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

Now, | never lose a chance to make a
tiaue, no matter where / go or how in
slsnlncant the values involved, for, as
l SAID swapping is passion. So as
had on my hands at the time about
twenty-five cheap pianos which had
peen seized by client on a judgment
held against bankrupt manufacturer,
and plenty of jewelry, / Offered to sup
ply the girls If he would trade me
twenty acres of land for piano and di-
amond ring. The land was worth fifty
dollars an acre and the piano and ring
were worth less than-but never mind
that. Suffice to say that the decker was
made and lost nothing. Next spring
built fancy little Queen Anne cottage
on my land at a cost of fifteen hundred
dollars, and then snapped it off for
small steam yacht, which / sold some
time ago for eight thousand dollars, SO
you see how easy 1t is to make swap
| ping pay when you know how
| There is one professional snapper In
New York who started out less than
five years ago to trade, principally in
secondhand type-wrters. When he
had accumulated ten or twelve he hired
small office in an old-fashioned build
ing where rents were cheap, and opened
a Typewriter exchange selling the ma
chimes for two and three times as much
as they cost him and renting them out
at three dollars month. He built up
flourishing business in very short time,
as he continued to add to his stock,
and to-day he has big branch establish
ments in several large cities. His in
come from typewriters alone must be
something like twenty thousand dollars
year
Another exchange broker now located
in New York was formerly a fakir who
in his peregrlnations fetched up at every
corner of the United States. When he
came here to stay he had about two
thousand dollars rather small capital
to pit against large swappers; but he
was endowed with a wonderful genius
for swapping, and it was not long before
he struck it rich. The first thing that
came his way was the stock of bank
rupt manufacturer of patent liniment
which was advertised as a sovereign
remedy for about every ailment known
to medical science. He bought it in at
auction sale, being one Of only three bid
ders, for five hundred dollars, together
with the patent and lease Of plant The
stock consisted of twelve thousand bot
ties full of the wonderful cure-all, about
five thousand empty bottles, two or
three big mixing kettles, and two hun
bred and fifty pounds of the chemicals
of which the stuff was made. 1t looked
like an elephant, and so it would have
been to a less astute man, but he knew
what he was about. Calling together
half dozen patent medicine fakirs, who
We're out of a job and whom he knew
to be partially honest, he gave them
each two thousand bottles of the lini-
ment, which in the meantime he had re-
labelled with some absurdly preposter-
Gus name hired barouches, each drawn
by four horses; employed negro banjo
lists, leather unged vocals and sleight-
of-hand performers and sent them
through the country to sell the stuff in
small towns. Within week the twelve
thousand bottles were consumed, and he
was working dozen men night and
day turning out more liniment. With
the capital obtained from this first sue
cess he was able to advertise extensive
ly in the newspapers and put his lini
ment in the drug stores everywhere. |
More than two hundred thousand bot
ties Of the stuff We're sold within six |
months after this shrewd snapper took
hold of the plant. Eventually he sold
out to a company for something like
sixty thousand dollars. With this sum
he was able to operate on large scale,
and, success having attended most Of
his efforts, he is now worth more than
five hundred thousand dollars. One of
his recent swaps, which netted him con-
siderable profit, was big tramp steam
ship for an apartment house in fash
ionabe section. New York Sun.