Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-01
THEIR MORAL CODE

Queer lot, the racing folk" said Wash
ington pawnbroker. 81 mean with respect
to their ideas as to money and the meaning
of money. When they've got 1t in bulk.
money is just like glass beads to them
It's only when they're utterly broke and
up against it that they have the slightest
appreciation of the value of a dollar. And
when they win out and get in funds again
they forget all about the hardships and
makeshifts of their past bustedness and be-
gin all over again romping along the patch
of m-rovidence.
Its useless to deny that they make a
mighty profitable clientele for people In my
business, even down here in Washington,
where there are only two comparatively
short race meetings year. In New York,
Where racing goes on for nearly elght
months year, the racing crowd all but
keep scores Of pawnshops a-golng. Thelr
stuffs IN and out In and out, all the time,
often from day to day for weeks at
stretch, but the racing people don't appar-
emily mind interest charges on their valua-
bles
Just how the regular race followers
hang from year to year and always
wear the air of prosperity Is something
that has always puzzled me. Right here
behind this counter I have seen plenty of
them pass from the youthfulness of TWEEN
ty-five or so into gray haired men verging
upon middle age. And yet there always
seems 10 De something OolHS WIFI lHell,
and they look like comfortable and we'll
nourished lot But their Ideas on the
money question::
Seventeen years ago, when the old Ivy
City track was running, young fellow OF
thirty so. a race follower from New
York came in here and pawned with me a
| magnificent four-carat, blue-white gem.
set in a ring. I let him have 5000 on 1t:
This was on the day before the wind-up Of
the meeting. On the first day of the next
meeting he drifted in, looking prosper
| Gus as ever, and redeemed the ring. On the
day before the close Of the meeting he
came in and pawned it again for 500.
"Well I've had that ring pretty steadily
| during all of these seventeen years He's
been taking 1T out and putting 1t In again
| twice year since he first pledged 1t. When
| Ivy City closed up and Benning opened its
gates he came along to the meetings as
| usual. and, regularly. as soon as he struck
| the town, he would get his ring out and
wear It during the meeting, and then. on
| the day before the wind-up, put 1t in again
for the customary 500. Same when they
| were racing at st. Asaph; same while the
horses were at old Alexander Island. I
calculate that he's had the wearing Of his
| diamond about six weeks a year since I
first got hold of it. He has more than paid
me the value of the ring in interest charges
during these seventeen years. I've often
asked him to explain what his idea Is, and
he's always smiled slow smile and turned
the question Many times he has won
handsomely at the Washington meetings,
and yet he has invariably tossed his blue
white gem in on departing from the CITY,
It's got so that I'm almost ashamed to take
this racing mans money-if you can be-
lieve that of a pawnbroker When he first
brought his ring along he had coal-black
hair. Now he's a man verging on fifty,
| with snoW-white hair and yet he has been
| following the precarious horse game all Of
| these years, and has certainly made some
| thing more than living at it.
Il have many pledges here that I've had
| off and on. from the racing crowd visiting
| Washington for as long as ten or twelve
years. Almost invariably they get their
| stuff out. Not one racing man in a hun
| dred will permit his pawn tickets to run
| out Those thai remain away from Wash
| ington meetings for a season intrust the
| payment of the interest charges to friends
| coming down. They never forget the dates
| Of the expiration of their tickets. and If
| they can't come themselves or have no
| friends coming down they'll forward the
| interest charges right on the dot in time
to save their pledges. I've got money right
| on the minute in this way from horsemcn
| racing down in the Argentine, in Russia, in
| Cuba, In California, and even In Australia.
Il have found them to be scrupulously
| square and upright crowd to deal with. The
| experienced pawnbroker will be much more
| liberal In his transactions with racing men
| than with any other class of customers l
| rarely hesitate to give racing man what
| he asks for on a pledge, even If what he
| asks for is considerably more than is war
ranted by the value of the pledge. 1 know
|
| redeem their pledges.
| '1ll give you an instance Of how they
| can be trusted. Last fall a racing man
| with whom I'd had dealings for three or
| four seasons came in here along toward the
middle of the Benning meeting and said to
| me:
| "'You remember that three-stone ring of
| mine? Well, Jimmy So-andSo,' mention
| ing the name of a well-known horse train
| er. gets down here tomorrow. He's wear
ing the ring. 1 let him have it to make a
| flash. He'll fetch it in to you as soon as
| he gets in tomorrow. But l want hum
| dred on it now
| II let him have the money. His friend,
| the trainer did fetch the ring in, and hand
| ed it over to me on the following day, and
| the man to whom I had made the loan with
| no security redeemed 1t before the close of
| the meeting.
| The horse game, I know, gets a lot of
! hard knocks from the conservative element
| of the public, and no doubt good many of
| them are deserved. But as a class I'm
| bound to say that I've found the bona flde
| racing people a singularly honest crowd,
| even If they are, without shadow of doubt,
| the most utterly improvident bunch on the
| footStool."