The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-17
EASY marks m WASHINGTON.
"TOVTgssIOVS, gRs RgsT AaH
~ WItDIgRs THERe
sNsges M . WesirsN HHeeee pfaafafteN
ag1H ~ SgthtNp fHff NeFVe=WHe WsH
Wheee mi gHge We . Few emeenlas
NaeHtHe 4 HaHeH Nv tatfwfnfa,

NNHfFH w n WfNlFAW WHNHFF FfHNfHfseN
sg1H ~ SgthtNe iWf Nefte-WHe VISA
Wheee HHif gHge We . Few emeeulds
NamtWe 4 Ne#eN ~ tagfefega
NssWtsufug iurr IA fNp ars wepNgig
pfir'"d \ drsfNtch telling sIsrtt ihN adrrlt
ofHfait,Na In Washington ~ q plEIelhiN
tuting iush VI 10 nv tlei up IN tho Ina
iflef ~ CpiHintin lati Awsfiha tfial M =
nuHlss ~ different swindilua counga tfs
bad matr y fsripis ~ visits ~ Rruth tfrrf.
wv, sdIts asing hia Investigations faf'irus
lrtiy to fous,tf AMI tha tnl'sd stat"s N
triHmblt ati whrn h" s,rtnH Washington
lat autumh he hal ihe hnns, asaprhrhf ~
U%runirly sinmted ruurisstsna = aii irnst.
'ifullv written ou' IN Epvine Spanish Svrf
lHt ~ VIZ In ihi' csrital, sterr atoh
Il Gun mt ap Nv Nv m"nns out ~ tbs
ordinary
Tho m 'r's' ritalry ssrm nation ~ ths@s
'cpn,rsaipns' Vas eupush ~ oDnvincs anys
lypdy pos~'ss'd ~ sum liant imagination
tina, N" holder had jus, about nabhsd nret
chano" n, everything n vahis In Eouatpf
and Colombia hundreds ~ suuafS miies
of gold n Ida Tho didn't ct nst whsok NJ
merc mihea, but whole 'neldso silver
fields, copper felds, emerald heds. hundreds
~ thousands n aorvs NJ ribbsr plantations
In full tsaring, vast dspoelAs Of phosphates
and nitratsa, who's provinyes Of oil that
wns only n couple Of fse beneath top
soil. and ~ on.
The young man, who claimed 10 b Q
Harvard graduate. n lawyer, q chemist and
an engineer, chose "a VIGOROUSLY rich field
for the exploitation Of his "conc,sslonss
when he came to Washington. He oven
orga nized a little exchange bank OF his
own here, consisting Of q table, a couple OF
chairs and some neat rubber stamps for the
printing Of the word saccspted' on drafts,
with his wife 20 net IA draft stamoer In hi,
absence, and he was very busy telling easy
Washington folks about all OF tn, good
South American things OF his when hi
slipped the cog that landed him In Jail.
This one got caught. That's something
that few Of the large and ingenious tribe Of
concession holders who operate in Wash
ington do. The great majority Of them
get away with the swag. Some Of them ,
the quietest and most retiring kind Of work
ers. too, have been almost u~nbelievably
successful in separating Washington folk
from their money.
Few Of the smart crooks who prey on this
IpIuidllol III OuBI ZIG ilbuluI1 VI pHOuy
investment enterprises do their work to
the accompaniment Of any blare Of trum-
pets. They install themselves in certain
hotels or fashionable boarding houses
and, being excellent mixers and hand
shakers, they get acquainted easily enough,
parade their good things in a confidential
sort of way to a few, show them how
the investment OF a few hundreds Of thou
sands will infallbly grow into yachts and
country villas in a very brief space OF time,
and thus get the word passed around.
The first victims %let in on the ground
floor" i~nnocently bring their friends to the
sacrifice, and thus the profitable group of
is formed
Atypical case was that Of a chap who did
n big thing Of it on the strength Of a magnif-
rubber plantation in Chiapas. Mexico,
that he didn't own. He came to Washing
bou a year ago. He Installed himself
in a high grade boarding house in the toffy
residential section called in Washington
the Northwest, and proceeded to get &C
quainted with the folk s in the neighbour
hood. One Of his best equipments toward
this end was a good Southern patois, for,
the infusion Of Northerners, the
capital remains almost az Southern az
This cheerful worker knew everybody
for blocks around the boarding house
two months after he hit the town.
didn't say a word about rubber to any
Of them for a long time.
Then he took two or three of the men folk
INTO his confidence as TO that proposition.
He didn't ask them to buy anything. He
simply told them what a fine thing he had
and he always had an ample bundle
Of yellow money somewhere in his clothes,
md a trick Of flashing it in a wholly unosten-
way.
He rugged matters so that they had to
lsk him the nature of his fine snap, and
hen he told them. Rubber plantation in
Chiapas, ever so many tens of thousands
If acres, all trees In bearing. He was
acquiring some moRe tens Of thousands Of
lcres, however, right alongside of those
in bearing, and had organized q
company to take I've those new acres and
the working Of the new section. He
liscoursed e~xpansively on how much
money per acre rubber trees produce.
He showed the first two or three a book
II photographs of the Chiapas plantation,
his own SPLENDID hacienda right In
he middle of it, surrounded by palms and
Of natives tapping the trees and
the rubber. and so on. He got
hem rubber mad. They pleaded to be al
owed to get into the new company with a
title savings they had put away. He
seem to be eager to let them in, and
70 they wound up by demanding that he let
hem in. At length he let these early ones
ave a few thousand shares in. the new
plantations at 81 a share.
They passed the word around among
heir friends and neighbours, and these,
got interested in rubber. They hunted
Up the ingratiating rubber man, and
lie permitted them to accrue some OF
he stock at 81 so a share. He confined his
operations exclusively to the neighbour
,ood Of his boarding house-a region en-
a radius of about five squares
n the different directions.
Then somebody came out with a word
doubt as to whether that Chiapas rubber
was entirely on the level. The
word reached the ears of the rub
Der man. He flared up instantly, and
hen he did an audaoious thing. He told
he people who had purchased stock of
lin that he wanted them to select the