The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-18
SWAPPING AS A BUSINESS.

Rich in New York--They Will Trad
Anything From Clothes Wringer t.
a Sky Scraper or an Ocean Steamship
Natural Genius Required of Men
Some Notable Trades Arranged.
Nowadays people accumulate 81
many things they don't want and want
so many things they haven't got thai
the business of relieving them of tn
first and supplying them with the sec
ond through the happy medium of ex'
change has grown enormously in New
York." said the prosperous-looklng man
| with chop whiskers on whose profess
sional card appeared the legend, "EX-
change Broker" There are more than
one hundred men in this city who fol-
low trading or swapping as regular
thing, and few of them have become
rich in an incredibly short time. We
buy up all sorts of things from ocean
greyhounds, sky scrapers and churches
to clothes wringers, match boxes and
bed Stats, and trade them off to some
one who is hankering for big ship, Of
fee building, church, clothes wringer,
match box or bed Stat, realizing, as a
general thing, handsome profit in cash
or acquiring property worth more than
that which we offer in exchange.
Successful exchange brokers are
born, not made. The ability to swap
and come out ahead every time is inner
| ent No matter how clever and shrewd
a man may be. if swapping is not nat
ural passion with him, he is bound to
| Of of
eventually In my own case, / began
| to swap with an eye on the main chance
when l was little tacker of six and
| lived in small river town in the Buck
eye state. My first achievement was to
| trade pair of tadpoles and view of
| sore toe to a little playmate for three
sticky jawbreakers-as round, hard
pieces Of candy We're known in those
days. With this capital I acquired
genuine Barlow knife and a china taw
which were subsequently converted into
still more valuable property. Great
oaks from little acorns grow. From
this modest beginning I suppose l
amassed about fifty dollars worth of
treasures dear to the small boys heart
by the time | was ten years old. At the
age of seventeen | owned junk shop,
and by the time had obtained my ma
jority I was sole owner of prosperous
hardware store, a small dwelling and a
vacant lot, all acquired through swap
ping.
II look back with all sorts Of pleasur
able emotions on one event of my early
career as a snapper. Do you know, L
once traded four hogsheads of New Or
leans molasses for steamboat? Mop,
'tisn't a dream. You see, the steam
boat, which was an old-fashoned stern
wheeler,was on fire at the time the
dicker was made, and it seemed as if l
had the worst end of the bargain 1t
was like this: One night in the early
seventies the steamer was churning
down the Ohio, bound from Pittsburg
for Cincinnati. flying light and work
ing short handed, when the fire started
The boats nose was headed for the Ohio
shore and the crew set to work to put
out the fire, but the flames gained so
rapidly on them that they were COM
PEELED to give it up and take TO the
small boats. Every man on the burning
steamboat heached the landing at our
town in safety long before the old stern
wheeler began to push over that way.
Attracted by the fire, all of us young
fellows went down to the landing to look
on, and there we found the captain of
the steamboat Jumping up and down In
the air and cussing like a pirate, for he
was the owner of the boat and carried
no insurance.
Don't you intend to make any effort
to save something from the boat Cap
tain?' I asked. He came down out of
the air long enough to interstice his pro-
family with the information that he was
through with the blankety blank old
hulk, and it could go to that place
whence all blankety blanks are supposed
to emanate. Inspiration seized me. On
the landing were four hogsheads of mo-
lasses which I had secured by trade
that afternoon, and I called the cap
tan's attention to them.
viii you trade your steamboat as
she is for those hogsheads? I asked
He CAPPED at me in profound astonish-
ment.
"'Well, of all eternal foolsn said he at
last. Do you own them hogsheads?'
"I do I responded, dancing up and
down in anxiety, for the boat was blaz-
ing like a town afire, and every minute
of wasted time meant loss of money to
me in the event of a trade. If you want
to swap, say so quick.
"Darned if I don't go you assented
the captain. It's the biggest case of
for nothing I ever struck
Boys, you hear the bargaln@' said
to the crowd.
Yes piped up the crowd, and
We'll see that the captain sticks to it
Better see that this foolish young
imbecile keeps his end of the swap re-
torted the captain, and then, having
no more time for the trivialities of life,
he returned with renewed fervor to his
GUESSING.
"'Come along, fellows l cried, and in
an instant dozen skiffs, all loaded with
strong youngsters, were racing like mad |
cut to the vessel A promise of liberal |
pay inspired them with extra energy |
and we all went to work on the burning
vessel with a sort of frenzy, which re- !
suited in the extinction of the flames |
along about dawn. OF course the boat |
was fearfully damaged. but there was
still great deal Of valuable property in |