The Red Cloud chief., 1884-03-07
Advice to q Young Man.

A young man writes to the SH" as
follows:
81 am a book-keeper in q wholesale
house, on q salary of $1,000 a year,
and [ have $500 laid up. l want to
make some money, and I have thought
some of specializing a little in wheat or
pork. | know several young men / n
NV position who have made quite a lit
tie money specializing. and | have been
tempted to invest several tines. but
have not yet been able to get up
| courage 10 take M $500 out OF the
bank and put it in the hands OF a COM.
mission house. What would Won adj
wise ME to do? ] have guessed on the
market several times, and have guessed
right. and if l had put my money on
my guesses. l would have made on
| siderable. Now. tell me honestly, be-
cause l know you have specialized, and
know all about it."
Young man, 90 and look at your
$500, and see if it is there yet. Alb. it
is all safe. is it? Looked sort of good,
didn't it? Made you feel proud when
YOU saw il, proud that You had earned
it by hard work. Well, if you had
twice the amount. won AT gambling. or
in wheat speculationS. you would not
think half as much of it as you did OF
this first $500. You don't ever think
now of spending this money foolishiy.
1t represents to YOU hard work coined
} into dollars. If you had accumuiat-
ed it without work in speculation,
and it came easy, You would be look
inc for a horse that could beat the
crowd on the avenue, in less than /
week. You would be spoiled if You AZ
cumulated money easy. and ruined II
YOU lost your five hundred. You keep
right on keeping books, and keeping
them well, and forget that five hundred,
except TO draw the interest regular, or
unless You see a piece Of tirst-class,
solid property that is offered cheap.
But don't you ever put 4 dollar on
wheat or pork, expecting TO win. Tor
You will lay down your bundle sooner
or later, and wake up with a headache.
This is not the advice of one who ever
specuIatei a dollar. or who ever will.
but one who has been watching those
who do speculate for fifteen years. Not
one in q hundred of them but have lost.
Those who have won are no better OFT.
because they have worn themselves out
watching the market and cursing their
luck. II is a business that should only
be done by rich men for amusement
The rich can lose and not feel it, though
some of them kick pretty hard when
they lose. But the poor, those who are
depending on their labor, either OF hands
or BRAN, should never indulge in an
amusement that makes the rich wish
they were dead. You can take n hun
dred dollars and 90 TO a faro bank,
and guess right on the deal, in
your mind, with your hand on yoir
money in your pocket, and you will
guess right very often, but ii You put
your money down, the ma ;Ority OF the
guesses will be against you. and the
commission the bank takes viii soon eat
up YOUR hundred dollars. Ii you bet a
dollar on each card, and o hall your
bets, and lost the other half, it would
only be a matter of time when the bank
would have all your money, and you
would have the experience. Without
arguing that speculation in options Is
anything Ike a faro bank, though many
spectators will tell YOU it is, the result
will be the anne only the commission
has to be paid On every deal. whether
you win or lose. II You make a deal
and win. YOU pay the gentlemanly com
mission man his commission. If you
lose on the deal. he is not going TO work
for noth'n is he? OF course not. The
faro bank only takes a commission
when you win, which shows that the
faro banker is not as good a business
man as he ought to be. II the San is
m Staken about commission being
charged on losing deals, it is willing to
be corrected. Any way, young ylan,
what you want to do is to forget that
there is any chance for you to engage in
speculation. for if You go into it, yor
will curse the day that You did. Now.
don't ask any more questions. but 90 on
posting up those books.-Pcck's SIN.