Arizona republican., 1903-02-14
The Old Story.

The enormous sums lost by specula- tors through the failure of tn. betting company in St. Louis ana similar concerns might be consid- cred a good investment were there any reason to suppose that specu- lators have learned lesson of lasting benefit; but, unfortunately, there is TO occasion for expecting that the pur- chasers of gold bricks will ever be- come fewer in number. The old copy book saying that Experience is dear school, but fools will learn in TO other : implied that the lessons taught In the school of experience were effective. The numerous examples to the contrary go to prove that no amount of experience will protect the people who are born with the belief that the best way to ge. rich is to entrust their savings to some smooth-talking fellow who has ''sys- tenn for making investors wealthy In few days. All Of the ''get rich quick schemes have just one defect-they provide amply for the man Who runs the game, but the system does not include the gullible producer.
 The St. Louis scheme, it appears, was one LOT beating the races.'' The thou sands of people from Arizona to New York who placed their savings with the concern did so, therefore, with the Knowledge that in order for them to win somebody else must lose. They did not stop to consider, apparently, that the chances were even, at least. that they would lose, taking the most hopeful view of the matter. But aside from this fundamental fact, it should have been obvious to the most casual investigator that ultimate loss was in evitable. Expensive advertisements in . the leading newspapers of the country, liberal commissions to hundreds of agents, and a multitude of other nec- essary expenses, precluded the thought of a successful outcome, no matter how fairly the game might be managed by the men who were running it. But most important of all, the victims should have stopped to consider the
 
 or set of men were already equipped with ample capital" as this outfit were represented to be, and they had an inside" method or winning bets on horse races, what reason, in the name of all that was sane. had they to cali upon the public for financial assist ance? It merely required that the scheners should make their system successful for a few days hand-run- ming, in order to have more capital of their own than they could profitably employ. Nobody but a set of lunatics would borrow money from the public at an interest rate of per cent a week when already in funds for conducting the beautiful system" on their owp account
 But the investor whose savings are burning his pockets never stops to req son. it seems. Less than three years ago, small speculators from one end oI the country to the other were defraudeG of hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Miller syndicate in New York Miller. the head of the scheme, had ad vertised that he had sure method O. beating stock gamblers in Wall street. He was so benevolent that he would share his profits with the entire coun- try. He would pay 10 per cent a week on funds placed with him for invest ment'' in stocks. A few men in each community did receive dividends for awhile-paid out of the funds given to Miller by their neighbors When the crash came, Miller was sent to the penitentiary, and it was shown that he had been too thrifty to go near the stock market with the money with which he had been overwhelmed.
 About year later, one or more con- cerns in the south embarked upon 2 similar scheme. Their advertisements did not go into details to any extent, but they represented that they haG facilities for making enormous profits. They also would pay per cent a week -or was it more? Not a few people in Phoenix lost large sums No doubt, ! large number of the losers in the St. Louis scheme had been victimized by the Miller Syndicate and these south ern investment schemes. Experience went for nothing. and it will always go for nothing with the class of people who go through life under the delusion that