The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-02-11

Tho Buzz saw OF wall street aud she
. Betting Craze.

|. Betting Craze.
A casual observer Of metropolitan
life. who came down from rural re-
treat recently to take his first peep Mt
the city declares in his haste that all
New Workers are gamblers. says The
Commercial Advertiser. He says that
rs far MS he could see there was scarcely
resident OF the city. outside the linn
its of infancy. penury. and lunacy. who
did not. habitually or occasionally. In
dulge In some method OF stalking money
or possessions upon chance. He said
there might be. and he was willing to
admit that there were. many worthy
persons who conscicntiously Stunned
even the innocent but expensive
grab-bag at the church fair but he
could not find them. He observed that
what with stocks and wheat and races
and tickets" and policy and 'patent
clocks the whole energies of man
seemed to be turned to some form of
gambling.
/ OF course this innocent rustic did the
metropol is great injustice Iii Is only
sour-minded cynic or an unbalanced
ascetic that would consider these
things gambling. The Wall street
man whose life is passed in betting
whether certain figures come up or
come down Is shocked at the stupidity
of world that would call his occupa-
ton gambling. IL isn't called gamb-
ling to take your wife down to Sleeps
head Bay and buy pools for her on
Little Minch and fremont. II isn't
called gambling to put up $50 for n
margin on 8. 900 bushels of wheat that
never existed. II isn't gambling to
bet your friend case of champagne
that IL will rain the day you want To
go down to Rockaway beach duck
hunting. Nor TO match dollars. nor
to pitch quarters at crack, nor bet
hats on election. nor '.shakc." nor put
money IN yacht race. nor guess the
number of beans in n glass for the
drinks. nor do $50 other things that
men do every day of their lives to risk
loss upon. There was an old super
stition among people once that these
things were gambling. but ii has pass
ed away with the belief that the earth
was fiat and that witches could raise
the dead and other curious fancies of
the dark ages Gambling. bless my
soul is very difficult Gambling is
where some rough men with SLOUGH
hats and revolvers sit around table
in pine shanty somewhere in the
dreadful west and with pack of
greasy cards play rude games of chance
and kill each other over tire result.
There Is no more gamblng-Not In
New York anyway.
1t must be confessed. however. that
IL our moral friend. in his untutored
way. is bound to call these innocent
things gambling. his remark is not nj
together without Justification. There
are interested groups around every
ticker, and there is ticker in every
hotel big saloon. and brokers' Office in
New York. The interest that a very
large part of the population takes in
nous. The excitement over horse
race at Jerome park is out of all pro-
portion TO any interest In the affair as
trial of speed. There Is no event so
trivial that bets nre not made on IL.
IL must also be adm tied that some
of the people who indulge their interest
in this sort of thing do bear some faint
resemblance TO the notions OF real
gamblers gathered from travellers who
have been whore gambling Is practiced.
You will notice some OF them around
almost every ticker. There Is tho old.
worn-out wreck OF Wall street for In
stance. Who has not seen him? With
his scedy clothes aud his dciccied
micn. his poverty his nervous watch
ing of the tape. his gaunt. pinched
face, his restless eyes. He is the
familiar Of the street lie has mo
money invested in the stocks; he has
not money enough to buy HIM bread.
1t can not make any difference to him
whether Lake Shore is up or Union Pa.
ellie is down. Yet he watches the re-
cord hour after hour with absorbing
interest rs though his life depended on
the figures. lie dropped MI he had in
the street long ago-all he had aud all
he could borrow. aud all he could beg
and all he could get at pawnshops for
/ his furniture and clothes In nine