The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-01-09
A CLASS OF WORKERS.
OPERATIONS OF PRIVATE NEWS
MONGERS IN THE CAPITAL.
PSopso Who Gather Information and Sell
It to Private Individuais-A Mar
Ect for This Kind OF Talent
Sharp Practice.
Washington Cor. Boston Traveler.l

tNhSHSlstOu NCr. Boston Traveller
There Is one class Of workers in Washing
ton who ara present everyw where and yet
whose calling. while som times suspected,
Is never known for an absolute certainty
Such psople go through the departments
from day to day, and gather information of
various kinds and sell il to whoever will
purchase it. This class does not include the
men who earn precarious living by coll
iectiny outside infts:nation for tho purpose
OF disposipS OF it t. the re wspaper corro-
spondents for q ne Gniary consideration,
but Is a distinct set, whose interests are an
tagori,tic to the ccrr-sponients Their in
formation Is for the private AMI not for the
public ear. Nearly every day a man with
n heavy gray beard, u-ually dressed with
extreme nsatness. even approaching to ele-
gance, come; down street and enters the
treasury. He is universally known, but
there is probably not man in 100 in
w shington who knows his bn sness.
GAINING INSIDE INFORMATION.
He is suave, polite. and genial. but Es
permits no one outside of certain sacred
circle to gain his confidence. Some people
look upon him with suspicion, but p rson-
ally he is every inch q gentleman His
business is the gathering OF information in
relation to custIms decisions. lie is MAIN
tainei bere in good style, fact which
shows that his services a-s valuable to his
employers, and it is said that he has become
quito at tny lie was poor
man when he came - WaSlIiugt n and
now there are none o: tie com orts and but
few OF the luxuries o, lie which LIE does
not enjoy. His predece- scr died leGying
quite sum OF money b7hin! hin, which
by no means reprcseG;et. the extent Of MS
income, as no was i'll tie habit OF living at
ths rate of $40. 900 n year az tis isa,t caIctI-
lation- TIE preseut incunbaGt :. sail 10
be- very successful in gaining inside infor-
nation sufficiently in advance 10 enable tho
dealer to profit immsnsely.
Tuers are several men who look after tie
liquor beer, and Tobacco interests in the
International revenUs bureau. . hers look
out for the tobacco men. aul n few COM
hne all three- Upon either of the 0 topics
q good round sum can always DO obtained
for reliable information. The interior do
partmsnt is also kept under sharp survsil-
lance by these people Anything affecting
the railroad interests is q matter from which
they invariably reap rich harvests. The
greater part OF this class are men who have
been here for years. Their entire stock in
trade is their acquaintance, and they work |
it for all it Is worth No new man could |
come hero and avoid making blunders |
which would DO disastrous to his employers. I
There is a market for this kind OF talent, |
and it evidently pays well, there are |
more men engaged in it Mt the present tinis /
than ever before.
AN StAEt DEAL
An incident was related to your ceres
pondent n few days ago which shows that /
one Of these agents has his eye teeth cut, to |
say the least By some means or other he
Leo Irne informed that certain decision Ind /
been agreed upon by the United States
supreme court. This decision would affect
tie stock OF one OF the Pacific railroads,
which was then booming skyward under
the influance OF strong bull market. lie
~ ytlasr Hl~I. ion, x-r,r,fl t,,I
promulgated, and he didn't care to risi, any
of his own money upon it. The first thing
he dill was to go to a broker and tell him
about the decision. He said that he wouldn't
ask cent for the information, but would
call it square If the broker would sell short
2,5Jo shares Of the railroad stock aud
divide thu profits with him. Tho broker
accepted the terms. Then the agent wens
to broker No. and told him the sam,
story with the addition that ho knew that
he knew that the decision would nos
be made public for two weeks, and that il
Tsas good chance to jump in AMI out CT
both sides OF the market. He con-
vincc1 broker No. ., AMI he also bought
2 sd shares, the profits of which lie agreed
to divide with the enterprisns ageat In
the meantime the stock boon,ed AMI doomed !
and when it had reached its highest notch, :
broker No. disposed Of his stock, and SOLD
The Same amount short
" MS lois WIS gong on proher NO. was
in a fearful state OF mind. The agent had
his confidence ard from day to day gave
him such cconfirmatory information that
he decided to hold on. He had t. remargin,
but that didn't lessen his grip. In n day or
Two afterwari the decision was made aud
tue crash cana. Tas stock got black eye
aud tumhlei down and down. until the peo-
pie who held it thought it never would stop.
Then both brokers closed their accounts and
divided with the agent. In two weeks he
hal cleared over $4,000 The beauty of
his position was that 10 cou,in't lose. No
matter what turn the stock tool, he was
b''ra | TO win, but owing to his shrewlnsss
ahI foresight he pro!itei by both turns
I1ers have bean i'll 'tance' of a similar ma
tnre here, but this is the only on, up todats
where the agent pule! both parties out at a
prots to himself ana 10 them.