The evening world., 1921-01-31
Get Rich. Quicks.
of The Ages
Nv. THE AueURs.
IN Sretozar TOniorof.
! Copyright, 1921. By the Press Publishing o..
tThe New York Evening World

w. NSASNNNs
The name OF the man who invented
the easiest, simplest and most remun-
erauve get-rich-quick scheme in his
tory, when the original investmept is
considered, has been lost in the dark
ness Of remote ages. He was the
gentleman who founded the College
Of Augurs in Rome, when Rome was
very young.
Here is what the College OF Augurs
did: u pretended TO be able to fOrctell
the future by the way birds flew, or
chlrpcd or squawked, or pecked at
their food Also, by the way four
| footed animals walked or trotted, or
, by the language Of thunder and light
/ ming.
/ The founder Of the college and all
Yhis successors in the business OF fore
telling the future by these mysterious
auguries showed their genius for
/ proft-taking in one way more than in
any other. They positively refused ~
let anybody-be he plebe or patrician
into their deep secret
This secret they guarded moro jcal-
ously than any inventor ever guarded
his invention until he had patented
it and put it on the market.
When the state was contemplating
any venture, whether OF peace or Of
war. tho College Of Augurs had to be
consulted first II the gentlemen who
] ,npyfft,,tcI Tho a,,r,,rip1 trt,st found
that the birds flew, or chirped or
squawked favorably, tho state was at
liberty to go ahead with its enterprise.
II the augurs shook their heads after
consulting the birds the animals or
the thundcrs-or all three--tben the
state bowed TO their powers OF divi-
nation and gave up the contemplated
job.
BY this control oc mysterious knowl-
edge the augurs gained a dominating
power in the Roman state. What
was even more to the point, they as
sured for themselves and their sue
/ cessors a fat living without doing any
| harder work than sitting around and
| looking exceedingly wise
! There is reason to believe that the
| gentlemen OF the college were far
| sighted enough from the beginning Of
| their get-riCh-quiCk enterprise 10 read
/ the signs Of birds, animals and thun-
: ders and lightnings in a way that in
the main met with the approval and
| favored the interests of the patriCians.
At that time the patricians had cor
nered the intelligence and the author
ity OF the state, and their attitude
toward the plebeans could be patty
| expressed in the advice OF the late
Russian autOcracy to the 1S0,000,0O0
Russian moujiks: Be silent and do
not think"
But the plebeians all the time were
showing signs OF thinking and be
trayed an inconvenient tendency to
ask questions. This curiosity the pa
tricians we're not slow to suppress by
applying the death penalty for sacri-
lege,
All the augurs had to do when their
| authority Of divinatiOn was disputed
/ by any citizen Of the plcbcs was to
cry "Sacrilege!" The patricians did
the rest. In return for this sy1upa-
. thetic attitude on tho part Of the pa
tricians the auEurs saw to it that the
birds or animals or thundcrs funC-
toned properly from the patrician
point Of view.
! ms nNduS 20 you 70 luSt vi 10 20 20 Wlll
game was continued, with immense
profit to both augurs and patricians,
until the inner mechanism Of the Col
| lege of Augurs was exposed to public
view by the increasing political and
religious light of the advancing centu-
! ries.
The last OF the augurs was either
killed or put to work for a living
Which teaches us that even the
most carefully devised and jealousy
guarded get rich-QuiCk scheme has its
| vulnerable point. That vulnerable
point is the assumption that all the
peopIe can be fooled all the time.