotations from the Stock Ex-
| change. The man had soft and agreeable
| manners, and was by no means a bad fellow.
He told me quite candidly that it would not
do for man to go into the inner room, as
the ladies depend upon its privacy | asked
him if his feminine customers bought large
| u, and he said that they did not expend
large sums at one time and few orders ex-
| coed 500, but they came Iii very often and
dropped in dribbes that in time amounted
| to very fair sum- l gathered from what
he said although he did not tell me so ex-
plicitly, that the whole thing was run on
the bucket-shop principle, in which the
house stands as a sure winner every time.
But women are certainly not successful,
either singly or as a class in dealing with
the Stock Exchange.
The pursuit of wealth in our land offers its
images OF beauty. 1t involves an awakened
mind. The love of wealth ends the stupid
| sleep of the barbarian and bids the sluggard
Awake" ''arise." That voice has made
Americans perceive and enjoy the sweet
morning air, and new life flows in the heart
aud brain. This is transformation scene of
much beauty. There are other scenes. We
were all once poor. All those who stand
| rear the age of fifty saw years when their