Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-10-10
COLONEL :M0NR0E'S DOCTRINE Il
The Financial and Moral Losses by the Nation In
Consequence of Wall Street Speculation
BY FREDERICK aUPHAm Ida
Copyright. 1903. by Frederick Upham Adam.

HAVE often wondered how much
money is annually lost in Wall
street and in the various boards
of trade and exchanges Of our
leading cities" remarked Judge Saw
yer. =.
There is as much won as there Is
lost" declared Postmaster Jenkins, 80
you cannot say that anything is lost
It is as il you and the colonel and, me
set down and played poker here in my
Office and you lost $40 and lost $15
and the colonel won SIS. There Is
nothing lost: The money simply changes
hands," trO ~, %
you were never more mistaken in
your nfe,' said Colonel Monroe when
jenkins had ended. III you had 10
Gated your poker game in the rear Of
Healy's saloon, where privileged few
are permitted to indulge in this game
SO l am informed-your illustration
would be more to the point. In consid-
GRAFTON of the risk he runs for allowing
gambling in his premises, and for the
other reason that he needs the money,
Healy collects a commission on all
hands played. have read somewhere
that this commission is termed rake
Off and goes into mysterious place
called the Kitty Are not those the
expressions, Judge Sawyer?''
II am not competent to add anything
to your knowledge on the subject Of
the national game Of draw poker"
laughed the Judge.
If the three OF Us risked $40 each
in Healy's game or, for that matter,
any public poker game" observed the
colonel, land played steadily for four
or i've hours, it is safe to say that the
kitty would have absorbed at least
SO Of our combined capital. and If the
cards broke even we would all be losers
at the end OF the game. The steady
drain which flows into the kitty Is the
most prolific cause Of the poverty Of
gamblers, be they card gamblers. horse
gamblers, lottery gamblers or specula-
tive gamblers. Every man who stakes
his money against professional gam
bling game does 30 with the odds over
whelmingly against him. He may not
know it. II not, the more fool he. But
the rake or Is not the only thing
which menaces the lamb who trusts
his money in Wall street. 1t is not q
square game to again quote the YER
nacular Of the gambler. Crooked play
ers are not only allowed to take part
in the shaping Of quotations, but they
actually dominate the situation"
1T seems to me that Wall street Is
greatly changed in recent years." said
Judge Sawyer. 1T is not long ago
since values fluctuated on account Of
the prospects of success or failure Of
crops or of an increase or decrease in
the profits Of a concern whose, stock
was traded In. II business were good
stocks would move upward; If business
were bad stocks would fall. The sue
cessful Spectator was the one with
the more accurate judgment concern
ing the probable effect of natural con-
ditions. At the present time there
values and Wall street quotations.
mot the slightest" said Colonel Mon
roe. Stocks which never have paid a
dividend and which in all human prob
ability never will pay one are quoted
from so to par and above while stocks
on which dividends are being paid are
selling at from 20 to SO and there
Oh
dends are not receiving them, and the
opposite Is true in several notorious in
stances. The gambling public buys
stocks which it knows are worth no
more than the paper on which the GER
t16cates are printed in the hope and be-
lief that greater fools will take the
contract Off their hands at higher
prices. 1t is as If should buy Of you,
Judge Sawyer. gold brick, knowing it
to be gold brick, in the hope and full
expectation of selling it to our friend
jenkins for more than l paid for it."
'You couldn't sell me no gold BRICK"
declared the indignant Jenkins. II was
on to that game years ago."
Certainly you were." admitted Colo
mel Monroe, "but men as wise as you
have invested in paper certificates pur-
porting to be worth 500 share and
have paid over their hard earned mon
ey to the agents of millionaires who
were willing to lend their names to a
fragrant and palpable fraud. There are
billions of this worthless stuff for sale,
and the men who are responsible for
its issue pose as law abiding citizens.
Stripped of all technical terms, the at
tempt to foist this stuff on the invest
ing public is meditated robbery, pure
and simple"
"The speculative mania certainly Is
ON the increase" remarked Judge Saw.
yer. >
1--WE are gambling on a magnificent
SCALE" reflected Colonel Monroe.
Monte Carlo is a cheap resort COM
pared to Wall street, or Saratoga. In
the latter we see more than hundred
betting commissioners, called book
makers. paying to the owners OF the
race track sum exceeding $4,000 a
day for the privilege of supervising the
gambling on horse races. This is only
a small item in the total expense o.
y ~.