The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-04-12
THE GAMBLING RAGE.
IPhdladelphia Press [

philadelphia Press
Among the many anecdotes which make
mp for dou 'fulr e of foundation by their
excellence of invention is one which relates
the history of q visit paid to q great Wall
street operator by an humble admirer and
distant imirator on the other side. Ii had
occurred to the ingenious English speculstor
that the industries of the bull and bear might
be piled with greater profit to their practi-
TONERS on either Atlantic shore, il an EGG
lishman and an American were to work in
concert. He accordingly at once hasten ed
to New York, and having ob aimed an in
terview with Mr.. @. or Mr. ", or some other
letter OF the alphabet it matters not, when
he procf eded to lay before that m ynate the
details of bis scheme of concerted financial
action. Mr. X heard him out with the most
patient and courteous attention, and ex-
pressed his high approval of the ingenuity
of his visitors plan He saw, he said, but
one obstacle to its inventors securing the
co operation which he had crossed the ocean
to seek, and that was that ''in America We
never speculate" Humbled and absshed,
the English tempter withdrew from the
great mans pre- ence, and so awakening was
the rebuke thus administe red him that, If
report may be trusted ne on reaching his
native land imms diately retired from his
Fashionable business and devoted the remain
Ter Of his days to meditation and charitable
works.
II this or anything like 1t ever happened
the reply o. Mr.. X. was most likely only q
mere sally Of dry national humor. But 1t
would have been quite legitimate to have
uttered it by way of amicsby exaggerated
protest against a poular gish notion of
the American character. Almost everything
transatlantic is on larger than the Euro.
pesn scale, and the element of magnitude
gets 20 founded with tSat of number.
America produces bigger operations than
Europe just as nature has endowed her
with brca Ter rivers and vaster plains. Larger
fortunes are made and lost here by the
methods of speculation and with greater
'apidity of both processes than is the case
Oh the other side OF the Atlantic.
WOMEN WHO SPECULATE.
The descriptions of the ladies room" at
Chicago in which fair spectators Assem- bled
daily TO plunge on bacon" were Of course
EN- bellished with many details con csived
rather in the artistic than the historic spirit
Pen and ink sketches of the fascinating fe-
male gamblers waiting with pale cheeks
and tren bling lips in expectation of q
boom" in lard, offers too strong tempia-
ton TO the picturesque reporter to be re-
sisted. The British paterfamillias, himself
perhaps perpetual gambler in Brighton
A's' or some other violently elastic stock
on the Lon don market, would shake his head
solemnly over proofs of so widespread de-
moralization, and invite his wife and daugh
teIs to consider what can be in store for Q
Nation in which the 'very women specu.
late" Probably he knows, however, or IL he
had any acquaintance with certain class of
English society he would know, that the
Chicago lady gamblers have their counter
parts in his own country.
An accommodating fraternity of stock and
share dealers in Cspel Court have always
been ready to supply not only their country
men, but their country women, with abund-
ant facilit es for gracefully losing their mon
ey, and, from the time when the purchase
by the English Government OF the Suez Ca
nal shares and the war which shortly after
ward succee ded il gave stimulus to cupidity,
by the sight of the rapid and extreme huctu-
alton in the value of certain securities which
these events brought about, the female
"bulr'-if the physiological paradox may
be forgiven has become not, indeed, COM
mon phenomen o. in England.
THE ENGLISH TASTE FOR GAMBLING.
The British Puritan forgets In these hap
DIV moments of sell approving virtue, that
there is no country in the world In which
one hundredth part as much money changes
hands every year in wsgers on the Zee ness
of horses feet and that, of late years, it
must be said too that there is none In which
the practice of wagering on horse races has
filtered down to comparatively humble q
stratum of the population. The fortunes
that have been made within quite q recent
date by certain of the cheap sporting news
papers afford significant not to say ominous,
| testimony to the extent to which the taste
for this pastime-one, be it observed, in
which no large portion of a community C an
profitably participate except by means of
gambling-hAs developed nong all classes
of E Dglish society.
But betting upon horseraces is not the
only form of speculation which has gained
| ground of late years in England. Members
| of the Stock Exchange have much to say
concerning certain new departure in their
own business, and, indeed, on that point the
| ad yertisipg col umns of the London newspa-
pers tell their own tale. The racing tips
| ter will soon DE nowhere by the side Of
the disinterested gentlemen who underts Ike
to guide Credulity to Fortune by path
warranted to keep clear of the precipice of
Risk. On this latter point they are all OF
them confident Only let an intending spec
uIator send them cover to a certain
amount-a as brokers' security, OF course.
against possible loss at the game at which it
| is impossible to lose-and they will pledge
themselves to return him f1O0 for every SOW
ereign. e. 600 for every $40. and so on IN
proportion 1t is true that there Is q little
| disagreement between the single operators
and those who style themselves promoters oil
the formation of syndcates-the two com
petitors for the dupe's patronage indig-
nantly describing each others operations,
no doubt with perfect truth, IN each case.
as certain 10 result in loss TINS estimate oil
the intellieences 10 which they believe them
selves to be appealing is so humorously In
Dictated by the remark of one advertiser to
| the effect that he is often asked by clients
] whether buying and selling the same stock