Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-02-15
SPECULATION.
The spirit Of Specializing rervades the
Minds OF ntl Men.
lchicapo rImcs. l

tChicago Times
The spirit Of speculation IL abroad
among The people Of the United States,
where the hnste TO become rich Is I'm
almost absorbing passion. When for
every bale Of cotton received IN New
York II hundred bales are sold when
every city In the country baA It's stock
brokers operating for customers upon
the New York exchange; when wheat
aud corn and oats, lard, short ribs and
mess pork are the convenient pre-
texts for gambling contracts large
and small, and for the one actual ship
per of provisions or grain, almost every
commission merchant on the Chicago
board has one or more customers
selling or buying on margins for set
tlcmcnt on differences; when over
crowded bucket-shops are cheek by
jowl with ovcr-run pool-rooms, there
h some Justification for the allegation
that we are II nation OF gamblers. The
professional sporting man who haunts
the racc-track and, In the intervals of
meetings, frequcnts the fnro-table or
the poller-room IL only the pronounced
type of large aud constantly In
creasing class Of gamestcrs. or this
fact the largely increased operations
In Wall street. the extent 10 which
dealing In cotton futures has been
carried, the great volume of the trans
actions In the purely speculative
grade of grains, are not more
signiiicant--indeed, are probably less
signiiicant~of the extent OF the
speculative fever than the discos-
nrcs which follow the exposure OF those
swindlers who gained II marveously
large clientagc by protesting TO deal In
| Chicago In what they called the club
method of speculatlons. Upon full
inquiry the postal department deter
mined To refuse the Chicago concerns
the use Of the mails through which
they received rcmittanccs from their
dupes. This brought matters to crisis.
The operators have disappeared
and IL Is now found that their
credulous customers, whose small
sums placed In their hands
for Investment aggregated millions,
were located all over the country.
They had caught the prevalent specu-
lative foyer, and In their exalted state
of mind with reference TO the chance
of acquiring n fortune rapidly on n
! small Investment were ready dupca
for adroit scoundrels. A bet won Is q
bet lost. For every gambler who gains
in II nominal venture la grain or stock
or cotton or provisions, there must be
nj least one gambler who loses.
| The thousand dollars which A
takes out Of u Aver ON stocks
Is Etho thousand that b pnt
in. The chance of winning IL gen
orally no greater than the chance of
losing. Vet thousands of persons all
over the United States who hud heard
no doubt, haw fortunes are made ON
the exchange, and were themselves
DESTROYS of making haste 10 be rich,
were caught by the plausible repre-
sensations of the Chicago swindlcrs.
IL was TO little purpose that the Times
exposed them periodically. The spirit
of gambling was hurrying hosts of
| otherwise respectable, sober, hard
{headed men into II course of folly ia
which their eyes may not vet be fully
opened, since, 10 regain what they had
lost by this swindlc, they may tempt
fortune IN some other form
II is surprising that, when the in
elination to gaming is 80 predominant.
idleness and thriitlessness are not
moro apparent. The passion has
| probably not yet taken serious hold
on the industrial world. The mechan.
lie and the laborcr are sate. The small
shop'kecper, the clerk, the Young men
growing up 20 no particular occupn
tlon, but trained 10 nXtraVngant no.
tons touching their own ease, comfort
and mode of life, furnish, doubtless,
The great constituency of small gnm-
hlers IN the prices of stocks aud grain
and provisions. The evil effect Of
Their iniatuatlon, destructive as IL Is
ofall settled habit of industry, must
be apparent To any one of experience
or observation. What voluntary In.
iluence may be invoked TO check this
growing habit of gambling?