The Washington herald., 1920-02-08
New York City
By o. o. Mcintyre


ernment this month. was a sucker
list" which included the names OF
10000 New Yorkers--the ultra-wise
Manhattanese-who viii fall for any
kind of "a get-rich-quick game. All
you have to do Is to send them a
printed circular promising them hty
dollars for a thin dime and they Will
hook the family Jewels and take the
FIRST express subway for the money
marts.
| 1t developed that one big sucker"
who had the notation very easy
after his name has given up s75.0o0 In
mine months to sure-fire come-on
games. The credulity of the invest
rent public Is amazing. edward III.
! Smith. a feature writer on the World.
Is writing a series OF stories for the
Saturday Evening Post on the con-
fdence game. which show that those
who throw up the stiffest barrier
about them are the ones most likely
to fall for sucker" stocks.
George Graham Rice-born Simon
IHertzig-has lust been sentenced to a
three year stretch in Sing Sing. Rice
has operated from time TO time In The
Wall Street district until a prison
sentence stopped him He had mill
over mere 81 900 or SO that he was
tripped up and his operations sus-
pended.
The legitimate. dealer in stocks has
a more difficult time selling good
stocks by a far than the shyster
stockbroker. In an address recently
at a gathering of brokers John Greg
4 ory. who has been active In fighting
bucked shop operators. said: "A GER
tain portion of every ones principal
should be in well secured and sea-
soned bonds and mortgages-just
what portion depends upon circum-
stances. Money is a servant bound
out by the owner to work for wages
which the owner. by virtue Of ms
generalship, appropriates for his own
use. The wages paid for the use OF
money depend upon the intelligence
with which It is put to work. No ley
skillfully put to work receives skilled
money wages. The trouble with the
great mass Of investors Is that they
do not study the stock they are ia
buy. They buy blindly and lose
blindly"
The fortunes that have gone out OF
New York pockets for worthless oil
stock is staggering. It Ia said that in
one tenement district in Harlem p
bonfire was held recently to get rid
Of the worthless oil stock in one house
and tine blaze illuminated the skies
for miles around.
David Lamar-the Wolf of Wal
Street-is said to have once remarked
that there was one born every minute
and the only way to stop him from
being hooked through the gills was
to shoot him at the christening.
All the stars of the Chicaqo Opera
COMPANY are in Manhattan this week
and each one seems to have brought
along his own private press agent.
Not an edition is issued without a
story about one of them. One has a
pet snail. another a ba~, giraffe and
another has deer in her apartment
at the Hotel Astor-and so it goes
until one almost believes a part OF 1t
anyway.
It costs more today to comm me
with those who have gone over than
il did a. month ago. The price OF
louija boards has increased In the
past few weeks from 100 TO 30 per
tcent. Thousands of ouija boards are
being sold daily, to New Workers, ac.
eording to statesmen in local depart.
ment stores and the supply at some
of the largest shops has been, ex-
hausted. Ouija boards formerly sold
at 20 cents apiece. but because OF the
great demand and the increase in the
cost OF production the selling prices
now run from s1.15 to s175.
I New York dope sellers were inter.
ested in. the official announcement
auh tlaN ~ e.
agents and INSPECTORS, qualified fol
raiding and detective duty. were to
he transferred from the Revenue
Agents Division to the Supervising
Federal Prohibition Agents Depart
ments beginning February 1. The
dope sellers have an idea that the
depletion Of the ranks of the narcotic
detectives will give them greater
latitude, and the news has gone al
around through the underworld that
and whirled away to a rendezvous.
dication of this spirit of daring, a
young girl was picked up right N
front Of Healy's restaurant at Sixty.
sixth street the other night by three
drug users, whisked into a taxicab
and whirled away to a rendezvouh
Three days later she was found walk
ing about in a dazed condition in
lSentral farR. InOse Things sounf
. thrilling in fiction. but II Is never be-
lieved that they are true in real life
but they are just the same.
} Ina Clara was pouting this week
because the newspapers had her en-.
gagged to a Chicago newspaperman
One paper went so far as to state
she was married to the Chica goan a
year ago. OF course. one of the mad
dest of all was Miss Claire's press
agent who was incensed that the
newspapers should print Miss Claire's
picture on the first page and every.
thing.
On a shopping tour the other after
noon | found neckties selling at &
a copy and my favorite collar has
jumped from 80 cents before the wal
to 20 cents. -Handkerchiefs that
used to purchase for 50 cents now
bring $50. ] asked the clerk in one
store, where l have traded for years
how much his salary had been raised
since the war. He looked around Il
see If the boss was in hearing dis
tance and then confided that the
amount was s. a week. THAT was
Z when got married" he said.
Tba Xouno al, Across tha W.,