Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-20

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specializing in stocks
has grown until Washington can now boas.
Wall street" of its own, a Wall street.
TOO, that Is In every sense a reproduction
IN miniature of the. great financial center
of New York
/ The street" here has it's bulls and it has
us bears, the one as aggressive and the
other as persistent as those who fight their
bitter but bloodless battles In and about
New York's stock exchange As vet no
Jay Gould has arisen among the local
traders In stocks to bring them slcepless
nights. to harass their days and to feplete
their bank accounts. But the street al
ready. has its Russell Sage, has had its Ives
ana viii, In time. no doubt have its king.
Greatly Increased in a Year.
Stock speculation in Washington is by no
means a new thing but it is only within
the past year that 1t has come to be dis
tinctive feature, as well as an important
factor in the business community. A
tWeivemonth ago and the stock brokers'
offices could be counted on one hand, now
they number half hundred or more The
curious part of it is all of them seem to be
doing large business and making plenty
OF money. AS yet there isn't one with the
temerity to call itself bucket shop" but
that many of them bucket more or less
of their trades there is not the slightest
doubt The claim Is made by all of them,
however. that they do a strictly commits
sion business, because this keeps them
within the pale of the law. The question
as to where stock speculation ends and
gambling. pure and simple, begins. has
been settled in New York by the closing of
all stock brokers' offices who bucketed their
trades. Bucketing trades. in the parlance
Of the street, means that the so-calied
broker backs his own game, and loses
" hen it loses and wins when it wins. Then
1t Is gambling operation, pure and simple.
There is no stock dealt in, and the transact
ton Is in no way legal. The protection
given by the law to transactions in the
stock market recognizes only such opera
tons when the stock actually changes
hands. This same protection is given
speculation in real estate. There Is really
no difference In buying the stock of the
New York Central railroad and holding It
for a rise in price and buying the stock of
the loan and trust companies of Washing
ton or one of.the street railroads here for
the same purpose. Both would be equally
legal and proper, but 1t would be, 1t is
force here to stake money on a guess as to
whether the price Of any stock should go
up or down.
The Only Way to Gamble.
1t is said the growth Of stock speculation
in Washington Is due in part to the lack of
facility for the public to gamble in any
other form. OF the $4,000 a day, which it
Is estimated changes hands each day In
Washington 1t is probable only a portion
gees te purchase stocks on the New York
exchange. A large part of 1t. perhaps as
much as two-chirds, is staked on mere
chance. and what the trader loses the
stock broker" gains, and vice versa. 1t
is evident, therefore, that many Of the
offices now in Washington are bucket
shops. and differ fl ON any other gambling
scheme, faro, for instance, only in the
increased percentage against the trader in
stocks An old resident Of Washington de-
cIares that the same faces that were once
to be seen about the gambling dens when
Washington was plentifully provided with
faro banks and poker joints can now be
found gathered about the stock ticker in
the brokers' offices here watching the tape
with the same drawn, anxious look with
which they waited the turn of a card.
'Once trader always trader Is an
old saying among the stock brokers' and
only goes to show how few overcome the
infatuation when once it has its hold upon
them. A gentleman who professed to have
looked into this subject carefully declares
that at the least calculation $4,000 is lost
or won every day Illegally in Washington
bucket shops. He thinks that the gambling
law now in force here is one Of the most
stringent in its provisions Of any in ex-
istence, and that it covers these cases
fully. This same law was found sufficient
under the policy Of District Attorney Bir
ney to drive out of the city nearly all
forms Of gambling. The bucket shop alone
remains, and, protected by Its apparent
respectability would doubtless prove most
difficult to crush There are no drawn
blinds to keep out the eye of the law. no
panel doors for Its officers to break through
in order to obtain evidence to bring about
a conviction. The bucket shop man knows
too we'll the value of a good front for re-
course to any such measures. He always
locates himself in the business center OF
ingly with great publicity. But what he
does conceal Is the fact that he buckets
his trade.
The Street.
The street in Washington. as 1t Is now
called. lies between 18th street and the
Treasury Department, on F street. The
down town offices, most of which are
branches of the larger places near the
Treasury Department, are, located on 9Th
and 9th and F streets, and on the avenue.
There Is not one OF these brokers who
doesn't claim to place his trade on the
New York stock exchange. This latter
claim is, in some cases, absurd on the face
of it, as some of the small offices do not
do business enough to pay for the leasing
of a private wire. They simply bucket
their trades, depending upon the commits
sion, and the important fact that the
trader has to do al the guessing. Many Of
those opposed to this form of gambling are
of the opinion that the proprietors can be
indicted under the gambling law. The st.
Louis authorities made fight against the
DuCkeC SHOPS out tueFe ana several DrOk-
ers as a result are now under Indictment.
The bucket shops do not differ, at least in
principle, from the place formerly operated
on Pennsylvania avenue. The protector
had what he called "clock," which was
a machine worked by springs that forced
out two cards at time upon which were
printed the names of fictitious stocks He
succeeded in keeping open about year.
in which time, so 1t is said he cleared
S125 900. Then the authorities stepped in
and compelled him to close.
Seeming Compliance With the Law.
The bucket shop brokers have a good
thing, and knowing 1t, make every out
ward show of complying with the law.
They all have private wires, but not more
than one in ten goes outside of the city.
The small offices place their trades with
the larger ones whenever they are afraid
to carry the trades themselves, and the
larger ones transfer their trades to New
York whenever they want to balance
their sheets. OF course, there are legitt-
mate stock brokers In Washington.
They are either members of the New York
exchange themselves or correspond for a
member of the exchange Their business
is strictly a commission one, and every
trade placed with them is recorded on the
New York stock exchange and the stock
delivered each day. The legitimate stock
broker calls every broker who trades in
fractional lots bucket shop man: The