The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-06

the Extent of $4,000 in one
week - The End of the Disas-
trous Movement Net Yet in Sight.
The bucket shops throughout the eoun-
try are falling by the wayside rapidly
Never before in the history of Wall Street
and the less legitimate streets have
there been so many failures among the
concerns that act as their own stock eX-
change, buying from and selling TO them
selves The mortality among Washing
ton bucket shop firms has been almost APP
palling during the past week and the
present indications are that next Monday
will see stu further defamation Of their
ranks Only here and there on the list
Of these brokers' IS there one that paid
up all of its contracts and looked the
world cheerfuny in the face last Thursday
at the close Of business. And il is quite
certain that all OF these were not as
/ cheerful inwardly as they seemed.
The cruel juxtaposition OF the greatest
! bun market in history" with the new
/ revenue law calls for additional taxes,
/ and the possibilities of its bringing the
( brokers into contact with the local police
authorities everywhere has produced a
/ combination of circumstances too strong
even for the bucket shops, which can
stand mach OF adversely and still thrive
ordinarily.
1t is said that during the pact six
months these concerns have lost millions
of dollars throughout the country and
] that every day of the bull marknet now
Is cumulative geometricaI progression
of load for them owing TO the frantic
/ desire OF the public TO Buy stocks
The Washington houses not connected
with the New York Stock Elk change have
| been, for the most part, simply cores
pondents OF the big New York bucket
/ shops There have not been more than
one OF two in the city that cared TO back
| their own game in recent months The
! New York concerns have failed and
! their correspondents have gone down
with them. To this extent, therefore, the
! local concerns are not directly culpabe
! for the losses of their customers. In
some cases the local concerns have paid
! their customers out Of their own pock-
cts and stood the losses themselves This
is binding obligation, Of course, but
when It occurs it is the subject of much
favorable comment, nevertheless. 1t IS
possibly because the poor public has got
ten somewhat into the habit OF expecting
dishonesty in bucket shops.
\ month or TWO ago the New York
firm OF Hooper & Co. failed. A short time
!
been doing business with Hooper & Co,
also closed down. It IS understood that
Bowers & Cos obligations in this city
were about SlAe69
Shortly before that the firm OF Crosby
& Co. of Boston, gave up business Por-
IeEfeld K Co, Of this city. went under
with them Fowler * Co. who wFTe also
correspondents Of the Crosby concern,
paid mp and have continued in business.
Ferry < Co. some time Of Baltimore.
and formerly of Washington. succumbed
during the winter on Two or more occa-
siOns They carried with them Taylor q
Co Of this city and one other concern
a month ago Carley ROsengarJeu < Co,
who had a branch Office here closed up.
Other lesser failures were chrouiCied
at about the same time.
! Last week ErrlngIOn & Co, OF New
( York, closed their doors They carried
| with them three local Jenkins
* Co, Carter * Co, and Simpson & Co
! On Thursday another New York house
( with q branch and with TWO or three cor
! respondents here. failed ~ meet its OBJ
| legations, but expressed the hope that il
could do so on Monday. The local cor
( respondents talk with skepticiSTn. a little
diluted by hope, regarding the prospects
Six or seven concerns out of perhaps
twenty StI4I survive IneSe lew are WOr-
/ ried about the new Revenue Law. The
provision OF the law is that they shall
pay u extra tax and also take oath that
they are doing business not on any stock
exchange They are waiting to see If
when they make such a sworn statement
them as gambling houses.
The reason why the bucket shops fan il
bull market Is very simple They dc
not buy or sell stocks. but simply bet
against their customers = man be.
lteves stock VIII advance in value and
wishes to back his judgment he puts W
| so much as q bet If he is right he gets
back his money, and in addition a sun
! representing the advance IN price Of tbs
| stock II. unfortunately, his judgment
has been wrong and the price goes down
II Z he TcL
plan reduced TO its simplest terms.
The bucket shop. however, charges hin
commission OF One-luarter Of I pei
cent for the purchase o. stock which il
does not make As the usual amount bet
{ by him IS per cent il VIII be seen that
this bucket shop percentage is One-Quar-
ter OF what he puts up This, of course
( is far larger than any roulette table
+ ~oUld dare 70 charge, One-nlHeteeuth be-
ing considered the limit at that fascinat-
ing game IN practice the
bucket shop gambler puts up
SIC and buys zen shares OF stock
: at, say, - II the price advances TO 4s
/ he may sell out and receive his SO with
an additional sum OF $50 representing
/ his winnings less the oEe-quarTer com
mission charged; II the price goes down
/ 10 AZ he IS wiped out" only getting a
I run Of thres-quarters for his money II
Z VIII be seen that he can only STAY in for
fve-eighths, and that the advance must
. be ten-eIghths for him to win a full so.
This makes the odds against him virtually
10 J. where ne puts up margin of only
Z per cent
This kind Of business for the broker is a
gold mine IN any ordinary market The
( bucket shops win millions OF dollars a
year and many of their p-oprietors retire
after q few years with enormous fortunes
! and devote the remainder of their lives
to morse flesh or pictures or yachting
But IN 4 bull market, the bucket shops
I lose heavily and in such a market as
/ this has been, they lose the other accu-
/ nulated winnings of years unless the mar
! ket turns IN time to save them So far
the market has not turned and, as i con-
( sequence many bucket shops have not
I paid out Some concerns pay up in fun
and simply quit taking their losses and
| waiting for better times Others quit
without paying up. There have been
many examples Of both classes IN the
present market Thus it will be seen that
the public loses ii an ordinary market
( because It cant stand the percentage and
then loses IN a bun market because the
/ brokers fan
II is a very difficult game for the public
10 beat as thousands of people here can
testify, especially since this weeks fail
urss, which have cost local bettors per
haps S54 900 alone.