Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-15

IA
way. J.. believe the widow would
come in"
Mr.. Jarvis Osgood- "Osgood & Short
Banking and Farmers Loans" as per
gilt inscription on the plate glass window
closed his ledger with bang and looked
at his partner across the office Tall
and STOPPED. in Mr.. OsEoOd fiery REQ hair
was associated with a cold eye which
abundautIy advertised the fact that the
warmth Of feeling popularity attributed
TO his colors was here entirely lacking;
and as he leaned back in his chair, froWn-
ing. his lean fingers weaved in and out IN
a manner that always suggested surgeon S
practice to those unhappy debtors upon
whom he held financial post-mortem ex-
auinations He was gnawlng his thin
mustache. too-a sign Of unusual irri-
tation.
II called around there today he went
on. still ADDRESSING the partner, who was
short and gross as he himself was thin
and long. but I got the usual David
thought this. and David thought that. and
David believed tother. If he were only
out Of the way!'
He's mott" Mr.. Short laconically an
swered.
mo, he's not. and I suppose it is foolish
TO think Of it."
The Rubber Craze.
Frowning still. Mr. Osgood picked up
pamphlet from pile at his elbow and
began 10 IDLY turn the leaves Embla-
zoned "verds Rubber Company in gilt
on its back. it was one Of thousand
that were pouring. just then. from the
presses Of the country which had been re-
Gently struck by the rubber craze
Rubber, Rubber, Rubber The pro
moters golden tongue was belling II full
and free i'm Maine woods, swamps Of Mis-
souri,. the cotton fields Of the South.
Every stase-almost every town-had Its
company and as Mr.. Osgood was a par
ticularly early bird with a keen eye for
the very earliest worm. he had organized
the first In Mortified. Maine-also the
biggest and best. as he was abundantly
explained in the pamphlet.
According 10 this, the company held
5000 acres of land, choicest on the 18th
mus OF Tehuantepec. in the state Of Vera
Cruz, one thousand OF which carried two
year-old rubber, also the finest Of its
kind
one share of the companys stock rep
resented an acre Of this land. and its
price waould be used to clear, plant and
bring 1t TO bearing Al six years old, when
the first tapping would repay the share
holder has entire outlay.
A rosy proposition; but there II was
worked out IN plain figures, which never
lie-sos many trees 20 the acre, so much
rubber per tree. at such valuation
all YOU had TO do was to reckon up the
profits.
Never was such an offer! The pamphlet
declared It in bold type broidered with
letters from eminent citizens, who knew
the firm of Osgood & Short TO be OF spot
less reputation, and enucingly decorated
with photographs Of "our manager Mr..
Meagher," posed beneath rubber tree.
n was all so complete, compact, such a
parcel OF truth. that there was nothing
left for the public but TO believe.
"Instalment People.
And it had believed, backing. its opinion
so strongly that the firm had been COM
PEELED to move into larger offices and to
add two typists to the establishment OF
one clerk which had sufficed for the easy
shaving Of farmers.
So far, however the investors had all
been "instalment people "-small fry, mere