The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-12-26

another deal, and that settled the $1,000.
1.-THE man who is bent on trying the
bucket-shop game and who has resisted
the entreaties of his friends can expedite
| matters and reach the same result by a
simple little plan This is not given in
any of the manuals but it might be in
serted under the title How to Trade In
Bucket-shop.' Take all the money, you
| possess and do it up in a neat package.
| Add to this all the money your family
possesses and all you can borrow Then
take your surplus clothing, sell it for what
| YOU can get and add this money to the
original quantity. Carefully pick out the
bucket-shOp proprietor you most incline
to, take him the money, wish him merry
Christmas, borrow a nickel to pay your
car fare home, and go there.
This operation might be termed rapid
| conversion and has a distinct advantage.
| No time is lost in making the transfer of
money and the operator reaches poverty
at once while he has some recuperative
spirit left, without dragging through the
| feverish and enervating hours that usually
Intervene before he reaches the same in
evitable end"
The little book" is a great help to the
bucket-shop. This contains full expla-
nation of how the thing is done, and the
reader energies from its pages with feel
ing of pity for the people he is about to
literally rob" of vast fortunes. It's so
easy" he almost hesitates to impose on
the confiding frankness of the men who
sent him the little book
The bucket-shop man thereupon handed
Boswell pamphlet entitled "How to
| Speculate" Boswell went home, read
| the pamphlet, and, meeting his friend DR..
Johnson, talked to him about it.
| The Introduction of the book is designed
to initiate the reader with the dignity of
the operations, as, for example, in the fol-
| lowing extract:
The fact that large sums of money are
realized in speculation every year by
thousands of operators in all sections of
| the country and the knowledge of the
vast fortunes which have been accumu-
lated through grain and stock speculations
by those great operators whose names are
identified with Wall and LaSalle streets,
have naturally resulted in attracting al
most unusual attention to the markets
and in bringing prominently before the
public the opportunities for profits which
judicious speculation continually affords.
This generally transforms the reader
into 'bloated bondholder'' in his mind
in about minute, but to perfect the con-
dition of hopeless financial imbecility the
ltAI Is Il ClluCleTl
That magic word of the commerce of
all ages-at whose command cities, gov
ernments and the greatest works of man
have been built-that great lubricant of
the wheels of commerce, which
always has been and always will
be where brain rises superior to
Drawn, fostered by hope and en-
couraged by SUGGESTS the subject of
our Little Book"
The reader of the "little book" is de-
signed for the real lubricant of the wheels
of the bucket-shop commerce, and he is
about ready to fulfill the appointment
with fate when he has read through this
climax Of the Introduction"
Both sacred and profane history Speak
of the success attending the specuator
and his deals. The first one in our line
and probably most successful of all
times was the loading of the ark by
Noah, the next one was a deal in Egyp-
tan corn by Joseph, which lasted sew
eral years.
And so on down to the days of our own
speculative princes, such as Armour,
Could, Rockefeller, Mackay and others
too numerous to mention, whose names
are quite as familiar and suggestive as
Aladdin's of old.
Our modern spectators are without
exception examples of the mighty oaks
from little acorns grow" and our object
in this issue is to increase the number of
mighty oaks"
The airy CHASING of Noah, Joseph. Ar
mour and Rockefeller as examples of
speculative princes is worthy of bucket
shop effrontery 1t is delightfully."- har-
moniOus to anyone but the reader for
whom it is intended. and he takes it as
a serious historical coincidence and eX-
poets to join the combination
1t will be noticed in these extracts
from the little book" that there is no
such word as fail" This is true of the
remainder of the introduction and the
remainder OF the book. This is intended
as a subtle compliment to 'rhe Bright
Lexicon of YOUTH" which, in this re-
spect, the book closely initiates.
ply Jolly" the intended victim, and
after a few perfunctory explanations the
book gets down to figures in way that
makes the readers palms itch. These
come in the chapter devoted to 1.-The
Profits of Speculation This opens
with reference to dozen or so of the
famous millionaires of the country
coupled with the following insidiOus COM
ment:
No one supposes these men made their
many millions by hard work simply and
by the process of savings banks. excel
lent and honorable institutions, but too
slow for the go-ahead American, who
can not but see that they have the best
of the bargain in the use of his money!
No; it may as well be told. The great
financial kings of the North American
continent made their millions in specu-
lation, and presumably they don't care
who knows it.
Then come the figures:
The present year saw one of the most
extraordinary periods of activity and APP
probation which Wall street has ever
enjoyed. Men made money in anything,
and not few who began with next to
nothing came out with thousands ahead.
We know of one trader who began buy
ing a stock at about 80 and kept closing
out and buying again all the way up to
So He began with 500 capital, with
which he bought 20 shares, closing out
when a profit appeared, and adding such
profit to his capital, buying larger lots
every time. In about six weeks he made
twenty-three odd hundreds of dollars. 1t
would pay almost anyone to do a very
small part of what he did
This style of illustration, taken at ran
dom, of course, from the books of the
bucket-shop, is repeated in various forms
several times through the book, always
closing with 1T would pay anyone to
do small part of what he did"
Nothing could be simpler-eXcept the