The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-10
THE EVENING STORY
On the Ground Floor.
(By Donald Allen.)

(By Donald Allen-)
There wasn't exactly a financial
panic in the village of Mount Airy. but
lit amounted to a strong ripple. It
wasn't because the blacksmith mao
failed or the cooper had decided TO
remove. The milldam hadn't broken
nor the grocer run out of kerosene. :.
1t was simply on account of an oio
maid, and the name of that old maid
was Sarah Ann Lee
Miss Lee was known to be fairly
well off. She was known to be rather
stingy. She was known to be SO cute
that no tin peddler had ever succeeded
in cheating her. 1t was known that
lshe knew thing or two about finance.
and that Wall street had held out
scores Of allurements to her in VAIN;
While all the rest of Mount Airy had
been trying to solve magazine puzzles
where premiums of SIS were offered,
Miss Sarah Ann Lee had held aloof IN
contempt.
circular by mail. It was typewriter
and confidential. 1t was not written
from an Office on Wall street. but from
one on Beaver street Wall street
signif1ed trickery; Beaver street signi-
fed industry. Was it not named after
an animal that worked hard and gave
everybody a square deal; thus, Miss
Lee reasoned.
The Idaho Square Dea, Silver Min
ing company had been formed and
not an experiment. That is. it was
not necessary to go looking over the
big west asking where it was, and as
for being silver mine instead of coal,
all man had to do was to pick up
the solid chunks lying around the
mouth of it. 1t hadn't been discovered
by an Indian squaw while hunting for
her lost papoose, but had been bought
outright from a man who had dug out
all the silver he wanted and was now
willing to give some one else an OPP
portunity.
Engineers, experts, butchers, UNI
brella members and popcorn merchants
were agreed that there were ten thou
sand tons of ore in sight. and millions
more waiting to be uncovered. The
mine had only cost $4,000, but $780,
| 100000 would be taken from it.
| The stock ought to sell at 20 cents
but owing to the late dry weather it
| had been decided to start in at Is
cents on the dollar and increase it
gradually as the rains came on. This
would give everybody, even babes, a
chance to invest.
| Miss Lee had read the circular down
| to this point with a smile on her face,
| and was about to throw it away when
| her eye caught the name of the pres
ident of the Square Deal. 1t was that
| of an old schoolmate Of hers. In later
years he had loved her and asked her
| to be his wife. but she had been so
slow in making up her mind that he
| had gone off west to herd the long
horn steer. She had known him as
honest and truthful and always to be
| depended on.
All this made heap Of difference
| in that circular. What he promised he
would perform, even when he promis-
! ed 80 per cent dividends to stockhold-
| ers.
| Everything was serene. and yet
| Sarah Ann Lee was not to be taken
in Prr-T 7, cal
| kins for watermelons. That circular
looked good to her. It had the ring of
| truth. 1t said what it meant, and it
didn't waste pages and pages in saying
/ it. She believed in it. and yet she had
| a lingering suspicion. Like an old
/ maid with a suspicion, she put on her
| hat and started for the city. On arriv-
ing there she made her way to Beaver
street and to the number given to the
| circular.
Her first impressions were favor
able. Beaver street was busy, Just as
should be the case. The place she
brought up at had solid look, the
same as a beavers house. There was
no f1um-doodle elevator, and she climb
| ed three pairs of stairs without a MUIR
muir. Yes; the man at the desk was
! her One-time schoolrnate and lover. He
had changed some, but there was that
same honest, truthful look in his eyes
she had seen in the years agone. Half
an hour was devoted to other days, and
then the president of the Square Deal
came down to that day and hour and
| minute.
Sarah Ann Lee and her friends were
| to be let in On the ground floor for
| old times sake. They were to be
given stock at ten cents on the dollar,
and in a year that same stock would
| be hard to find at $1.30. Only linn
| tied quantity was obtainable, however
just a few of her best and dearest
friends. Before she left Beaver street
| she was presented with several speci-
mems of ore from the Square Deal, and
she went home perfectly satisfied in
her own mind that there were a few
honest men left in this world.
Miss Lee was not a selfish woman.
She was willing that others should
share in her good luck. She visited
| this one and that one. and told all
about it. They had to believe the cir
cular when she told of her trip to
town and showed the specimens. There
money in the bank-money in stock
/ ings, money in old tomato cans
money in their hind pockets. It
| wouldn't have come out to save the
country, but it did come out to invest
in Square Deal silver stock Some
| families mortgaged their only COW,
after investing what they had On hand,
and others parted with hens and
roosters which had grown old and
| gray in their service.
The ripple hit the school teacher, the
| doctor, the minister and the merchant.
That ground floor was loaded with
money for them. In one week Miss
Lee disposed of $4,000 worth of stock
/ and carried $1,000 in cash up to
/ Beaver street. Then she purchased
$4,000 worth for herself and went
home a smiling woman.
For the next three months she was
/ the toast of the town. She owned the
place. Not a single soul spoke of her
| as an old maid and wondered If her
| temper had prevented her from get
| ting married. There were three months
| of figuring on new houses, new furni-
ture and trips to Europe when the
dividends began to come in. A hushed
expectancy hung over the town. Every
investor in the Square Deal expected