The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-03-03
THE ZANE or NEW YORK:
The Buzz- saw of wail street End the
Betting Craze.

Betting Craze.
4 casual observer of metropolitan
life, who came down from a rural re-
treat recently to take his first peep at
The city declares in Ills haste that all
New Workers. are gamblers; says 1he
Commercial Advertiser. He says that
as far as he could see there was scarcely
resident of the city, outside the lin
its of infancy. perjury. 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 10
admit that there were, many worthy
persons who conscicntiously Stunned
even the innocent but expensive
grabbing at the church fair. but he
could not find them. He observed that
what with stocks and wheat aud faces
aud 'tickets'' and policy and ''patent
clocks the whole energies OF man
scented to be turned to some form Of
gambling.
OF course this innocent rustic did the
metropol is great injustice. 1t is only
a sour-minded cynic or am unbalanced
ascetic that would consider these
things gambling. Tho Wall street
man whose life Is passed in betting
whether certain figures come up or
come down il shocked at the stupidity
of world that would call his occupa-
ton gambling. 1t isn't called gamb-
ling to take your wife down to Sleeps
head Bay and buy pools for her on
Little MinGh and fremont, it isn't
called gambling to put up $50 for
margin on 5. 600 bushels of wheat that
never existed. 1t isn't gambling to
bet your friend case of champagne
that it will rain the day you want to
90 down 10 Rockaway beach dack
hunting. Nor to match dollars, nor
to pitch quarters at a crack. nor bet
hats on election. nor shake, nor put
money IN n yacht race, nor guess the
number of beans in 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 1t has pass
ed away with the belief that the earth
was fat and that witches could raise
The dead aud 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 q 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 the result
There is no more gambl ing-Not in
New York anyway.
1t must be confessed, however. that
If our moral friend. in his untutorcd
way, is bound to call these innocent
things gambling. his remark is not al
together without justification. There
are interested groups around every
ticker, and there is q ticker in every
hotel, big saloon. and brokers' office in
New York. The interest that very
large part of the population takes in
the stock market seems to be enor
nous. The excitement over horse
race at Jerome park is out OF all pro-
portion 10 any interest in the affair rs
trial of speed. There is no event SC
trivial that bets are not made on it.
1t 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 where gambling is practiced.
You will notice some of them around
almost every ticker. There is the old.
WORKOUT wreck of Wall street. for in
stance. Who has not seen him? With
his seedy clothes and his detected
mien, his poverty. his nervous watch
ing of The tape. his gaunt. pincheo
face, his restless eyes. He is the
familiar of the street He has nc
money invested in the stocks; he has
not money enough to buy him bread.
It can not make any difference to hin
whether Lake Shore is up or Union Pa
,fic is down. Yet he watches the re-
cord hour after hour with absorbing
interest as though his life depended OF
the figures. He dropped NIL he had II
The street long ago-all he had and all
he could borrow, aud all he could beg
and all he could get at pawnshops fol
his furniture and clothes. In nin'
cases out Of ten, he was well-to-do once
and prosperous. Now lie is a tramp
who sleeps no one knows where, ant
lives on charity and what he can get q
the free-lunch counters before the agile
bar-keeper runs him out See him
Why, the neighborhood of Wall stree
knows him by heart and has Away
known him. There are so many o
him that the brokers have. ceased Ions
ago to take any interest in him as al
awful example Of what they themselve
may come to. For all the world ism
he just like the poor creatures VIII
have been ruined by passion TO
gambling. who hang around the gamh
ling tables with sort Of awful fascina
Jon long after their last chance Q
ever stalking sou has left them?
Then there is the nicely-dresse
man, with the shiny silk hat pulle
aggressvely forward. the cigar stucl
upward to meet the hat. the big watcl
,hain, and the wide-striped trousers
he is always at the ticker, too. Il
,waggers around with an air of indii
ference whichever way the figures &c
and orders wine in loud voice, an
IS full of "tips'' about the state of th
market He looks so much like tn
pictures that have been drawn of som
If the moths that futter around th
gaming-table candle, and some day til
figures come wrong for him and Il
drops out of sight. and the moth hs
n n