Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-01-07
THE BUSY BUCKET SHOPS.
Washington. i'm tue Vicinity of the
EreasurY, Full of Them.

Washington. i'm tue Vicinity of the
treasury Full of Them.
WASHINGTON, Dec 81 The "bucket
shops" are about the busiest places in
Washington just now. They are
usually busy, but especially SO since the
advent of Congress. During the
session, and the few days preceding it,
when one wanted to find whether a
Congressman was in the city, one of the
ready ways of doing SO, was to visit
some of the many "bucket shops" in
the city. They are very numerous.
The streets in the vicinity of the
treasury are full of them, and the SIM
pie congressman falls victim to their
wiies with apparently about the same
verdancy that the countryman is
taken in by the bunco men
of New York City. The
advent of Congress was marked by the
blossoming out of a number of new in
situations of this sort, their advertise
ment taking up, sometimes, whole pages
of the local press. OF course they all
claim to have special wires,' and resi-
dent partners in New York who look
out for the interests of the customers
here. Some of the places are dignifed
with the name of "Bank," and are hand
somely fitted up with separate apart
ments for the different lines of trade,
one for stocks, another for grain,
another for banking business, and
SO on. A very large proper
ton of the business which keeps up
these palatial establishments-for some
of them are elegantly appointed and
kept-is from members of Congress and
their families. At almost any of them
you may see members industriously
studying the ticker or the blackboard,
and not infrequently are transactions
made by servants and subor0inates, for
the lady members of their families.
"And some of the ladies are quite as
good judges of the stock market as their
husbands, too" said gentleman, talking
of the matter to your CORE
spondent. "Only short while
ago was coming down in the eleva-
tor at the Riggs and heard the wife of
prominent committee chairman, giving
him fits for his investments in a certain
line of stocks. You'll lose every cent
you have If you don't let that alone,
she said. It was less than an hour
later that [ saw that same member in a
bucket-shop, his hands under his coat
tails, studying the course of certain
line of Pacific stocks which had fallen
off several points that very day. You
could see from the expression of his
face and the nervous anxiety with which
he studied the reports of that steadily
sinking stock that his wife's pre-
diction was right" A good many
ladies in Washington are quite accom-
plished students of the stock markets.
They usually do their buying through
some gentleman friend, or occasionally
by the hand of some trusted servant
Indeed, some of the young "bloods"
about town are said to make very com
Portable sums off the commissions which
their fair principals allow them for their
stock transactions in their behalf. It is
the members and employees of the i'm
portant committees of Congress that
take the highest ventures. They base
their guesses on prospective committee
action, and usually hit it right. can &C
quaintance of mine," said this same
gentleman, "who is committee clerk
at the Senate end of the Capitol, adj
vised me to sell short on certain
Pacific stock. I did not think much
about it, and did not accept his advice
A few days after there was a terrific
tumble in those stocks, and when met
my acquaintance he told me that he
had realized pretty snug sum by the
course which he advised me. I knew
what the committees report was going
to be and how it would affect the
Market he said. [ was sorry then that
7 had not followed his advice"