The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-16
did 7ou buy at, Billyp' he inquired of the

did you buy at, Billy!" he inquired of the
| bow
before the boy had time to think of the
confession he was making he replied:
| Zone hundred and fifteen, sir He was
% pleased at having made profit of four
points on his trade that the words slipped
from him.
Now I've got you, Billy" said the
broker; go and sell out and quit speculat-
ing for as long as you remain with this
house. The next time you're caught at it
you'll have to 60"
In, another Office it was noticed that all
the Office boys were in the habit of collect
ing around the ticker whenever their elders
We're not looking over the tape. and that
they whispered a great deal whenever they
were there together. One Of their employ
ers called them all before him one day, and
upon examining them, discovered that
the eldest and brightest boy was running
baby bucket shop ON his own account, with
cent point as the standard of value, in
stead OF a dollar as on Change, and had
initiated all his associates in the full mys-
terry of stock gambling. They were trad
ing long and short, and initiating, on a
microscopic scale, the operations of the Gus
toners of the office, some taking bulls as
their models and some betting with the
bears. The baby bucket shop keeper was
exacting a tiny premium on profits and
scooping in the losses quite like an adult
He was discharged, and the rest were made
TO promise that they would never trans
gress again.
One of the shrewdest and quickest boys
that ever turned up ID Wall street obtained
place in German banking house as an
Office boy at S. a week less than three years
ago He does not get more than IS or $40
now, but. in the mean time, he was grown
to be II or is years old, and has become
such a figure that the best way to describe
his appearance is to say that he dresses like
John Bloodgood. Like the garments of
that leader of fashion and popular broker,
his clothes are always neat and chosen with
genteel taste, being made of the costliest
materials, cut to fit as fluid fits whatever
it fills, and yet never gaudy or loud. Last
Tuesday met this boy and asked him how
he was getting along.
"Oh, nicely" said he, though had a
bad week of it. l dropped 81 200 on
wheat"
A little questioning brought out the fact
that this boy had begun, as all others do,
by small dickering III bucket shops, based
on what was said or done in the Office where
he worked. By putting the bucket shop
winnings by, and combining with another
youth on good tip or two, he had gathered
capital enough to make regular trade on
the stock market. That had turned out
well, and ne had then become regular
gambler on Change. Viewing this case in
one way, the bucket shop was certainly to
blame for making gambler of him, but he
got his points from the legitimate gamblers,
and is now one of them, and as good as any
of them as long as he wins and his employer
doesn't find him out.
But the stories that are being told to in
fuence the public against the small quota
ton peddlers do not stop within any such
limits as those above narrated. They con-
tain tales of rich bankers and brokers driv-
ing about at midnight to this house and
that, and begging men to surrender checks
cashed during that day for hayward son
who has forged to get money to meet trad
ing losses, and who has then become fright
ened and confessed to the rich father ere
the exposure of the next day came. They
include tales of petty thefts, by some clerks,
and of the running of homes by others, whj
have got the fever without money to feed
it. Altogether the impression left in an
outsiders mind is that thu District Attor-
ney might as well go on with the prosecu-
ton of the bucket shops now, and that, if
he could next turn his attention to the
regular exchanges, no great harm would
result to the world