Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-09-26
"the order has been issued. We are to
call the four-aud-a-halfaN

t b order has been issued. We are to
call the four-and-a-halfs"
Then Hodges consulted with Sarviss and
one or W other newspaper friends, and
they decided to make some money, in a
perfectly legitimate way, by buying four
and-a-half per cent. bonds on margin in
Wall street. But Sarviss, with his usual
caution, insisted that Hodges should go to
the secretary again and make sure that he
was right. So Hodges slipped over to the
treasury department and accosted the sec
Rotary:
Mi. Secretary, excuse me, but since !
was here before I nave heard that there is
some misunderstanding about the bonds
that are to be called. Is it the four-and-a-
halls that are to be called IMP"
"The four-and-a-halfs, Fletcher, as l told
you. Did you think l was dreamingf' re-
sponded the good natured secretary.
Elated at this plain and unmistakable
confirmation of his original information
Hodges Joined his fellow conspirators.
Each started out to raise some money.
One man borrowed of his father a thou
sand dollars, another sold a house and lot
which it had taken him years to acquire,
another took all his funds out of a savings
a and borrowed a little more. Two or
three other friends were let into the secret,
and soon a number Of orders to buy four
and7a-half per cent. bonds were on their
way to Wall street.
The sequel Of this story is almost pitiful.
Four-and-a-half per cent. bonds did 20 up
a few points, and the newspaper boys
though they were surely going to make
their fortunes. Then the market sagged
off a little, but the spectators, who
thought they had a sure thing, confidently
smiled, said to one another, "Wait till the
call comes out" and wished they had
moro money with which to buy more
bonds. Thus matters ran on for, some
days, and at times the margin which the
spectators had put up was well nigh ex-
hausted. But a miss was as good as a
mile, they thought, and the call would
surely be issued in a few days, and then
four-and-a-halfs would bound.
Suddenly one morning Fletcher Hodges
bounded into the office. He was out of
breath, and his face was as pale as a piece
Of ice.
"The call is outl" he shouted.
"Hurrah! HurrahW shouted his fellow
speoulators.
"But-but"- stammered Fletcher, catch
ing for breath.
But what?" demanded Sarviss.
but it is not for the four-and-a-halfs;
1t is for the continued ives."
CONSERVATION and ruin. Mystery, too.
Had not Secretary Folger told Hodges
twice in the plainest of words that the
fou~r7and-a-halfs were to be called? What
could this mean? There must be some
mistake. So Sarviss started out to investi-
gate on his own account. In q few min
utes he came back. The news was too true.
len minutes later kilograms were on the
way to certain Wall street brokers to sell
all the four-and-a-half per cent bonds held
by the newspaper coterie of spectators.
But it was too late. Continued fives had
the call and four-and-a-halfs were down.
The margins were wiped out and the loss
was total.
The explanation Secretary Folger's alb.
sence of mind. Agood and honest old gen
tleman he was, and a sincere friend TO the
newspaper men. He had not the slightest
thought in the world Of deceiving them.
But he had made q mistake. His we'll
known habit Of saying one thing while
thinking another-a mental alteration
which often led him to sign his name at
the top of a letter and to put the date line
at the bottom-had been the ruin of the
newspaper spectators.
One OF the best NOW newspaper CORE
sp~ondentsin Washington is O'Brien Moore,
Of Thu st. Louis Republic. He is an Irish
man, a Texan and a Missourian, but he
takes most pride in being a Texan. He is
the man whom Congressman Crane, of
Texas, was some time ago looking for with
q pistol. 1t was expected there would be a
fight between these two men of undoubted
courage, but there wasn't. Friends
crnotha1 &lo J:Qe,,1x, ..- E- -
lived nearly all his life ON the frontier and
has a reputation as a fighter, providing the
quarrels are forced on him.
Il never quarrel when I can help it, he
said to a party of friends one day; "but if
you do get into quarrels, boys, let me give
you some advice. Never quarrel with a
Kentuckian. The Kentuckians are the
most clannish men on earth. Every Ken
tuckian stands by every other Kentuckian.
Some years ago I was editing a paper in
the town Of Cleveland, Tex. I printed
something m day which a citizen didn't
like, and he tackled me about it on the
street. He was so offensive that there was
nothing left for me to do but to lay to and
give him a good thrashing, which I at once
proceeded to do. l remained in that town
two years., n was never once without a
black eye or a skinned nose in all that
time. You see, the man l had licked was
a Kentuckian, and every Kentuckian in
the town took up his fight. At the end of
the two years a colony of Kentuokians-
three or four carloads-came there to set
tie, and I concluded it wasn't worth while
trying 70 whip the whole state of Ken
lucky, and consequently lit out for Calves
ton"
Most newspaper men at the capital are
independent in politics, or If they have pol
itics do not let their convictions interfere
with their usefulness. A good story on this
point Is told by Col. Dick Bright, formerly
sergeant-at-arms of the senate, and one Of
the best known politicians of Indiana.
Some years ago." said Col. Bright,
THE Indianapolis News, then a young and
struggling paper, fell into my hands. 1
was a Democrat Of Democrats, and my
first thought was to make the paper Dem
ocratic to the backbone. In order to do
that l determined to clear out all the Re-
publicans In the shop, and among the first
to 60 was a young man named Holiday,
then the city editor. He was a very valu-
able man and had practically made the pa
per what 1t was, but I wasn't going to
break my rule, and I told him he could 20.
He AXE why. and I told him hecanoo no