News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-02-28
ADVICE TO A YOUNG MAN.
LET GAMBLING IN STOCKS AND
WHEAT AND PORK ALONE.
The Chances Are 1t VIII Cause You to
Wake up With Headache If You Do.
not.
from the Milwaukee Sun. ]

A young man writes as follows: 81
am book-keeper IN wholesale house,
on a salary of twelve hundred dollars a
wear, and I have five hundred dollars
laid up. I want to make some money,
and I have thought some of specializing
a little in wheat or pork. [ know sew
eral young men in my position who
have made quite little money specula-
ting, and [ have been tempted to invest,
several times, but have not vet been able
TO get MP courage to take my five hun
bred dollars out of the bank and put if
in the hands of a commission house.
What would you advise me to do? ]
have guessed on the market several
times, and have guessed right, and if
had pUt my money on my puesses, ]
would have made considerable. Now,
tell me, honestly, because I know Won
have specialized. and know all about it. "
Young man, go and look at your five
hundred dollars. and see if it is there
vet. All, it is all safe, is it? Looked
sort of good, didn't it? Made YOU feel
proud when Won saw it. proud that Won
had earned it by hard work Well, if
Won had twice the amount, won at gam.
bling, or in wheat speculations, you
Won do of this first five hundred dollars.
You don't ever think of spending tt is
money foolishly. It represents to you
hard work coined into dollars. IF you
had accumulated it without work, in
speculation. and it came easy, you would
be looking for horse that could beat
week. You would be spoiled if you &C
fa11Voo 11o4n 4 ,o1 =
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 piece of tirst-class solid
property that is offered cheap. But
don't you put a dollar on wheat or pork,
expecting to win, for you will lay down
your bundle sooner or later, and wake
up with a headache. This is not the adj
vice of one who ever specialized a dollar,
or who ever will, but one who has been
watching those who do speculate for fif-
teen years. Not one in a hundred of
them but have lost Those who have
won are no better off, because they have
worn themselves out watching the mar
l1et and cursing their luck. It is bust
ness that should only be done by rich
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 brain,
should never indulge in an amusement
that makes even the rich wish they were
dead. You can take hundred dollars
and go to faro bank, and guess on the
deal, in your mind, with your hand on
your money in your pocket, and you will
guess right very often, but if you put
your money down, the majority of
guesses will be against you, and the
commission the bank takes will soon eat
up your hundred dollars. If you bet a
dollar ON each card, and won half your
bets, and lost the other half, it would
| only be 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 like a faro bank, though many
spectators will tell you it is, the result
will be the same, only the commission
has to be paid on every deal, whether
you win or lose. If 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 nothing, is he? OF course not. The
faro bank only takes commission when
you win, which shows that the faro
banker Is not as good business man as
he ought to be. If the Sam is mistaken
about commission being charged on los
ing deals, it is willing to be corrected.
Anyway, young man, 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, you will curse the day
that you did. Now, don't ask any more
questions, but go on posting up those
books,