Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-04-10
.TACKI1NG THE CLoCK."
HOW Cougrossmen "Kin Time" and
Waste Money.

HOW congressman ''hlAl Inc anu
Waste Money
from t1e Nsio Torb Herald.
WASHINGTON, April 5,-Come, let's 90
tackle the clock"-was an expression new
tn nv ears until this afternoon.
The diversion Of introducing bunkum
hills now and then fails the average Con-
grassman. He longs torrelaxatlon. 1t is
difficult tor him to play poker in the day
time and even maintain a nominal con-
nection with the House Of Representa-
tives. In such emergency firm Of brok-
ers. with the cooperation Of the Patent
Office. have provided novel and ingeni-
ous mechanical appliance for amusing
me yerdant Congressman and young man
about town who has more money than he
knows how to squander otherwise.
Tbe afternoon has been cold and raw,
and great many people were absent
from the capitol besides those members of
The New ! ork and Brooklyn delegation
vvhoran over to the metropolis yesterday
10 avoid the vote on the Mexican war
nension bill. | met one OF the lost sheep
in Wizards hotel about 2:5O O'Clock and
no surprised me with the words at the top
of this article. We went.
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE MACHINE.
Ina large office over Milburn's drug
store. on Pennsylvania avenue, just above
Wizards and within few yards Of the
Tinted States Treasury, is this Congress-
mans alleviatOr. The words on a brass
sign at the foot of the stairs are Camp
bell & Co., mines, oil, pork and pr0Yis-
ions:" but that legend is one Of ihe pretty
myths that surround The place, BY this
time had made up my mind that ! was
being steered To an ordinary bucket shop
or a Congressional buukO game, But
was mistaken. When the door was Ouen
about 30 or 40 men were seen seated before
a lar2e clOckHCe instrument. back Of
which was a blackboard on which an
agile youngster recorded quotations Of
some kind at intervals of exactly One-haf
minute. The initials at the top of each
Of the five wide columns are entirely un-
known to the New York stock list. These
! read in the order named:
NJ, g. q 5. 5. A. o., G. & S. s., S. Il
@. Nj. b.
Turning my attention to the clockwork,
which stands on a pedestal, 50 that no.
body can tamper with it. | saw thatit Was
fully covered by letters patent. the clock
dial itself was harmless enough in char
acter, hut in a shallow upright metallic
box, directly below is, were seen several
oval and OblOng openings tnat Indicated
the Interior purposes for which the ma
chine had its being. over one of the two
large openings was the word advance"
over the other decline" At one Of the
Ovals from time to time magically APP
peared a few of the cabalistiC letters in
the row printed above. At another hole
in the front Of the box whole numbers
aud fractions danced with apparent
whimsicality. Here about me were 40 APP
parently rational men playing game of
hazard against machine that was sup
posed to be free moral agent.
WENT THE OTHER WAY.
''What is about TO happen ?" / asked a
member from Western State by whose
side vacant seat was found.
YOU'RE about tie see me win $40 on 30.
g. d s." was the reply.
In one sense the speaker was prOph-
etic. 20. G. g. s." soon appeared, but it
showed decline OF a half point instead
of an advance. The timid Spectator
closed his account with loss Of half his
wager and the usual One-eighth commits
sion for buying and like amount for sell
ing. Some few hits were made in the
group, but the losses appeared to be more
frequent. The clerks behind the counter
were working nearly as hard az the ma
chine. They opened and closed accounts
constantly, and the names Of spectators,
as called out, were as strange to the Gus
toners as the cabalisms on the board were
to any known security.
LOOKS LIKE A LOTTERY.
The principal feature in this business
is that it is run with the sanction OF law.
A Judge has decided that it is not unlaw-
full to lay a wager against mechanical
device. He claims, for example, that it
would not be an Illegal act TO bet any
time that a clock would not strike the
next hour. Success has brought cOmpe-
tition. The inventor Of this machine is
now harrassed by another scientist, who is
before the Commissioner OF Patents with
later and still more ingenious device
that will enable everybody who so desires
TO speculate, mentally at least. in all the
stock listed on the New York Board. Its
mechanism will be inclOsed m glass case
and the process by which the small cards
containing the printed figures and letters
are sbuffled and displayed will be made
apparent. The prOprietors OF the new
mechanical bucket shop in which 50
many guileless visitors to Washington
find diversion are doing a rushing bust
ness. They back the machine against the
foolish players. / was assured by q man
interested in the scheme that their prohts
averaged $4,000 per week. IL appears
that loss OF 800 was made one day last
week, but good care has been taken that
such mschance shall not occur again.
1t certainly would seem that such a
place as this could be reached by the lot
terry law. While sat there several OF the
best known faces in W Washington kept me
company. and rs. A ~ M. b. and sO
forth, were bought for rise or sold tor Q
decline, Just as players at faro might have
put their money on a card 20 win or scoop