The Saint Paul globe., 1898-03-26
He Flshed for Suckers.

Mr. Southall played, in his way and
with his special variation, an old. old
game. 1t is Identical with the green
goods game, the gold brick game, and,
in a larger way, the games played
Upon stock exchanges. He knew the
cupidity Of men, their hunger for eX-
traordinary gains, and played skillfully
upon it. He offered them a tempting
bait, and they rose to it with all the
eagerness of fish for fly He offered
q good thing to men with sharp ap
petites for good things" and we doubt
rot that very much of the joviality
which, his acquaintanceS say. he dis
played during this fishing period, was
Cue to his enjoyment of the success of
his sport. 1t has never been ObServ-
ed that the angler whose hooks were
sought by the fish wore an air of de-
lection or was troubled with morose-
ness.
Before we let our sympathies run out
to those who are now styled the vic
Tins of Southalfs rascality, let us
analyze the game. The bait, the in
ducement. were time checks. What
are they? A certified statement that
by and for the government of the Unit
ed States a specified time, for which
he is entitled to receive the stated
amount. An inspection of the checks
shows at glance that the party NAM
ed belongs to the humber classes of
labor. The time usually covered one
month. and the amount ran from $40
to $50 1t was evident that the neces-
sites of his life were pressing; that
he had wife and children to feed and
clothe, and that he could not wait the
slow movement of the paymaster. Men
are always hard pressed when they
will sacrifice 25 per cent of their earn
| ings for ready cash rather than wait
| thirty days or more for it.
1t has never been considered an hon
orable vocation to speculate upon the
cruel necessities of that class. The
| kindIier impulses of men, the teachings
of our churches, the example of the
| Christ have made the practice OBJ
noXious. Shylock's misfortunes stir
no feelings of pity. When Southall Of
fered these time checks to investors
! he told them-for the time checks car
ried the statement on their face-he
had shylocked the laborers and offered
| the purchaser a share in the game.
| They might have half or even more Of
! the money they knew had been wrung
| from men who had worked hard to get
it by the insistent demands of house
and home which brooked no waiting
for a dilatory government. True,
Southall had already done the squeez-
! ing, but men with humane instincts
would hesitate to share with him his
! fll-gained profits. They are never part
ners of the pawnbroker nor on social
relations with him.
Southall simply played upon the in
| ordinate greed of men. He took the
part Of Shylock and invited them to
share his pounds of flesh. True, there
was no flesh; no laborer had been
| f1eeced of fourth of his earnings; no
| laggard government owed anything for
work done. That was all pure f1c-
| ton; but these we call his victims"
now did not know that; they believed
it all reality; the toiler. pushed by
need, shaving his pay to get quick
cash. and for the twelve to fifteen
per cent of the shave, they were willing
to make themselves sharers with
Southall of his rapacity. We can ap-
preciate now the good nature, the
happy carelessness of Southall at
times when it is assumed he must have
been under a tremendous nervous
strain. There was no strain at all;
there must have been a sense of keen
enjoyment, akin to that OF the angler
who feels the tug on his line come as
fast as he can disengage the hooked
fish and cast for another. He fished
for suckers, and his catch was great.
The suckers do not present a case that
calls for sympathy.