St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-12-23
n HAVE often wondered how much
money is annually lost in Wall
street and in the various boards

yer.
"There is as much won as there is
lost" declared Postmaster jenkins, 80
you cannot say that anything is lost.
1t is as if you and the colonel and me
set down and played poker here in my
office and you lost $40 and l lost $50
and the colonel won $25. There is
nothing lost The money simply changes
hands"
"You were never more mistaken in
your life" said Colonel Monroe when
Jenkins had ended. IF you had To-
Gated your poker game in the rear of
Healy's saloon, where a&privileged few
are permitted to indulge in this game
SO 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 u 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.
eff the three of us risked $40 each
| in Heay's game Or for that matter,
any public poker game observed the
colonel, "and played steadily for four
or five hours, it is safe to say that the
kitty would have absorbed at least
| $40 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 so with the odds over
| whelmingly against him. He may not
know it, If not, the more fool he. But
the rake Off is not the only thing
which menaces the lamb who trusts
his money in Wall street. 1t is not
square game to again quote the YER
nacular of the gambler. Crooked play
ers are not only allowed to take part
i in the shaping of quotations. but they
actually dominate the situation
ut seems to me that Wall street is
| al, In, ~ said
Judge Sawyer. at is not long age
since values fuctuated on account of
the prospects of success or failure OF
crops or Of an increase or decrease III
the profits of concern whose stock
was traded in. If business were goGd
stocks would move upward; If business
were bad stocks would fall. The sue
cessful speculator was the one witt
the more accurate Judgment concern
ing the probable effect of natural con
ditions. At the present time Their
seems to be no connection between rea
J values and Wall street quotations"
, "Not the slightest" said Colonel Mon
roe. Stocks which never have paid
, dividend and which in all human prot
ability never will pay one are quote
from 80 to par and above, while stock
on which dividends are being paid al
; selling at, from 20 to so and there
about. Stocks, which are earning div
: dends are not receiving them, and I'll
i opposite, is true in several notorious Il
y stances The gambling public blu!
) stocks which it knows are worth I
! more than the paper on which the ce
9 tificates are printed in the hope and b
I lief that greater fools will take Il
= contract off their hands at high
prices. 1t is as if / should buy Of 20
Judge Sawyer, gold brick, knowing
L to be gold brick, in the hope and II
expectation of selling it to our friel
Is jenkins for more than paid for it,"
"You couldn't sell me no gold bricl
declared the indignant Jenkins. 81 W
re on to that game years ago"
Is Certainly you WERE" admitted Co
- mel Monroe, "but men as wise as y
have invested in paper certificates pl
porting to be worth 500 share a
have paid over their hard earned me
n ey to the agents of millionaires W
re were willing to lend their names to
y fragrant and palpable fraud. There 4
eli billions of this worthless stuff for 50
and the men who are responsible
I'll it's issue pose as law abiding citize
LII Stripped of all technical terms, the
:" tempt to foist this stuff on the inve
ing public is meditated robbery, pV
and simple"
h. '"The speculative mania certainly
" on the increase" remarked Judge ST
- yer
~ eve are gambling on a magnific
Nv SCALE" reflected Colonel Nom
'n "Monte Carlo is cheap resort CT
pared to Wall street or Saratoga.
- the latter we see more than hund
betting commissioners, called be
makers. paying to the owners of
49,. race track sum exceeding $1,000
- day for the privilege of supervising
81, gambling on horse races. This is c
-, small item in the total expense
IN, running horses at one track. There
thousands of employees. and each
the bookmakers has staff of Gle
bookkeepers and runners. Gamb
hot on the speed of horses has develo
III into vast business in which mill
of dollars are invested. Nearly e'
20 dollar Of the huge expense of
Quoting these enterprises comes {