Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-06-03
TO KILL BUCKET SHOPS.
New State Law Will Go Into Effect On the First of July.

io" piOulpltlHB Lne uldiuleudnCe and operation of bucket shops in Connecticut goes into effect. Just what the result of this law will be in Connecticut is an open question, but word for word the measure is an exact copy of the Indiana law, which is claimed to have driven the bucket shop business out of the Hoosier state and closed it up tight.
 Probably no single piece of legls- lation in the last session of the gen. eral assembly aroused wider com ment or more interesting series of debates than this same bucket shop bill. It was brought forth by Rep- resentative Edward W. Hooker, now Mayor Hooker of Hartford, and Rep- resentative Arthur F.. Birdseye of Pennington, who ably seconded the work of Mayor Hooker in presenting and supporting the bill 4 fat and readable volume of rather interest ing legislative history could be writ ten on the course of the measure from its first introduction to its passage, were all the inside facts to be set down in type.
 A Difference.
 Within the meaning of the term bucket shop" the act includes all those shops, offices or stores where gambling is practiced in the fluctua- tons of the market quotations, but where the money supposedly invest ed by the customer in a certain stock Is not really invested, but Is held by the proprietor of the shop to await the turn of the market. In some cases, very rare, the actual market quotations are used, but in by far the larger number of cases the quo- tations are framed by the broker to suit his own ends, and 1t is a dead open and shut proposition, with the proprietor of the shop on the heads l win, tails you lose' end of the game. For the benefit of those not familiar with ordinary stock opera tlons, be it explained that the reputa- ble brokers office maintains an of hclal connection, either directly with the stock exchange, or with New lork brokers in good standing, who hold a membership in the exchange. Investments placed in the hands of such a broker are properly recorded. The transaction is bona fde trans action. so far as the purchase of the stock is concerned, and the profit or loss of the investor is determined by the actual fluctuation in the price of the stock in which he has invested.
 Not so with the bucket-shop oper- ator. He opens his office without of- ficial connection with the stock mar ket. In the room in which his board IS hung, showing quotations, is his ticker. The operator on the other end may be in the brokers" head office in another city, or it may be in the same building with the stock board. The quotations may or may not be the market quotations of the stock. Usually they are framed up to meet the occasion. The bucket shop proprietor has no standing, and never buys a share of stock with the investors money. He can frame his quotations so as to demand such heavy margins that the investor can- not hold his investment" Not be- ing financially responsible he can pick up stakes over night, close up his business, and the investor is without redress.
 To Clean Up Evil.
 Up to the last session of the gen. eral assembly the state of Connec- ticut had not passed any bucket-shop legislation, and it was with the aim of cleaning up the evil in this state that Representatives Hooker and Birdseye set out to find the best law in the country on this subject. Every | state law In existence was reviewed and the Indiana statute chosen as presented before the judiciary com mittee, there was some slight oppo- sition. but the measure had come as a surprise, and 1t passed the com mittee and went to the house. Here i 1t was so easy that nobody sus- pected the senate would have the 1 temerity to take up the cudgel in behalf of the proprietors. But the busy bees in the lobby set to work to kill the bill. The fight for the | bucket-shop business on the floor or | the senate was led by Senator 1 Thomas ]. Spellacy. The senate held up the measure, on the repre- sentation that many people. with heavy investments placed through bucket-shops. would lose their mon- ey if the bill were enacted to go 1 into effect immediately. A commit | tee of conference was appointed, with Representatives Hooker Of Hartford and Dunn of Windham as members from the house. It has been alleged. and the allegation has never been conclusiyely refuted. that an attempt was made to induce Representative Dunn to throw his influence against the bill. and have 1 an adverse report from the confer ence committee. but Representative ! Dunn refused. stood by the meas ure and it went back to the senate.
 \ Compromise and Why.
 A compromise. however. was ef- ! fected in the senate whereby the measure was passed but was not to ] so into effect until July 1. 1908. This vas said to have been advocated to protect all the investors from being pinched. but it developed after the measure had passed and as an after math Of the fight. that crowd not a thousand miles from 7orrington | had pretty close 10 s50s000 tied up in operations with one system of