The San Francisco call., 1899-05-14

been a loser of thousands of pounds"
He tells another story to explain his as
sertion that brokers sometimes do worse
than merely guess. On one occasion one
OF the fraternity induced him to invest in
g certain American railway stock for a
rise which was sure to come. He showed
cablegramS which seemed to confirm that
expectation, bur in the end our author
was a heavy loser by the investment, as
the stock continued to fall. In course of
time he accidentally discovered that the
cabiegramS were bogus messages. and
that the stock he had bought had be-
longed to the broker, who induced him by
false pretenses to take 1t off his hands.
Company Promoters.
The Stock Exchange is bad enough, but
Rouge eli Noir" finds deeper deep wher
he reaches the theme of company pro-
moters As a critic. according to Disraelf.
is man who has failed in literature and
art so promoter, according to Rouge ct
Noir,' is a man who has failed in every
thing. As soon as his credit with all his
acquaintanceS is exhausted he suddenly
blossoms forth into a financier or COM
pany promoter. Then he becomes the mar,
who is always in a hurry who tells Won
that time is money, because it is aboIl
the only money that he possesses. OF
course. he has the gift of the CAB and no
ehd OF cheek, and Will tell the most bounc-
ing lies with an assurance which fills
those who do not know him with respect
and confidence. His object then is to pro-
across
one who has little money and a com
mercial. industrial or artistic scheme. in
Whlch there is some promise his course
is clear enough.
The first thing is to collar the n1ona,, for
preliminary expenses: then. if ne han
pens TO know any person of a speculative
character who is likely to entertain such
scheme, he puts it before him: if he de-
clines, the promoter-unless it is hip
thing, which holds out the prospecf of =
very large haul indeed-takes no further
trouble, unless more money can be
squeezed out of his anxious victim. The
latter generally is anxious. and therefore
parts with his last shilling to the shark
VINO VINO knows perfectly well that he has not
scheme, and therefore has not the least
intention of making any further attemnts
but eoolly goes and has a lunch of
saansage sans aee an and mashed potatoes at a cook
But when he thinks that a scheme is
nkeIy 10 catch on, and that his new
cnent, as he calls the confding individual
who is taken in by his buncombe is in
close connection with all the civ ssbig
pots,-he is not choice in his phraseoIogT
and the great capitalists of London
when this client happens to own de-
cent sum of money. and is willing TO nart
with it for grand promises. the prelirnil
nary expenses are at once extracted tn
inspire the victim with confidence the
pn u pnoiiloter " proposes at once to introduce
men IN the city; he takes him to the of.
hces of some well-known Capitalist ana
on pretense of going to see whether he
Is IN asks his client to wait in the lobby
Whlle ne goes into the clerks office nuts
some indifferent question and reioins his
victim, saying that the capitalist has al.
ready left the city for home that. there
fore, the visit must be postponed which
N reality 1t is. sine die. But he talks bie
ABOUT at once seeing other friends wbS
VIII form a syndicate. He really tries n
oring together syndicate which SHAH
purchase the undertaking for a moderata
sum-supposing any sum is paid at alto