The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-12-26
BUCKET SHOP VICTIMS.
AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON
HOW THE DEAL IS MEASURED
OUT TO ONE AND ALL.
BRACE GAME NOT A CIRCUMSTANCE
The Victims for This Great Octopus
Come From the North, South, East
and West, and Comprise All
Glasses of People.

Boswell, the writer, and his friend
DR.. Johnson, stood in front Of a bucket
shop blackboard scanning market quo
tations The doctor is nearsighted and
failed 10 grasp the situation.
is it weak or strong, BOZzy!' he IN
quired.
"Weaker than Mrs. Thrale's tea re-
piled Boswell.
at will be stronger by and by said
the doctor. "When this generation, in
tent on buying, has put lien on every
available asset and gone into bankruptcy,
then it will get strong"
But why does not this generation sell
and make money" inquired Boswell,
taking out his note book.
DR.. johnson smiled. "Bozzy. you are
of the genus 'chump,'" said he. Now,
/ have not defined that word in my die
tionary, but if the book runs through an
other edition | will do it. KnOwest thou
not, Bozzy, that this generation can sell,
and be right on the market, and yet be
reduced to a condition of penury com
pared with which the monkey is capt.
talistF'
'Then, sir, you can as easily say that
man can buy on an advancing market
and 90 to jail for debt" said Boswell.
'9That is just what l hold continued
the doctor. II have known men to buy
and buy on an advancing market, and
yet go to everlasting smash
Sir" said Boswell, II do not compre-
bend how men can sell on declining
market and lose money"
- nd Vt-tll
Sell. and the market drops a fraction.
then rises several points, and in the cant
of, the street you are frozen out After
crushing you in this fashion il will drop
several points below where you made
your entree, prepared and primed TO re-
peat the operation. 1t seeks a lower
level after each rise and is a declining
market Should you buy on an adyanc-
ing market the chances are the moment
you make your debut the whole thing
goes to pieces. You see panics and
mighty losses in sight and you run and
take your loss. Then the market rises
several points above where you made its
acquaintance"
''But, sir, is it not sound logic to buy
on breaks and sell on ralliesF' asked
Boswell.
"The cheap lodging houses are filled
with men who are living illustrations
of the fact that it is not sound logic.
There are, of course, some lucky men
and they occasionally take few dol
lars out of bucket-shop, but it is only
Il question of time when luck succumbs
to the inevitable. Luck comes to a
lucky man in an emergency, when he
needs it most, but the man who believes
he can continually and profitaby play
luck against percentage is on the road to
ruin.
81 believe in luck carry orange peeling
in my pocket and never pass post With
out touching it, There is a story. that l
believe in ghosts. My observations in
the arena of minor speculation convinces
me that there are ghosts. These bucket
shons are filed with ghosts; ghosts of dead
ambition. ghosts of lost opportunities.
These victims have been dead for years
and do not know it. The hncket-shop
habit is certainly the most destructive
vice ever evolved by man to ruin man.
. ii'nl gambler who has the horse racing
habit, tho pQker playing habit, or the faro
habit. has chance, but the poor devil
who has the bueket-shop habit has the
financial rabbies." ,....-,,
Boswell tie writer, looked puzzled,
'"Sir," said he, show would you define the
word speculation
81 have defined it in my dictionary" re-
piled the doctor, "but in order that your
dull understanding shall grasp the fuli
meaning of it, will define it again.
Boswell took fresh grip on his note
book as
.'Speculation," said the doctor, lis buy
ing something you do not want, and sell
ing it for something you haven't got, IN
the hope of profiting by the huctuatlon
in the price"
Boswell. the writer, who wrote your Li1e
and thus saved you from the obscurlty
which enshrouds Churchill, Shenstone,
Savage and others who believed they were
immortal. Answer me this: Is there
no way to beat bucket-shop? | do
not mean to assault or strike as you
would define the word in your dictionary,
but | mean to skim to relieve of surplus
wealth, as the more moderns have it.
Eyes, there is one way to beat a bucket
shop" replied the sage. "The way to do
it, Bozzy, is to stay away from it. There
is no other way. The longer you try to
Nind one the leaner will be your purse:
You have written me down in your LIE
as a philosopher | hope | have some
claims to that character. Now, listen.
If you enter into an intrigue with
bucket-shop you will not only lose all the
money YOU made on my Life, but will be
forced to part with Aulinchek. You
know you refer to yourself on nearly every
page of my Life as the heir of Aulin-
chek.' If you try to win the favors of
the goddess who presides over bucket
shop you will be the heir to penury, misery
and disease. 1t is, if you will pardon me,
in the cant of the street, Il game of heads
| win and tails you lose The market
is controlled by sure thing players, and
they are millionaires, Bozzy. They put
it UP and down, and it is off such as you
they wax fat. ! am not talking to you
now in the pollysylables so dear to your
heart. The men who control the COM
modify have the money, not you or your
ilk. Bozzy."
Then DIR. johnson rolled away in his pc
culiar gait, and Boswell, the writer, was
left alone standing before the blackboard.
Now, Boswell. the writer, was curious,
and he resolved to learn for himself if
history or tradition Endorsed the senti-
ments of the great man whom. he wor-
shipped. Boswell believed some scheme
could be evolved to beat bucket-shop.
He began to haunt them and to talk with
the habitues He learned all about the
"yisible supply" primary receipts"
"seaboard clearances" and home con-
SUMPTION" He mastered statistics
enough to crush life insurance agent.
These statistics were strange and pecu-
liar. At one and the same moment Bos-
well could draw on them and prove the
market should go up or down. lu such
cases it usually did not move, and there
were statistics for that, too. Every
&,N, nfsn nV. FPnR lie