Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-06-22

the wholesale price at which he gets
! the goods and the retail at which he
disposes of them. but also upon the
fuctuation of the markets. If the mar
kets greatly rise he greatly gains. II
the markets greatly sink, he greatly
loses. 1t is as honest to deal in stocks
as to deal in iron or coal or hardware
or dry goods. He who condemns all
stock dealings as though they were in
! iquitous simply shows his own ignor-
| ance. Stop all legitimate speculation
in this country and you stop all banks,
you stop all factories, you stop all
storehouses, you stop all the great
financial prosperities of this country.
A stock dealer is only a commission
merchant under another name He
gets his commission on one style of
goods. You, the grocer, get your COM
mission on another style of goods. The
dollar that he makes is just as bright
and fair and honest a dollar as the dol
lar earned by the day 1aborer. But
here we must draw the line between
legitimate speculation and ruinous
gambling. You, a stock operator with
out any property behind you, financial
ly irresponsible, sell $100 of nothing
and get paid for it. You sell 100 shares
at $4,000 at 80 days. If at the end of
80 days you can get the scrip for $4,000,
you have made a thousand. If at the
end of 80 days you have to pay $1,000,
then you have lost a thousand. Now
that is traficking in fiction; that is
betting on chances; that involves the
spirit of gambling as much as anything
that ever goes on in the lowest gambl-
ing hell.
Historical Gambling Scheme.
De- - s%-~ ,1N1 fr,rr
expedition, and that was in 1716. John
Laws Mississippi scheme, it was call
ed. The French had heard that this
American continent was built out of
solid gold, and the project was
to take it across the ocean and
| drop it in France. Excitement be-
yond anything that had yet been
seen in the world. Three hundred
thousand applicants for shares. EX-
citement so great that sometimes the
mounted military had to disperse the
| crowds that had come to buy the stock.
Five hundred temporary tents built to
accommodate the people until they
could have opportunity of interviewing
John Law. A lady of great fashion
had her coachman upset her near the
place where John Law was passing in
order that she might have an interview
with that benevolent and sympathetic
gentleman. Stocks went up to 2,050
per cent, until one day suspicion got
into the market, and down it all went
John Laws Mississippi scheme
burying its protector and some of the
greatest financiers in all France, and
was almost as bad as French revolu-
ton.
Sedate England took its chance in
172O. That was the South Sea bubble.
They proposed to transfer all tie gold
of Peru and Mexico and the islands of
the sea to England. Five millions
worth of shares were put on the mar
ket at Go00 a share. The books open,
in a few days it was all taken and
twice the amount subscribed.
Excitement followed excitement un-
til all kinds of gambling projects came
forth under the wing of this South Sea
| enterprise. There was a large COM
pany formed with great capital for pro-
viding funerals for all parts of the
land. Another company with large
capital-95, 900, 900 of capitalize de-
| velop a wheel in perpetual motion. An
| other company with a capital of 94,
000, 900 to insure people against loss by
servants. Another company with e.
100000 capital to transplant walnut
trees from Virginia to England. Then,
to cap the climax, a company was
formed for "a great undertaking, no
body to know what it is.'' And, 10,
! 6 E600,0 900 in shares were offered at
E100 a share. Books were opened at
o'clock in the morning and closed at
. o'clock in the afternoon, and the first
day it was all subscribed. "A great
undertaking, nobody to know what
| it is
The Largest Swindfes-
But it was left for our own country
to surpass all, about thbty-seven years
ago. We have the highest mountains
| and the greatest cataractS and the
| longest rivers, and, of course, we had
to have the largest swindle. One
would have thought that the nation
had seen enough in that direction dur
ing the morus multicaulis excitement.
when almost every man had bunch of
| crawling silkworms in his house, out
| of which he expected to make a for
tune. But all this excitement was as
nothing compared with what took
place in 1864 when a man near Titus
vile. Pa, digging for a well, struck oil.
| Twelve hundred oil companies call for
a billion of stock. Prominent mem
bers of churches, as soon as a certain
amount of stock was assigned them,
saw it was their privilege tn become
presidents or secretaries or members
| Of the board of direction. Some of
these companies never had a foot of