Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-31
WHO LOST THE $40?
An Old Financial Conundrum which has
Done More than Delirium Tremens to
Send Men to the Grave.
Pittsburg Times.


| Once there was a man who had misfoT-
! tune. The further he went the worse he
Jared. When he struck FL Paso he had
just one round white silver dollar left to
his name, and he went and bought a
drink with it.
1.-The barkeeper took his American dol
! lar and handed him a Mexican dollar in
| change. A Mexican dollar at that time
was worth only So cents in United States
money. There were rumOTs of trouble
between the two republics, growing out
of Indian raids, and the pursuit
of the robbers from one country
into the OJher A Mexican
dollar was only worth 50 cents in Texas,
and the United States dollar was worth
but So cents in Mexico. It was early in
the morning. He had nothing to do with
the rest of the day, or with the rest of
his life, for that matter. The Mexican
eagle on his last remaining coin sug-
gested something to his desperate
fancy, and he wandered across to
Paso del NOrte on the Mexican side.
He bought drink of mescal there for
10 cents, laid down his Mexican dollar
and received an American dollar in
change, equivalent TO So cents III Mexi-
can money. He looked at the coin and
an idea struck him. 1t appealed to his
speculative humOr.
"He retraced his steps to the Ameri-
can side, walked into a saloon, called for
a drink of whisky, paid for it with his
solitary American dollar which he had
received i'll change on the other side and
got Mexican dollar in change. This
he promptly carried over the line, bought
drink of mescal and got
United States dollar in
change. Then he got to thinking.
Here was the situation. He had pre-
clselY the same capital he started with an
hour before, and had distributed 60
cents worth of liquor through his syst EN-
in the way of dividends The whisky
and mescal was gone. It was no further
use to anybody. The visible supply of
exhilaratng beverage had been abso-
lutely diminished to that extent.
He had bought it at the market
price He had paid for it in
cash He had all his original cap
ital still in his pocket. True, he had
contributed the labor of walking back
and forth from the Mexican to the Texan
side, and vice versa, but that, as he
shrewdIy decided, was nOn-productive
labor so far as the interests of the public
were concerned. 1t earned nothing, Tor
it added nothing to the supply of any
thing. He might have walked back and
forth until the river run dry without any
body being the better off.
''Here was a chance to get even with
the section of country which had indi-
rectly been the cause of his bankruptcy.
sHe walked back to the Texas side,
Bought another drink, got a Mexican
dollar in change, went back to the
Mexican town, got another drink
and a United States dollar in
change. He kept it up all day. He
<picked up a stick and cut q notch in .sjt7
for every drink, as the old Indian fight
ers used to keep score of the scaIps they,
took. He kept it up pretty steadilYeask
that day until closing-up time, and set at
il the next day as soon as he coIi5 see.
He waxed enthusiastic over his speeu1a-
ton, giving q warwhoop at every notch
in the stick.
But at length he got to wondering
who was losing all this money. Appar-
emily not the barkeepers. They were
getting the market rate for their liquors
Surely not he, for he was holding his
own. The problem bothered him. He
was naturally a curious man. The
more he thought of it the more